It’s always a pleasure to see Jay-Z—largely because it might mean Beyoncé is somewhere in the room—but his appearance at the 2024 Tony Awards was particularly exciting. Sure, he and Alicia Keys have performed “Empire State of Mind” live together before, but hearing the singers unite on the Grammy-winning song at the Tonys felt like a fitting tribute to Hell’s Kitchen, the award show’s New York City setting, and, indeed, to the New York institution that is Broadway.
The energy of the song—which followed host Ariana DeBose’s opening performance of an original song called “This Party’s for You”—was undaunted by the fact that Jay-Z technically joined the song via video feed from the David H. Koch Theater’s lobby (a fact that did not go unnoticed on social media). Nevertheless, the performance was undeniably fun and brought a welcome note of hometown pride to the proceedings, which have been challenged in past years by COVID closures on Broadway and a WGA strike that forced last year’s Tonys ceremony to go unscripted.
