Henry Krieger / Tom Eyen: And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going
I chose this song because I wanted to highlight what is, without question in my mind, the greatest performance ever given at the Tony awards. Jennifer Holliday is only 21 in this performance!! How is that even possible?? She sings with so much power and feeling and commitment. Her sound is so raw and emotional, she holds absolutely nothing back. She dominates the stage, I almost feel bad for her scene partners, but not quite because they got a front row seat to such a powerhouse performance. My favorite part of this video is that they continued on with the Tonys after she brought the house down. They probably should’ve just canceled the rest of the ceremony, because at that point there was no chance anything could top that performance. And I don’t think there has been in the 37 Tony Awards since.