Former WILL & Grace star Sean Hayes got the 64th annual Tony Awards off to a musical start by teaming up with PROMISES, PROMISES co-star Kristin Chenoweth for a rendition of soul classic I SAY A LITTLE PRAYER.
Host Hayes showed off his piano skills as Chenoweth sang. The opening also featured song and dance segments from hit Broadway musicals Memphis, Come Fly With Me, Everyday Rapture, Million Dollar Quartet, La Cage Aux Folles, Fela! and Green Day's American Idiot.
The punk trio themselves then took the stage to rock the Tonys with Holiday and Know Your Enemy. The cast of the band's hit musical joined Billie Joe Armstrong and his group for the rousing anthem.
And Hayes won applause when the openly gay star and Chenoweth shared an open-mouthed kiss. He quipped, "I know what you're thinking; she's too short for me."
Daniel Radcliffe and Katie Holmes handed out the night's first award, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play, to Scarlett Johansson for A View From The Bridge. She kissed her two leading men - stage co-star Liev Schreiber and husband Ryan Reynolds - as she took to the stage.
She said, "Being welcomed into this community has been an absolute dream come true for me."
She thanked her mother Melanie and "my Canadian, who I live with," singling out Reynolds and stating, "Thank you for becoming a theatre widower for me. I never could have done it without your support."
She dedicated the award to playwright Arthur Miller, who penned A View From The Bridge.