The 2021 Tony Awards kicked off Sunday night with an epic throwback.

Actors Kerry Butler, Chester Gregory, Darlene Love, Matthew Morrison and Marissa Jaret Winokur began the truncated, much-delayed ceremony with a performance of You Cant Stop the Beat from the smash musical Hairspray.

It was a fitting song choice. When Hairspray opened in 2002, it was interpreted as a celebratory rebound for Broadway following the Sept. 11 attacks , after which performances were suspended for two days.

Nineteen years later, all 41 of the Great White Ways theaters are once again reopening this time after an unprecedented 18-month closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.