All-Star Stephen Sondheim Medley Accompanies 2022 Grammys In Memoriam Segment
The In Memoriam segment at the 64th Grammy Awards on Sunday, April 3, kicked off with a fast-paced montage of late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins in action, honoring the 50-year-old rocker who died just days before he would have performed with his bandmates at the awards show.
But then the In Memoriam segment shifted gears to honor another late music legend, Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim, the towering talent who died at age 91 last November.
Dear Evan Hansen star Ben Platt took the stage first, singing “Not a Day Goes By” from the musical Merrily We Roll Along. Meanwhile, a slideshow of photos behind the performers honored other music stars we lost in the past year, including Biz Markie, Charlie Watts, Meat Loaf, and Young Dolph.
Grammys 2022 – Such a BEAUTIFUL “IN MEMORIAM” 🧡🧡 pic.twitter.com/VJBjKuCu5g
— SSerrario (@SoniaSerrario) April 4, 2022
Then Hamilton alum Leslie Odom Jr. took up the same song in a cleverly arranged duet with The Color Purple alum Cynthia Erivo, who sang “Send in the Clowns” from the Sondheim musical A Little Night Music.
And finally, West Side Story star Rachel Zegler appeared, and all four singers teamed up on a cover of “Somewhere” from that same musical, one of Sondheim’s first works. As the four singers hit the final note of the song, a photo of Sondheim appeared on the screens behind them.
Rich Fury/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
On Twitter, stars of the stage and screen applauded the performance. “That In Memoriam segment of the Grammys was glorious!” tweeted Community star Yvette Nicole Brown. “May all those talented souls R.I.P., and thank you, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., and Rachel Zegler for singing your faces off!”
Lea Salonga of Miss Saigon and Aladdin fame tweeted that she “ascended with that In Memoriam segment,” calling Platt, Erivo, Odom, and Zegler “just stunning.”
