Bette Midler was NOT going to cut her Tony Award acceptance speech short
No amount of orchestral music was going to drown out Midler
Bette Midler, the famously effusive singer, actress, comedian and film producer, had a long list of thank yous to give in her acceptance speech at the Tony Awards on Sunday night – and no amount of play-off music was going to get in the way of that.
Midler won the Tony for best lead actress in a musical – Hello, Dolly! – and when her speech far exceeded the usual length, orchestral music began to swell in a not-so-subtle effort to make the 71-year-old wrap it up.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmpARAYzbWA
Midler wasn't buying it.
In the video above, the music starts playing at about 4 minutes 17 seconds in. Midler keeps speaking for another two minutes.
At first, she simply raised her voice, but eventually she shouted "shut that crap off!" – much to the delight of the audience.
https://twitter.com/broadwaycom/status/874100170509737984
After the music died down, Midler praised Hello Dolly! for its "ability to lift your spirit in these terrible terrible times".