What do Andrew Rannells, Megan Hilty and Laura Benanti have in common?
They all have major Broadway cred, and they've all had TV shows canceled.
NBC recently yanked freshmen comedies The New Normal and Go On, which starred Rannells and Benanti respectively, and also pulled the two-year-old dramedy Smash (featuring Hilty) from its primetime line-up.
At Sunday's Tony Awards, the trio teamed up with emcee Neil Patrick Harris to perform a musical number lamenting the uncertainty of landing the lead in a network series -- and praising the comforting embrace of the New York stage.
"Both my shows were canceled, it's true -- no joke! Not one show, but two! And so I raise a bottle to you -- television sucks!" crooned Benanti, brandishing a bottle of booze. A Tony winner for the acclaimed 2008 revival of Gypsy, the actress has also crossed over into small-screen territory with the short-lived NBC drama The Playboy Club, scrapped after just three episodes in 2011.
VIDEO: Neil Patrick Harris Ends Tonys With a Rap Number
Rannells, a past nominee for his role in the blockbuster Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, has cable to fall back on: he plays recurring character Elijah, frenemy of Hannah (Lena Dunham), on HBO's Girls. And Hilty, one of Smash's breakout stars, has won raves on the Great White Way for her roles in Wicked and 9 to 5: The Musical.
Harris, meanwhile, remains in his cushy gig as a regular on the popular CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which heads into its ninth season in the fall. (And, finally, after so many years, we know who's playing the "Mother": Cristin Milioti, a 2012 Tony nominee for Once.)
"Doing TV has its pros and cons, right? But just like the theater, sometimes you have a hit and sometimes you don't. We can't all have long-running hit TV shows like my own," quipped NPH.
Twitter: @ErinLCarlson
Email: erin.carlson@thr.com
