"Send in the clowns"...no, really, send them in, they're supposed to be on camera

I watched the Tonys last night with a bunch of friends (including Mr. Z of On Chicago Theater & Mr. T of Antagony & Ecstasy) and, among many other surprises (few of them good), was the fact that Green Day had four different songs performed on the broadcast.

It's Stephen Sondheim's 80th birthday, and he had two shows with nominations this year. He got a snippet of song in the opening medley and "Send in the Clowns", as performed by noted songstress Catherine Zeta-Jones. Yeah.

Now, to be fair, I like Green Day. Not as much as other bands of their era/scene, some of whom are admittedly worse (sorry, The Offspring, I still love you). But when a punk band who used to barely play three chords and the keyboardist of Bon Jovi (who can't even write lyrics other than "na na na") are both in the Tony spotlight, it's time to start considering who else could provide a jukebox musical.

My nominees:

• Rainbow! (in the Dark): The Dio Musical - Hey, the dude just died. He's due a re-evaluation. Plus, his songs do have a range that would let someone show off some pipes. If not Raul Esparza, maybe Kristen Chenoweth?
• Unsolved Child Murder: The Luke Haines Musical - What can I say, the subject matter worked for Parade?
• Let's Go Dancing [On the Backs of the Bruised]: The Trent Reznor Songbook - Liza Minelli. The Hand That Feeds. Bring the curtain down.
• Songs About F***ing: The Words & Music of Steve Albini. Choreographed by Twyla Tharp, of course.
• I Am Kurious Oranj. The Fall provide the score to a ballet about William of Orange... Wait, what? That already happened? Gosh darn it....