WATCH: Neil Patrick Harris Opens 2013 Tony Awards With Epically ‘Bigger’ Broadway Spectacle

Host Neil Patrick Harris opened the 2013 Tony Awards live from Radio City Music Hall with a song that began in the pub from last year’s Best Musical, Once.

Within moments, Patrick had transformed into full tuxedo to sing about how this year’s show will be “bigger” than the last few Tony Awards, since the big show is finally back at Radio City after being in the smaller Beacon Theater for the last several years.

Special guest Mike Tyson, who had his own one-man show on Broadway this year, joined Patrick along with the ensembles from this year’s nominees. The host then performed a magic trick and ended up at the back of the auditorium with a group of Newsies.

In a small shot at the film version of Les Misérables, Patrick called for the camera to come in close and said, “On Broadway, we don’t need extreme close-ups to prove we’re singing live” before closing out the opening number with a stage full of dancers from the year’s biggest shows.

When the applause died down, Patrick said, “Well, that’s our budget, goodnight!”

Watch video below, via CBS:

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