Of the 60 or so musical numbers from Enchanted performed on last night’s show, Kristin Chenoweth singing “That’s How You Know” was notable, not for its rote-ness (it is a rule, for instance, that anytime you see guys in hardhats in a production number, they’re gonna carry the singer around at the end) but for the tenacity shown by the conga player flanking Chenowith throughout the performance.
It’s as if he was sticking up for all conga players, forever forced by their ungainly instruments to the rear of the stage, back by the windchimes. I am a conga player of substance who has been given the opportunity to perform on national television, he seemed to be saying, And I will not step out of the frame now that you can no longer hear my instrument! You made all ambulatory conga players proud last night, sir. Drum circles around the world will thwack a paradiddle in your honor next weekend!