"I get a Tony," said Joel in the Tony Awards press room. "The very first Tony they mention. Then I'm playing the piano in the middle of Time Square. Tour buses are going by, same level as me. They're waving. They think this happens everyday. Billy Joel playing 'New York State of Mind'--Sure." Shortly after relating this anecdote, the press room television connection to the Tony broadcast went out and Joel's microphone began to sputter. Displaying his new-found status as a Broadway trouper, Joel pushed away the mike and broke into the first lines of "There's No Business Like Show Business."

Once the microphone connection was restored, Joel said he had an idea for the book for a new show. "I'd like it to be my idea [this time]," he said. " I need a 'writer' writer to sit with me and tell me 'You've done this wrong,' or 'You've left this character dangling.'" Joel dids not reveal the nature of the story.