Musically We Roll Along

The ESPY awards are today on ABC and leading off the show are the Savannah Bananas and Derek Klena singing a new original song – “Show Starts Now” – written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul.

For those who don’t know, Derek Klena used to be a Broadway star before coming to the Savannah Bananas. It’s only fitting that he opens the show!

Who are the Savannah Bananas?

The Savannah Bananas are a world famous baseball team that puts their fans first. They have their own league with 6 teams, rules, tricks, and performances that are shown during games. Every game they play on their tour is sold out and the only chance you can get one is a ticket lottery. They have rules that involve fans catching foul balls, dances, and the game will never be too long because there is a 2 hour timer. You can watch their games on YouTube and occasionally on ESPN.

The Savannah Bananas do some really funny skits mid-game and Derek Klena sings. For example, Derek Klena once sang “Bring Him Home” from Les Miserables to the batter when there was someone on third base. He teamed up with Aladdin the Broadway Musical to create a big pitcher entrance in New York. He sang “Waving Through A Window” from Dear Evan Hansen, actually doing the “tap, tap, tapping on the glass” with a window they brought onto the field. He also sang “Phantom of the Opera” and pitched with the mask on.

Who is Derek Klena?

Derek Klena is a Broadway star from Southern California who originated roles in Anastasia, Jagged Little Pill, and also played Fiyero in Wicked! He was nominated for a Tony Award as Best Featured Actor in Jagged Little Pill.

I was lucky to meet Derek when he was playing Dmitry in Anastasia on Broadway. He gave us a backstage tour of the Broadhurst Theatre and took us on stage for a picture. Derek is genuinely one of the nicest people we’ve met, and we’ve been following his career since then. We were excited when he announced that he would be joining the Savannah Bananas!

The Announcement

On December 29, 2025, the Savannah Bananas posted a video of Derek Klena singing “Go The Distance” with a few altered lyrics. In the video, they announced that Derek Klena would become an entertainment player for the Savannah Bananas.

A couple fun facts:
* Derek walked onto the UCLA baseball team as a pitcher
* Pasek & Paul are actually the ones who told Savannah Bananas founder Jesse Cole about Derek

The ESPY Awards

The ESPY awards is an award show hosted and produced by ESPN. The awards include, Best Breakout Athlete, Best Team, Best Play, etc. The award show is today at 8 p.m. ET.

If you are a Bananas fan and a Broadway lover, you should definitely watch this today.

— By Teen, Musically We Roll Along