Played to the grand finale (5)
I believe the answer is:
toyed
'played' is the definition.
('toy' can be a synonym of 'play')
'to the grand finale' is the wordplay.
'to' becomes 'toy' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'finale' says to take the final letters.
The final letters of 'the grand' are 'ed'.
'toy'+'ed'='TOYED'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for toyed that I've seen before include "Engaged in an activity, but not seriously" , "fiddled" , "was trifling" , "Played" , "Trifled (with someone's affections)" .)