Seriously, BRAVO to Scott Siegel for the overwhelming artistic and popular success of the first-ever Summer Broadway Festival at Town Hall, which concluded tonight with ALL SINGIN! ALL DANCIN!, a night of pure song-and-dance entertainment staged by BROADWAY BY THE YEAR regular Noah Racey.
The three nights of the series successfully explored further three principle tenants of the BROADWAY BY THE YEAR concerts: operetta, which is always a favorite amongst the 1920s and 1930s shows; young performers, who are occasionally included amongst the more seasoned performers at such concerts; and dance choreography, which is used sporadically but spiritedly in nearly all the concerts.
I understand that all three concerts were well-attended, but tonight sold out thanks to the presence of over 30 performers, about half of which came from the cast of CURTAINS. Siegel also made a point of pointing out how the top ticket for tonight's concert was a mere forty bucks. Not bad for a big night of entertainment... Literally, a third of the cost of the top ticket at most Broadway musicals, and providing three times the fun of some Broadway musicals.
Seen in the audience were CURTAINS stars Debra Monk and David Hyde Pierce. The CURTAINS ensemble is of course made up of terrific song-and-dance performers, but making a terrifically funny cameo was Edward Hibbert as a guru, relentless choreographer, who forced his dancers to stick their faces in their crotches and then jump. He then whipped the girl who couldn't do it.
Also spotted in the audience were Tommy Tune, Tovah Feldshuh, Donna McKechnie, Tony Walton, John Kander, Jerry Mitchell, Richard Kind (sporting a black mustache) and so on. I also noted many, many folks from the cast of A CHORUS LINE including Nadine Issenger, who is now playing Cassie at select performances.
In a first, Scott Siegel's characteristic podium, where he delivers historical notes and introduces performers, was gone due to the space necessary for dancing. Also gone was Ross Patterson's piano, forcing him to use a keyboard instead alongside four other musicians. There were some microphone issues, especially since most of the performers were using hand-free head mics, but not enough for it to be something to complain about to detract from the fun...
The makeup of the songs came mostly from old-school Broadway, with many, many Kander & Ebb ditties. Some really old stuff appeared by George M. Cohan, Irving Berlin, De Sylva/Brown/Henderson, Fats Waller, Keith & Sterling and Eubie Blake. Perhaps that's why two of the more sedate numbers of Act Two, with no choreography and songs by Craig Carnella and Adam Guettel ("How Glory Goes"), felt totally out of place. Still, I really appreciated the opportunity to see Richard Blake do a deep, sincere song like "How Glory Goes," since he is so always typecast now as "the boyfriend" (Link Larkin, Glen Gulia, Warner).
What was the best moment? Probably "Inappropriate Melody," where Meredith Patterson and Shonn Wiley performed upbeat song-and-dance renditions of, as they put it, songs that should never be done that way: "Tomorrow Belongs to Me," "The Gun Song," "Seasons of Love," And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" and so on.
Here's the full program:
Act One:
"Nothing New Beneath the Sun" - Noah Racey, Lorin Latarro, Megan Sikora
"Button Up Your Overcoat" - Nancy Anderson & Kevin Bernard
"Tonight at Eight" - John Bolton
"Ten Minutes Ago" - Megan Sikora & Matt Loehr
"City Lights" - Rachelle Rak
"Can't Stop Talkin' About Him" - Julia Murney
"It Ain't No Sin" - Harvey Evans
"Keeping Out of Mischief" - Lorin Latarro, Marty Lawson, Joe Aaron Reid
"That Means Nothing to Me!" - Nancy Anderson
"What'll I Do" - Christopher Spaulding
"Educate Your Feet" - Josh Prince & Kevin B. Worley
Act Two:
"Cool" - Carolyn Doherty, JoAnn M. Hunter, Mary MacLeod, Jennifer Savelli, Amanda Watkins, Jennifer West
"A Quiet Thing" - Julia Murney & John Bolton
Inappropriate Melody - Meredith Patterson & Shonn Wiley
"Hot Feet" - Kendrick Jones
"Good Thing Going/Not a Day Goes By" - Julia Murney
"Pain" - Lorin Latarro, Matt Loehr, Noah Racey, Megan Sikora, Edward Hibbert
"Use What You Got" - Jack Noseworthy
"How Glory Goes" - Richard Blake
"What You'd Call a Dream" - Kevin Bernard, Ward Billeisen, Matt Farnsworth, Jim Newman, Joe Aaron Reid, Christopher Spaulding
"I've Got You Under My Skin" - Joyce Chittick, David Baum, Luke Hawkins, Noah Racey, Kevin B. Worley and Jason Yudoff
"And the World Goes Round" - Karen Ziemba