New York City Theater

What once was a musical theater device in full swing - the benefit concert of a once popular or at least well-liked musical - is suddenly going extinct. The Actors' Fund, which essentially heralded the form in Seth Rudetsky's concerts (DREAMGIRLS, HAIR, CHESS, FUNNY GIRL, ON THE 20TH CENTURY, WHOREHOUSE), did not do one this year. Instead, they offered the Brian Stokes Michell Carnegie Hall concert, which took place last night. And I've heard nothing of Jamie McGonnigal doing one (RAGS, SECRET GARDEN, PIPPIN, CHILDREN OF EDEN). Did he exhaust the Stephen Schwartz songbook? There's still BAKER'S WIFE, even if the York is doing their version of it. And GODSPELL - oh wait, that's now getting a Bway revival. DROOD perhaps? SIDE SHOW?

Anyhow, Stokes has not performed on Broadway since MAN OF LA MANCHA, which I wouldn't say flopped, but wasn't exactly a hit either. It wasn't particularly good either, though Stokes, as always, had awesome stage presence. I'll never forget being in the press opening audience in its regional tryout at the National Theater in D.C., feeling sick to my stomach as soon as I realized the revival had cut the musical's overture.

The Carnegie Hall concert lasted a full three hours - and that turned out to not be such a great thing. His first act was damn near perfect - featuring "Wheels of a Dream" with Heather Hedley, "Impossible Dream," "Zchaikovsky," "Another Hundred People/A Train," and a cameo from a suddenly thin Phylicia Rashad.

Then he came back from intermission at about 10pm. He did "My Friends" from SWEENEY, "Bess, You Is My Woman" and an off-mic "This Nearly Was Mine." And then his voice blew out, forcing him to struggle through the high notes of "How Glory Goes" from FLOYD COLLINS." After a finale where we sang a John Bucchino song with the Broadway Inspirational Voices, he took a bow, and did not come back for an encore. According to my press notes, he was also supposed to sing "Some Other Time" from ON THE TOWN, a song from THE GLORIOUS ONES, and that favorite upbeat Cy Coleman anthem made famous by Tony Bennett, which I presume had been reserved for the encores.

But there is an alternative explanation for the sudden lack of encores, other than his voice being shot. What if it had gotten so late that if the orchestra had kept playing, the Actors' Fund would have needed to pay them overtime? I actually think this is the more plausible explanation. Cause even if Stokes' voice was hurting, if his audience was there and eager, had there not been a financial reason to stop performing, I don't think he would have wanted to disappoint them.

Doesn't matter. It was still a great concert, again demonstrating what a matinee idol presence he has, and what a shame it is that he's not doing more new musicals. (FYI: he was originally supposed to originate the John Lithgow role in DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.)

Let's discuss some other recent shows:

THE BODY BEAUTIFUL AT THE YORK/MUSICALS IN MUFTI - I'm not going to go into the differences - and perhaps even antagonism - between this series and Encores. But the Musicals in Mufti concerts have become the CLASSIEST source of musical theater revivals in town. They are tackling shows that Encores isn't touching, and they are doing it with really great casts. Up next is THE BAKER'S WIFE in two weeks, and that will probably be amazing. For the most part, it's the Papermill Playhouse production from three years ago.

NATIONAL THEATER OF GREECE/ELECTRA - I've never seen so many before walk out on a show before - well, maybe not since IN MY LIFE. But this wasn't a horrible musical. It was a well-staged revival of a Greek classic. What was with the reaction? Maybe it was the messy subtitle system. Or, did part of the audience buy their tix not knowing this was going to be in Greek? In any case, I really admired Peter Stein's work, and look forward to seeing more City Center stagings of the Greek tragedies.

THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW: NEW SONGS FROM SALTZMAN AND CUNNINGHAM" - This hour-long revue at Provincetown Playhouse, as presented by undergrads at NYU's Steinhardt Musical Theater program, featured the work of Josh Saltzman and Ryan Cunningham, who wrote the excellent intimate musical I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, which played the Village Theatre two years ago. I couldn't help comparing and contrasting it with JRB's SONGS FOR A NEW WORLD, which isn't fair, considering what an insanely dynamic work that is. But NEXT THING provided some really great songs, and usually with full band orchestration. The songs were smart, based firmly in character choice, and varied in form. I look forward to seeing their future work.

THE LEGALLY BLONDE MTV BROADCAST - I still find this show to be very, very annoying. It's not bad... Just irritating. Will this broadcast help the show financially? Will it lead to more musicals being broadcast on cable TV? Will we get an HBO version of SPRING AWAKENING? Could be. Who knows. There's something due any day, I will know right away....