SECOND ANNUAL BROADWAY CABARET FESTIVAL
OPENING NIGHT
FRIDAY
- OCTOBER 20, 2006
THE TOWN HALL, NYC
Reported by Joe
Regan
THE TOWN HALL'S three-day celebration entitled BROADWAY CABARET
FESTIVAL was started last year to fill up a booking gap when the
Mabel Mercer Foundation moved its Annual Cabaret Convention from
Town Hall to the new Rose Theatre in the Jazz At Lincoln Center
space in the new Time-Warner Building. Because he has successfully
presented many "Broadway by the Year" evenings and the annual Nightlife
Awards at The Town Hall, the management of Town Hall asked Scott
Siegel to take up the gap in Town Hall's schedule . Last year Stephen
Holden in the New York Times wrote an extremely complimentary review
of this new series.
This year the Cabaret Convention only ran five nights,
so there was only one overlap night, Friday, October 20th. That
night was a celebration of George Gershwin at the Cabaret Convention
featuring, among many others, Julie Wilson and Kay Armen.
The Broadway Cabaret Festival at The Town Hall this
year began with "Music in the Air: A Tribute to Jerome Kern" with
Broadway performers Nancy Anderson, Stephen Bogardus, Ron Bohmer,
Joyce Chittick, Cady Huffman, Leslie Kritzer, Sean Martin Hingston,
Devon May, Carolyn Montgomery, Julia Murney, Noah Racey, Julie Reyburn,
Lari White, Michael Winther, and a surprise substitution for the
announced Michel Bell. The title "Broadway Cabaret Festival" is
a bit of a misnomer because with the exception of Reyburn and Montgomery,
most of these performers on all three nights rarely appear in cabaret.
Friday's Anderson and Murney have done one shot dates at Birdland,
Leslie Kritzer has a tribute act to Patti LuPone, and Anderson does
have an act in the future and Hingston has performed with Kristen
Chenoweth in her solo shows. To my knowledge neither Emily Skinner
nor Alice Ripley, the second night's featured artists, have made
regular appearances. And of the "Broadway Originals" on Sunday afternoon,
Mary Testa has occasionally appeared in cabarets and does have a
show coming up at Joe's Pub and Nancy Dussault used to have an act
with Karen Morrow
Monday night Michael Winther (Broadway: "Mama Mia,"
"Damn Yankees" and off-Broadway "Songs From An Unmade Bed") began
the evening with a straight forward version of "Yesterdays" from
"Roberta" with a bluesy tempo. The band (music director/pianist,
Scott Cady; bass, Ray Cady; guitars/mandolin Jay Berliner; reeds,
flute, tenor saxophone Jack Stuckey; violin Matthew Lehmann) complimented
Winther on the break. Scott Siegel appeared with some facts about
Kern. He told us about several early shows to which Kern contributed
before announcing the song that became Kern's first big hit both
artistically and commercially, although it was ignored in the reviews.
Nancy Anderson, who has appeared on Broadway in "Kiss Me Kate,"
"Wonderful Town," "A Class Act," and many of Siegel's Broadway series,
came out in a stunning dress that complimented her blonde hair and
sang "They Didn't Believe Me" in a strong, silver toned voice that
wrung all the tender meaning from the lyrics (by Herbert Reynolds).
There was a strong violin solo by Lehmann on the break and when
Anderson sang again it was a performance that remained one of the
highlights of the full evening.
Ron Bohmer (Broadway's "Woman in White," "Scarlet
Pimpernel") sang the hit from "Oh Boy," "Till The Clouds Roll By"
(lyrics by Kern and P.G. Wodehouse), jumping into a high falsetto
on some of the high notes.
Siegel talked about how Kern was famous for his ballads
but also wrote some novelty numbers. Leslie Kritzer (Broadway "Hairspray,"
off-Broadway "Bat Boy") bounced on stage and did an animated version
of "I"ll Be Hard To Handle" (lyric by Bernard Dougall).
Siegel told us about "Show Boat," how the posters
out of town only mentioned Ziegfeld. Devon May (off-Broadway's "Bat
Boy," future road tour of "Jersey Boys") sang a sweet "Make Believe"
(lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II).
Caroline Montgomery and Julie Reyburn, two of New
York cabaret's most talented interpreters of the Great American
Songbook, sang a glittering duo rendition of "I"m Old Fashioned"
(lyric by Johnny Mercer) from the film "You"ll Never Get Rich,"
and demonstrated with their soaring voices and exquisite lyric interaction
why their cabaret shows sell out every performance.
Siegel told us Ira Gershwin wrote the lyrics to the
next song and made more money on that one song that any of the individual
songs he wrote with his brother George. Stephen Bogardus (Broadway's
"Falsettos," "James Joyce's The Dead," "High Society,") sang a ravishing
"Long Ago and Far Away," beginning the song down stage left and
then moving to stage center for most of the song.
Julie Reyburn returned and sang a song from the 1937
movie, "High Wide and Handsome" that was introduced in the movie
by Irene Dunne. Reyburn sat on a stool in the crook of the piano
and demonstrated again what a superb artist she is with an exquisite,
breath-taking, hushed version of "Folks Who Live On The Hill."
Siegel described how on the opening night of "Show
Boat" the first-string critics went to see Philip Barry's "Paris
Bound" instead of the Kern-Hammerstein-Ferber classic. "Show Boat"
went on to run for 572 performances with many revivals. Lari White
(Broadway's "Ring of Fire" and winner of more than one country-western
Grammys) did a spectacular "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" with a strong
melodic voice that certainly did not indicate she was anything but
a legitimate Broadway star! In a word, she was great!
Noah Racey (Broadway's "Never Gonna Dance," "Thoroughly
Modern Millie" and a regular at Siegel's Broadway series, as well
as the star of Goodspeed's "Where's Charley") came out and stated
to Siegel that he wasn't going to dance! He started "I Won't Dance"
(lyric by Hammerstein II, Harbach, Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh),
insisting he did not have his dancing shoes! But Siegel took off
his shoes and insisted that Racey wear them. Racey slipped off his
shoes one by one and gave us an rocking "I Won't Dance" that closed
the first act.
Stephen Bogardus re-appeared at the beginning of the
second act and a sang lovely "All the Things You Are" (lyric by
Hammerstein) from the 1939 flop "Very Warm For May" which ran only
59 performances.
Two of Broadway's great dancers, Joyce Chittick (Broadway's
"Pajama Game," "Cats," "Wonderful Town") and Sean Martin Hingston
(Broadway's "Contact") sang and danced a cute "When We Get Our Divorce"
(lyric by Harbach and Hammerstein). a novelty duet from "Sunny"
(1925) about how much more a couple will love each other once they
are divorced!
Siegel told us about the history of the song "Bill"
written originally with lyrics by P. G. Wodehouse in 1918 for "Oh
Lady Lady" but dropped before Broadway, put in another show that
closed out of town, and brought back into "Show Boat" when that
show was on the road. The performance of the classic number that
followed was bland and colorless without any feeling for the emotion
of the lyrics, as if the performer did not have a clue what the
song was about.
Devon May returned and, standing close to the pianist
Scott Cady, did a nice version of "I Didn't Say Yes" (lyric by Harbach)
from "The Cat and the Fiddle."
Siegel told us that during the Depression Kern went
to Hollywood and one of his movies was "Swing Time," generally considered
to be the best of the Astaire and Rogers movies. The next two songs
were from "Swing Time." The first was the Academy Award winning
"The Way You Look Tonight" (lyric by Dorothy Fields) sung by Michael
Winther who has one of the most beautiful male voices on Broadway
today. Noah Racey and Nancy Anderson re-appeared in all their glory
for the second song from "Swing Time," "A Fine Romance" (Fields)
which had them first sitting on a park bench, then bursting into
dance all over the stage, a show stopping performance for both of
them.
Siegel announced that Cooper had choreographed the
number and had, indeed, directed the entire evening.
Jerome Kern's second Academy Award was a song that
he actually wrote in 1940, "The Last Time I Saw Paris," which was
put in a movie, "Lady Be Good" later, and won the Oscar. Then Kern
campaigned to have the rules changed. Julia Murney (Broadway's "Lennon,"
off-Broadway's "The Wild Party" and "Class Act"), looking beautiful
in an aqua gown that complemented her long straight blonde hair,
sat on the piano, and with some extraordinary mandolin playing by
Jay Berliner, wrapped her velvet tones around the classic song,
rising to soaring heights on the last chorus.
Siegel announced that the next two songs would be
two of Kern's most beloved love songs. Ron Bohmer returned and in
his strong baritone delivered "Why Was I Born" (Lyric by Hammerstein)
from "Sweet Adeline." Then the stunning Lari White returned, this
time in a black gown, stood stage center and sang a killer rendition
of "Smoke Get In Your Eyes" (Harbach lyric) from "Roberta." There
was a strong saxophone solo during the break by Jack Stuckey. When
White continued, she floated effortlessly on the melody and again
demonstrated that she is the type of performer that Broadway needs
and the new Broadway composers should take note of this woman and
give her a new musical to star in!
Siegel then announced that due to some customs problems
Michel Bell was not able to appear. In Bell's stead, Roosevelt Andre
Credit was recruited at the last minute. Credit, whose only Broadway
credit I could find on the Theater data base was as a member of
the ensemble in the last "Show Boat" revival, came on the stage
and delivered a mind-boggling "Ol' Man River" (lyric Hammerstein)
that brought the entire Town Hall to its feet in a well deserved
standing ovation! Credit's voice and performance were riveting and
we all felt like we were in the presence of a major talent and we
were privileged to hear and see this evening!
© 2006 Joe Regan
Event
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