Theater Broadway By The Year Hits New Peak Second Chance Falls Flat

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12/12/2015Theater: 'Broadway By The Year' Hits New Peak; 'A Second Chance' Falls Flat | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=374dba3e-e427-4f27-8d64-a8f6784280c7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/4Theater: 'Broadway By The Year' Hits New Peak; 'ASecond Chance' Falls FlatTheater: 'Broadway By The Year' Hits New Peak; 'A Second Chance'Falls FlatBROADWAY BY THE YEAR 1940-1964 *** 1/2 out of **** A SECOND CHANCE ** out of ****BROADWAY BY THE YEAR 1940-1964 *** 1/2 out of **** THE TOWN HALLBroadway By The Year has become an institution for the past 14 years, a celebration of Broadway's rich historyby producer Scott Siegel that is the centerpiece of his many endeavors. It involves good old-fashionedBroadway belting, a generous showcase for new talent, cabaret acts and stars of the moment ready to deliver aclassic tune or undiscovered gem on their night off.Still, I was worried about this new season. Typically, each show focuses on one year (or maybe two from thevery early days of Broadway). A core group of performers each come out and sing a song and then pair off invarious groupings as well, with a little dance thrown in for good measure. You get some of the big hits of theyear and invariably hear some little known tune that sticks with you for days to come or inspires the purchase ofyet another cast album. But this season, each of the four shows would cover 25 years. Inevitably, it has turnedthis season into more of a greatest hits set. That plus the demands of finding so much talent to fill the stage hadme thinking they might have diluted what made BBTY special.Hardly. Siegel, along with director Scott Coulter and musical director Ross Patterson with his Little Big Bandhave stepped up to the challenge and delivered a stellar evening of entertainment. It can't hurt that I saw theevening covering 1940-1964, the golden age of the Broadway musical. But the final two nights of this series inMay and June immediately become must-have tickets for anyone who still loves the Great White Way. If no oneis filming and recording these evenings, they should be.With 27 songs and proceeding chronologically, BBTY gave a fascinating overview of how Broadway changedyear by year from the landmark musical Oklahoma to last gasps like Hello, Dolly. A few, a very few,performances left me cold. (Notably, the Broadway By The Year Chorus featuring talent from Siegel's showcasefor stars of tomorrow was poorly rehearsed, messed up lyrics and generally looked out of their depth.) But that'sinevitable in this sort of evening with dozens of artists on display. I can't even cover all the good acts becausethe list would get too long.Natalie Douglas started things off swimmingly with a confident and sophisticated "Bewitched, Bothered andBewildered" from Pal Joey. As with every song, Siegel sets them up with some trivia and scene-setting detailsabout the year and/or the show in question. Alexandra Sibler was one of a welcome handful to performunplugged, in her case an operatic "If I Loved You" from Carousel. She was not only unplugged vocally butplugged into the style of performance from that day.BBTY also shows how songs can be traditionally performed, made to seem modern or given a bluesy spin, toname just a few options. The default mode, however, is what I'd call Broadway Classic, good old-fashionedemoting in a style far removed from pop stylings or vocal stamina competitions where holding random notes as12/12/2015Theater: 'Broadway By The Year' Hits New Peak; 'A Second Chance' Falls Flat | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=374dba3e-e427-4f27-8d64-a8f6784280c7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/4long as possible seems to be the goal.Two vets who were fondly welcomed back to deliver signature tunes were Liz Larson with "Ooh, My Feet" fromher Tony-nominated turn in The Most Happy Fella and Anita Gillette with "Nightlife" from All American, whichplayed at the Winter Garden (where Rocky is rope-a-doping while it prays the tourists start to come) way back in1962, with a book by Mel Brooks. Both seemed as pleased to be onstage as the notably senior audience was tosee them. (Truly, more younger Broadway goers need to wise up to BBTY.)Amber Iman (who played Nina Simone in the recently shuttered musical Soul Doctor) was very impressive with"Come Rain Or Come Shine." And the fetching Brian Charles Rooney delivered a sweetly innocent "Maria" fromWest Side Story. (It would have been interesting to see how he fared in the Roundabout revival of the deeplycynical musical The Threepenny Opera in 2006.)In the category of comic relief from men born to late for the Borscht Belt circuit, Jeffrey Schecter with "If I'm NotNear The Girl I Loved" and Jason Grae with "She Loves Me" were essentially tied in success. But they wereboth neatly trumped by Patrick Page, who had delicious vocal fun with "Captain Hook's Waltz."Robert Cuccioli wasn't so lucky. He was an audience favorite (he always is), performing "Were Thine ThatSpecial Face" from Kiss Me Kate. The applause was warm but Cucciolli couldn't help but hear the roar ofapplause that greeted the end of William Michals singing "This Nearly Was Mine" from South Pacific. Michalsperformed the role of Emile de Becque in the terrific Broadway revival, a role encased on cheese by MarioLanza. I wasn't thrilled with Paulo Szot who originated the role this time around, but found the other replacementDavid Pittsinger a huge improvement. Now I'm very sorry I didn't also get to see Michals tackle the part. Sansmicrophone, he delivered a version that was true to the song's operatic leanings but with a sensitivity to thelyrics and a feel for dynamics that was breath-taking. Like a pro, he managed to seem surprised by theaudience's uproarious approval though he must have heard it night after night at Lincoln Center.Another show stopper came in Act Two when Lisa Howard (a Drama Desk Award winner for The 25th AnnualPutnam County Spelling Bee) tackled "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" from The Sound Of Music. I say tackled becauseit's such a beast of a song, the "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" of its day though covered far less oftenbecause most singers can't even begin to sing it effectively. But Howard was poised and elegant throughout,pacing the song beautifully and delivering it with a reserve that made the moment when she unleashed her voicecompletely all the more memorable.But all of this pales compared to the fact that this edition of BBTY introduced me very belatedly to the talent ofMarilyn Maye. She was Johnny Carson's favorite singer (he called her the "super singer") and appeared on hisTonight Show some 77 times, more than any other singer. (Steve Allen loved her too.) She's won awards andbeen feted and appreciated by savvy theater goers and cabaret haunters for decades. Ella Fitzgerald oncecalled Marilyn Maye the best white female singer in the world. But I was clueless until this 83 year old artiststepped on stage and killed it with "Guess Who I Saw Today?" from New Faces Of 1952. It was a master classin performing, in telling a story through song and keeping an audience rapt with attention. And her voicesounded terrific.Siegel's no dummy. He brought her out again at the finale to sing a "bonus song," in this case "Before theParade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly. To no surprise of those who'd heard Maye before, she was brilliant again.She's at Jazz At Lincoln Center in May, as well as Iowa and Missouri after that, so far. Check out her website fordates, buy her CDs and thank me later. I'm thrilled she's doing shows uptown (Maye is one of the guests forMichael Feinstein's tribute to Cole Porter for Jazz at Lincoln Center). But it's not enough. She should beperforming with a full orchestra a la Barbara Cook. She should have a Broadway show built around her a laElaine Stritch and Lena Horne. She should be rushed into the studio to record a late career masterpiece a laShirley Horn. Someone with money and influence make sure this treasure is given the best possible setting to12/12/2015Theater: 'Broadway By The Year' Hits New Peak; 'A Second Chance' Falls Flat | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=374dba3e-e427-4f27-8d64-a8f6784280c7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/4show her off. As Broadway By The Year demonstrates again and again, it all goes by so fast. Appreciate it whileyou can.Here's a clip of Maye singing "Guess Who I Saw Today" from an earlier performance.A SECOND CHANCE ** out of **** PUBLIC THEATERHere's what's good about the chamber musical A Second Chance: stars Brian Sutherland and DianeSutherland, who have bring intelligence and a searching openness to the roles of a recently widowed man and adivorcee who unexpectedly find themselves getting a second chance at love. They are both fine actors and havegreat chemistry. They better! After all, they're married. (That's a joke, of course. Some married couples forwhatever reason do not work well together as performers. These two do.)Here's what's not so good about the chamber musical A Second Chance: the songs. The essentially sungthrough two-hander by Ted Shen has long flowing melodies that resolutely refuse to offer up any memorabletune and lyrics that resolutely refuse to offer up much in the way of memorable words. It is directed sensitivelyby Jonathan Butterell down to solid technical elements down to a fine ensemble overseen by Zak Snyder withorchestrations by Bruce Coughlin. But the best efforts of all involved cannot cover over the fact that A SecondChance has nothing new to say and no especially vivid way to rehash old truisms.Dan is a widower still sunk in pain and sadness (it's been less than a year since his beloved wife died). Jenna isa kooky free spirit of sorts (the sort of character I instinctively dislike but which Diane Sutherland madeappealing for me). She's over a bitter divorce and ready for love; he's miserable and needs something to buckhim up but feels guilty about even thinking of dating again.They meet at a party, go to the safe space of a museum to see if they're compatible and slowly, gingerlyapproach romance, despite his trepidation, an apartment filled with "ghosts" and the subtle disapproval of hisfriends who think he's moving too fast or dishonoring his wife's memory by finding someone else so soon.That's it, really, down to dates where they get involved in discussions of such mundane materials as theiropinions of the TV series Mad Men, which is about when I checked my watch on this slim offering. Sung insimple, declarative sentences with no hint of a "song," it's the hazy sort of pseudo-sophisticated music thatpeople associate with high art and Stephen Sondheim, though Sondheim of course delivers shows chock full ofcatchy tunes.Still, this might have served as a vehicle for some thoughtful displays of an intelligence at work if the story itselfwasn't so tepid. Certainly a person recently widowed would feel a little funny about diving into a new relationship(or the object of their affection might reasonably worry about this person being on the rebound from grief). Butwould Jenna really feel so threatened by the fact that a man whose wife is barely cold in the ground still haspictures of her up in his home? Jenna seems far too sensitive and understanding for such a blinkered reaction.You expect her to empathize and say, hey, she'll always be a part of your life. Instead, she seems frustrated andabout ready to insist he toss every memento of his former life into the bin.The problem here is reflected in the title: this isn't a second chance at love for Dan. That implies he blew his firstchance. It's another chance at love, one that can respect and treasure the past without seeing any futurehappiness as a betrayal of his dead wife. Dan and Jenna don't seem to understand even that simple distinction,which makes their awkwardness frustrating since neither states the obvious. Even at the end, they haven'treached the point we arrived at about two minutes after the beginning.THEATER OF 2014Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ***

Theater Broadway By The Year Hits New Peak Second Chance Falls Flat

📄 Theater Broadway By The Year Hits New Peak Second Chance Falls Flat

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