Photo Coverage: The Broadway Musicals of 1927

This week, Broadway Musicals of 1927 kicked off the Town Hall's 10th Anniversary season of the critically acclaimed Broadway By The Year® series. Alexander Gemignani directed and starred in the show alongside Finian's Rainbow's Kate Baldwin and Christopher Fitzgerald, Melinda Sullivan, Kend Rick Jones, Carole Bufford, Marc Kudisch (9 to 5), Chad Kimball (Memphis), and Quentin Earl Darrington, Bobby Steggert, Ron Bohmer, and Christiane Noll from Ragtime. Broadway Musicals of 1927 is created, written and hosted by Scott Siegel for The Town Hall. Ross Patterson musical directed the event, beginning his tenth season as the musical director of Broadway by the Year®.

Some of musical theater's most famous songs first came to light in 1927. "S'Wonderful" (Funny Face), "The Babbit and The Bromide" (Funny Face), "Shaking The Blues Away" (Ziegfeld Follies of 1927), "Ol' Man River" (Showboat), "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man of Mine" (Showboat), "You Are Love" (Showboat), "The Best Things in Life Are Free" (Good News), and "The Varsity Drag" (Good News) are some of the songs featured in Broadway Musicals of 1927.

"We had earlier promised an exciting 10th Anniversary Season said Scott Siegel. "With so many stars from critically acclaimed Broadway shows like Ragtime, Finian's Rainbow, and Memphis in the cast of this season's first concert, plus series anchor Marc Kudisch, a brand new star, Carole Bufford, and four of our most exciting Broadway by the Year dancers, Noah Racey, Jeffry Denman, Kend Rick Jones, and Melinda Sullivan, we intend to make 1927 shine all over again."

Additional concerts in the series include Broadway Musicals of 1948 (Mar. 22), Broadway Musicals of 1966 (May 10) and a special Broadway by the Year concert celebrating its 10th Anniversary: Broadway Musicals of 1990-2010 (June 14).

Built in 1921 by a group of suffragettes, The Town Hall began as a lecture hall and public forum for debates. Over the decades, the stage has been graced by Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Sanger, Billie Holiday, Igor Stravinsky, Bob Dylan and Miles Davis. Today the hall flourishes as a popular, affordable venue, boasting the hottest acts in rock, pop, folk, cabaret, world music, comedy and dance, including Billy Joel, Blondie, Elvis Costello, Natalie Merchant, Graham Nash, Liza Minnelli, Cyndi Lauper, Norah Jones, Andre Watts, Henry Rollins, Joe Jackson, Pink Martini, Regina Spector, Brian Adams, Aimee Mann and Dawn Upshaw. For over a decade, The Town Hall has hosted live broadcasts of Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion. Over the past two-and-a-half decades, The Town Hall has produced a number of new and critically acclaimed musical series, which include The Century of Change, Not Just Jazz, Broadway By The Year® and The Broadway Cabaret Festival. For more information, visit www.the-townhall-nyc.org.