BROADWAY BY THE YEAR 1960

This show was written by Scott Siegel, who gave the history behind the theater of Broadway in the year 1960. It was very interesting and covered the works of BYE BYE BIRDIE, CAMELOT, CHRISTINE, DO RE MI, GREENWILLOW, IRMA LA DOUCE, THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, TENDERLOIN, VINTAGE 60 and WILDCAT.

Mr Siegel gave a bit of history of each work and introduced each piece. I have heard and seen CAMELOT and BYE BYE BIRDIE but up until tonight had not seen the other musicals and therefore found the information very interesting.

The entire cast was quite talented in this concert and they all worked well together. 

Most notable to me in this production was Marc Kudisch who broke out of his normal roles and was HOT HOT HOT singing "ONE LAST KISS" from BYE BYE BIRDIE. I have seen Marc Kudisch in THROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE (three times) and I have seen him in the ENCORES series and he always plays roles that are stiff. It was nice to see a change and he was very funny as Conrad Birdy. He was shaking his hips and moving his pelvis just like Elvis! He not only sang well, he also showed that he can be more then Trevor Graydon. What a voice! (He is not exactly hard to look at either.) Mr. Kudisch also sang "If Ever I Would Leave You " which was sung to perfection and had me breathless. He was much more impressive in this concert then in his Encores concert. His performance was moving, and in fact was the best performance that I have ever seen of his.

Now to Brent Barrett- In my opinion this man is the most under rated star on the stage today. He is royalty and has the most beautiful voice. He sang "How to Handle A Woman" so beautifully I had to fight back tears of joy. He also sang "I Will Never Say No" without a microphone to such perfection that both women and men cheerEd Loudly for him.

Brent makes magic on stage in this performance (just like he has in every other that I have seen him in - Pajama Game, Encores, Chicago, Encores Blast just to name a few.) Brent also sang "Camelot" and "Fireworks" with Lisa Vroman who sang beautifully. I have never seen her perform before but she had the strongest voice of the ladies and worked well with Brent Barrett(they made fireworks before our very eyes and with Marc Kudisch in "Make Someone Happy")

Tovah Feldshuh was the comedic woman singer and made everyone laugh as she dressed in a gym uniform and sang "Kids and "Isms" she is very funny. She also did a cart wheel and said" thank god I take yoga two times a week."

Eddie Korbich is a very strong dancer and a very comedic singer; he sang "Put On A Happy Face" and then put a happy face on the audience with his dance that stole the show.

Broadway By The Year 1960 was a spectacular show mainly because of the tremendous talent and the interesting history. I only wish the information that Mr. Siegel read would be bound in the playbill so I could quote some of the interesting passages. Maybe he will do that in the future! (hint)

The top numbers of this show were:

"Put On A Happy Face," "One Last Kiss", "Camelot" "How To Handle A Woman" "Fireworks" "Cry Like The Wind" "I Know About Love" and my favorite "I Will Never Say No".

Everyone seemed to have a good time as the cast had chemistry, sparks and made this concert a night to remember. I talked with a very nice woman who is a subscriber, her name is Cindy and she told me this concert was great but all of the others were even better. The show was packed and I understood why. It was a very entertaining evening.

The cast included: Lisa Vroman, Liz Larsen, Douglas Ladnier, Tovah Feldshuh, Eddie Korbich, Marc Kudisch and Brent Barrett!

Anyone who loves the musical theater will love these concert series. One note the audience was mainly comprised of older people (I seemed to be one of the youngest there) so they need an audience under 40. So if you love showtunes sung by very talented singers then these concerts will appeal to you.

The next concert in this series will take place on June 23 at Town Hall. It is the Broadway Musicals of 1925. To get tickets call 212-840-2824, go to the box office at 123 West 43rd Street, or go to www.the-townhall-nyc.org.

NOTE: GO TO WWW.THEATERMANIA.COM they just put up photos of this wonderful show. It is worth checking out. PS: You can now also watch the entire footage of the Drama Desk Awards on Theatermania. It is wonderful so check it out and say I am a theatermaniac! Woo hoo!

You can write to Corine and she will answer:

Corine@Broadwayworld.com