Broadway By The Year: 1945

In all honesty, how can any other show that opened in 1945 truly compare to the masterpiece that is Rodger and Hammerstein's Carousel? It's not unlike being Mozart's younger brother– no matter how good the show is, it just isn't that one. And it's rather a pity that only one landmark musical came out of 1945, because as Scott Siegel demonstrated in the latest edition of his Broadway By The Year series on Monday, many other worthy songs came out of that banner year.

Nightlife Award winning cabaret artist Scott Ailing started the evening with the rousing and optimistic "Wait for Tomorrow" from Polonaise, with music by no less than Chopin, and lyrics by Bronislaw Kaper and John Latouche. Bat Boy and The Opposite of Sex star Kerry Butler sang the romantically comic "Here I Go Again" from Horwitt and Revel's Are You With It? with original Assassins star Eddie Korbich. Cabaret star Karen Mason made the romantic mood wry with "Bad Timing," from Gould, Comden and Green's Billion Dollar Baby. (Which begs the question– does it take nine hundred and ninety-nine million Clint Eastwood boxing movies to equal one Comden and Green musical? You decide.) Korbich returned to sing the charming and witty "A Rhyme for Angela" from Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin's The Firebrand of Florence. Mason returned to sing a sultry, jazzy rendition of "When I Marry Mr. Snow," the first song of the evening from Carousel, which had the distinction of being the first showstopper of the evening. Jekyll and Hyde and How to Succeed's exquisite soprano Christiane Noll sang a sweet "Turn on the Charm" from Marinka, which was accompanied by a beautiful pas de deux by Broadway's hottest hoofer Noah Racey and his Where's Charley co-star, Nili Bassman.

Eddie Korbich returned to kick off the "Unplugged" section of the evening, singing the haunting lullaby "Sleep Baby Don't Cry" from Carib Song with no amplification. And history was made as Act One drew to a close: Marc Kudisch, dressed in character- appropriate jeans and a sweater (in contrast to the formalwear of everyone else in the cast) entered with Christiane Noll to perform the famous "Bench Scene" from Carousel. They did not merely sing the famous "If I Loved You," which would certainly have been enough, they performed the whole scene, and without microphones. This is the true, breathtaking magic of the theatre: those flawless voices, those flawless lyrics, that flawless music, the intense emotion... all combined to give stunning new life to a classic scene from a classic show. Kudisch and Noll have never sounded better, and their chemistry in the scene was just... well, flawless.

And best of all, after each sang "If I Loved You," no one in the audience applauded. The scene progressed uninterrupted until the final kiss. As the house lights came up, Michael Dale looked around the theatre and remarked proudly, "1,200 people who know when not to clap!"

Eddie Korbich, who played Enoch Snow in Lincoln Center's acclaimed 1994 revival of Carousel, and Christiane Noll, who played Carrie at Paper Mill Playhouse, returned to sing the entire "When The Children Are Asleep" number from Carousel, playing up the humor, affection, and genuine love between the couple. Karen Mason returned to sing "Sing Me Not A Ballad" from The Firebird of Florence, and Kerry Butler displayed a surprisingly strong soprano voice with her gentle "What's The Use of Wondrin'?" from Carousel.

Marinka's "Treat A Woman Like A Drum," which certainly kept in with Carousel's attitude towards spousal abuse, served as the entr'acte to spare us from the violent lyrics. Kudisch, who stuck to playing Billy Bigelow throughout the concert, returned to sing the often-cut "The Highest Judge of All" from Carousel, again without a microphone, letting those few who have actually heard the song in a theatre before hear it unamplified for once.

Korbich and Mason sang an affectionate ode to grown-up affection with "You Haven't Changed At All" from Lerner and Loewe's The Day Before Spring, and the talented Mr. Racey returned to tap dance and sing an unamplified "I've Got a One Track Mind" from Billion Dollar Baby. To our dear readers in California: please take good care of Noah while he's in La Jolla's production of Palm Beach, and send him back to Broadway soon!

The three ladies gathered together to lament "My Love is a Married Man," a bright number from The Day Before Spring, and Scott Ailing returned to sing "Sigh by Night" from Marinka. Noll sang a gentle and lovely "Close As Pages in a Book" from Sigmund Romberg and Dorothy Fields' Up In Central Park.

As the evening drew to a close, Mr. Siegel had only three words to introduce the penultimate number; the song that, combined with the singer, could well have sold out the theatre on its own: "Marc. Kudisch. 'Soliloquy.'" Again unamplified, Mr. Kudisch effortlessly captured all the many complex and intricate emotions of the character, making one hope that he will play Billy Bigelow in a full production of Carousel soon. Very soon.

For the finale, the entire company gathered to sing the choral version of "You'll Never Walk Alone," that classic anthem of hope and love and friendship. It was the perfect ending to a wonderful evening of musical discovery– both of little-known songs, and new interpretations of classics.

Grab tickets now for The Broadway Musicals of 1955. May 2^nd can't come fast enough.