Broadway Originals: All Over Again

It used to be easy to define an original Broadway performance.  To say that someone introduced a song on Broadway simply meant they sang a brand new tune as a member of the original Broadway cast.  But nowadays we have a lot more revivals, often with new interpretations that re-originate a song.  We also have shows made up of songs that have long been popular being introduced by stage performers in a new context and Broadway versions of movie musicals where the original cast member is playing a classic role created by a film icon. 

So even if "Hit Me With a Hot Note" was a well-known standard before Terri Klausner sizzled with it in Sophisticated Ladies and even if millions hear the voice of Angela Lansbury, not Beth Fowler, when they think of the title song of Beauty and the Beast, it doesn't mean that these stage artists haven't contributed something special, and certainly original, to the Broadway theatre.  Both ladies were on hand at Town Hall, repeating their memorable performances, for the second annual Broadway Originals concert, as part of this year's Broadway Cabaret Festival. 

Directed by Dan Foster and hosted by Scott Siegel, this year's edition stretched through over 50 years of premiere performances, the most classic of which was the Broadway favorite Helen Gallagher, still sporting her trademark bangs, joyously belting "I Feel Like I'm Gonna Live Forever" from her 1953 star making vehicle, Hazel Flagg.  If you close your eyes, as I did, that distinctive voice sounds as fresh as it did on the cast album. 

 Nancy Dussault didn't sing Do Re Mi's big hit "Make Someone Happy" on that show's cast album.  Even though she and John Reardon both sang the number in the show, there was only room on the vinyl disc for his rendition.  So for many of us, hearing her sing that lovely Comden/Green/Styne ballad on the Town Hall stage, which she dedicated to her late co-star, was a truly original moment. 

Sheila Smith was sure rarin' to go when introduced to sing "When You Meet a Man in Chicago" from Sugar.  Since her character, Sweet Sue, was a bandleader, Smith came out with an oversized baton that she grandly waved at music director Jeff Klitz (piano), Warren Odze (drums) and John Miller (bass).  As she exited triumphantly, Siegel smiled and asserted, "That's the real deal." 

Stephen Bogardus, another real deal, once again asserted himself as Whizzer, the under appreciated lover of family man Marvin in Falsettos, dynamically singing "The Games I Play."  There was no shortage of elegant sopranos with Christiane Noll to sing "In His Eyes" from Jekyll & Hyde and Melissa Errico to exclaim "I Could Have Danced All Night" as she did in the 1993 revival of My Fair Lady.

 
Errico's Amour co-star Malcolm Gets was on hand to repeat his delightful performance with "Dusoliel on the Run", cut from the show in previews.  Ring of Fire'sLari White was all down-home charm with "All Over Again" and Liz Larsen, from the '92 revival of The Most Happy Fella, was a comic highlight with "Ooh, My Feet."

 
Mary Testa has been the comic highlight of many a show, but this time she soundly displayed her dramatic chops with "Paradise is Burning Down" from Marie Christine.

Martin Vidnovic is a true example of an actor re-originating a role in a revival.  His sexy, bad boy portrayal of Jud Fry in the '79 revival of Oklahoma! had admirers swooning like no Jud has had before.  We got a brief sample of his sex appeal in a powerfully dramatic Lonely Room.  And although All Shook Up was a new show when it opened last year, Cheyenne Jackson, playing another sexy bad boy, had some big blue suede shoes to fill singing the hits of Elvis Pressley.  But his own rendering of "If I Can Dream" caused more than a few swoons at both the Palace and Town Hall.

Irving Berlin's "Mr. Monotony" was cut from Easter Parade, Miss Liberty, and Call Me Madam before being introduced on Broadway by Debbie Gravitte (then known as Debbie Shapiro) in Jerome Robbins' Broadway.  Gravitte described the way the song got into the show as, "Jerome Robbins called Irving Berlin, Irving Berlin called Jerome Robbins, and then…I got my Tony!"If I ever grow tired of hearing Debbie Gravitte singing "Mr. Monotony" it means I have lost my taste for hearing extraordinary music and lyrics sensationally sung. 

"I Want It All", from Baby, is perhaps Broadway's best female trio since "Sing For Your Supper", and the show stopping team of Beth Fowler, Liz Callaway and Catherine Cox brought down the house once again in their celebration of expectant motherhood. 

There were no other trios sung that night, but there was a trio of impressive duets.  Seussical's original Horton, Kevin Chamberlin (a walking barrel of comic pathos and loveable sincerity) was reunited with his little JoJo, Anthony Hall, now a grownup college student, for an adorable and emotional reprise of "Alone in the Universe."  Noah Racey and Nancy Lemenager once again sparkled singing and dancing to "Pick Yourself Up", as they did in Never Gonna Dance and Joanna Gleason and Chip Zien were so touching as a married couple starting to really fall in love during "It Takes Two" from Into The Woods. 

I suppose few things can be more frustrating for a young actor making his Broadway debut than to give a show-stopping performance in a flop that closes in two weeks.  Scott Siegel described how Willy Falk "galvanized" audiences twenty-three years ago, playing a star-struck fan singing "You Are So Beyond" in Marilyn: An American Fable.  (I saw it in previews and yes, I was galvanized.)  Few got to see his performance, which was never even recorded on a cast album, so when Falk took the Town Hall stage to repeat the moment, it was new experience for most in attendance.  His sweet, heart-on-sleeve devotion to movie star Marilyn Monroe and ripping vocals once again captured a new audience, who responded with loud, vigorous applause and cheers.  It just goes to show that, even in the most legendary of commercial failures, you never know when a great musical theatre moment may sneak up on you. 

Photos by Genevieve Rafter Keddy Top: Sheila Smith 

Center: Cheyenne Jackson