Broadway by the Year: 1962

All good things, as they say, come to an end, and so to must each Broadway By The Year season. Monday's season finale showcased the musicals of 1962, and, as directed by Bryan Batt, nicely captured the slowly fading innocence of that year.

The evening began with the bright "What A Country" from Adams and Strouse's All American before creator/producer/host Scott Siegel set the scene for the evening, giving the audience a quick glimpse of what America and Broadway were like in 1962, when both were losing their innocence if not their optimism.

In a delightful bending of the rules and stretching of the imagination, surprise guest Robert Goulet arrived to sing his first hit, "If Ever I Would Leave You" from Camelot. The bending? Camelot opened in 1960. The stretching? It was still running in 1962, and Goulet was still singing "If Ever I Would Leave You" every night. The bending and stretching didn't ultimately matter: it was nothing less than exhilarating to hear his stories of performing with Julie Andrews and Richard Burton, and see that wonderful moment recreated by its originator more than forty years after it premiered. Especially exciting was the lack of amplification for both his narration and singing, proving that a well-maintained voice can survive forty years of Vegas to come back home where it belongs.

Once Mr. Goulet departed to sustained cheers and applause, Danny Gurwin was left with the unenviable task of following the legend, and tried to keep the energy up with "Love I Hear" from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. Alas, the moment felt anti-climactic and false rather than sweet and funny, despite Gurwin's lovely voice. Fortunately, Felicia Finley and Christine Pedi brought the energy and the laughs right back with the adorable "The Secret Service Makes Me Nervous" from Irving Berlin's Mr. President, and Scott Coulter raised the temperature with a sassy and swingy "I've Got Your Number" from Little Me.

In the impressions department, former Forbidden Broadway stars Brad Oscar and Christine Pedi channeled Al Jolson and Barbra Streisand, respectively, in their renditions of "Momma Momma" and "Miss Marmelstein" from I Can Get It For You Wholesale. The lovely Felicia Finley showed off her range with the smooth "In The Morning"from the flop revue New Faces of 1962, and Oscar and Pedi returned to sing a smart and sharp "What's In It For Me?" from Wholesale.

Danny Gurwin redeemed his earlier missteps with a truly heartfelt and lovely "Once Upon A Time" from All American, and Liz Callaway returned to sing a plaintive "The Other Side of the Tracks" from Little Me. The cast gathered to sing the rousing "Gonna Build A Mountain" from Stop the World... as an energetic end to the first act.

Act Two opened with the sweetly scathing"Moral Re-Armament" from New Faces, complete with religious robes. Brad Oscar returned to sing a swingy "I'm All I've Got" from Bravo, Giovanni, and Scott Coulter sang "Mamie in the Afternoon" from the John Kander, James Goldman, and William Goldman flop A Family Affair. The song is probably most notable for being remade into "Arthur in the Afternoon" in Kander's score for the Liza Minnelli vehicle The Act.

La Pedi sang an adorably frantic "I'm Calm" from Forum– with the original, rarely-performed lyrics– and the menfolk returned to sing the vaudevillian "Everybody Ought to Have a Maid," joined by Will Taylor and Eric Stretch, two Cagelles from La Cage Aux Folles, as the maids in question. Liz Callaway sang an emotional "Poor Little Hollywood Star" from Little Me, and Danny Gurwin and Felicia Finley turned "Real Live Girl," from the same show, into a dream ballet. (Might have been funnier if the song were sung to Will Taylor and Eric Stretch, but any chance to see Gurwin and Finley being adorable– and dancing!– is good.) Coulter sang a very powerful "What Kind of Fool Am I?," and Brad Oscar sang the only other unamplified song of the evening, "Once in a Lifetime," both from Stop the World.... Perhaps the singers were saving their voices for the Broadway Unplugged concert on September 19, but the lack of unamplified songs was a little disappointing. It is always a joy to hear well-trained voices in their natural state, and many kudos must go to Mr. Siegel for providing them at each Broadway by the Year concert. Here's hoping that the next edition will have many more.

The evening moved into its finale on a bit of a down note, literally: Ross Patterson's quasi-choral arrangement of Richard Rodgers' "The Sweetest Sounds" from No Strings, was more mournful than hopeful, which, while pretty, dragged down the emotional energy. Fortunately, the encore, a quick group version of "Comedy Tonight," snapped it all right back up, and the audience exited the Town Hall beaming and humming, just as the crowds must have done after the first nights of Forum, Stop the World, and Little Me.

And so ended another exciting season of Broadway by the Year, and March 6^th, featuring the musicals of 1930, can't come fast enough.

Pictures courtesy of Maryann Lopinto