LEADING MAN: Wayman Wong

On Monday, the annual Leading Men benefit concert for Broadway Cares / Equity Fights AIDS will return for a fourth evening of showtunes and testosterone, celebrating the male voice in all its many forms. The event was created, and continues to be organized, by Wayman Wong, who used to write the Leading Men column for Playbill.

After noticing the many venues available to female singers both in theater and in the musical world in general, Wong decided to organize a concert that would focus exclusively on male Broadway and cabaret singers. On Memorial Day 2005, the first Leading Men concert premiered with Cheyenne Jackson, Matthew Morrison and Jai Rodriguez among the performers, and with Avenue Q’s John Tartaglia as host (a role he has repeated ever since).

“It was a wonderful, wonderful group of people, and each year, we just keep going,” Wong says, and cheerfully adds that audiences really can’t go wrong with an evening of good-looking guys with great voices. “If I had to put on all of my favorites, we would have a Jerry Lewis telethon!” he says when asked about selecting performers. “It’s a matter of calling up or emailing people and seeing if they’re available…There’s an embarrassment of riches in terms of guys to call on.”

While gathering the top singers in the biz for one concert is no easy feat, Wong tries to keep the process as simple as possible, despite the small team putting the project together. “Unlike a lot of benefits, we don’t have corporate sponsors,” he says. “We don’t have a staff! It’s me; Alan Muraoka, our director; Seth Rudetsky, our musical director; and we have the wonderful stage manager Alix Claps. That’s been the team for the last two years. We pretty much do it all.”

As for actually putting the show together, “most of the stuff actually happens on the day of the show,” Wong says. “Before then, of course, I’m inviting performers, and then I have to coordinate—‘What do you want to sing?’ And then I collect the music, and then Alan figures out what the running order of the show is, and runs the rehearsal. We try to make it as simple as possible. We don’t have production numbers. We don’t have costumes. It’s just a guy and a mic and a piano and some drums. And that’s usually pretty entertaining enough. With the right guy and the right song, you can’t go wrong.”

When asked to choose his favorite aspect of the Leading Men concerts, Wong muses for a moment before
praising the camaraderie among the performers. “Last year, practically every guy in the show stuck around [after his song] and watched the other guys,” he remembers. “They were in The Audience to support [each other]. And that made me so happy, that they had such a good time watching each other and rooting for each other. They were all in it; they were all having fun; they were all raising money for BC/EFA, which is why we’re all there.”

“In a nutshell,” Wong says with a mischevious grin, “I’d say that a Leading Men concert is literally hunks and hunks of fun.”

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Scheduled to perform at this year’s Leading Men concert are:

• Nick Adams (Guys and Dolls)
• Tom Andersen (Award-winning cabaret singer)
• James Barbour (A Tale of Two Cities)
•  Jim Caruso (Liza's at The Palace!)
• Michael Kadin Craig (Altar Boyz)
• Jack Donahue (Award-winning jazz singer)
• Kevin Earley (A Tale of Two Cities)
• Cody Green (West Side Story)
• Jonathan Groff (Spring Awakening)
• Norm Lewis (The Little Mermaid)
• Graham Phillips (16-year-old star of 13, who will be flying in from California for the concert)
• Tom Postilio (Award-winning cabaret singer)
• Zak Resnick (The Broadway Boys)
• Nicholas Rodriguez (Tarzan)
• Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy)
• Paolo Montalban (Cinderella)

Several Leading Men alumni offered their thoughts on the concerts:

John Tartaglia (Shrek the Musical), who has hosted every 'Leading Men' concert: 'First off, I would do anything for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. It's an amazing organization. But it's also a fun night with so many talented guys. We pretty much all know each other and have so much respect for each other and the work we do. Most of us are friends and so there's no egos there! We all watch and cheer each other on.'

Norm Lewis (The Little Mermaid): 'This is like an annual Broadway Fraternity Meeting. It truly gives men a
chance to shine. You have the Broadway divas concert, and let's face it, who doesn't want to see beautiful women hitting some amazing high Z sharp? So it's nice for us guys to show we can belt or be tender and get some 'divo' praise. I love each guy that hits that stage, and it's really cool when there is someone I don't know who knocks it out of the park. And we have to thank Wayman for doing an awesome job of producing it.'

Tom Andersen, an award-winning pop-cabaret singer: 'Wayman's enthusiasm is infectious, and everyone's there to support to Broadway Cares. Alan [Muraoka] does wonders as our director, and I love any excuse to spend time with Seth [Rudetsky] on keyboard. He's such a magnificent musician and a riot. The camaraderie among the guys is terrific, and there are no divas, or divos. And The Audience is always so sensational.'

Seth Rudetsky, who has music-directed every Leading Men concert: 'I love that it's always sold out, and The Audience is crazy-eager to hear the amazing singing [and see the] beefcake. It's great to know you're raising a ton of money for Broadway Cares. And you're not gonna see this lineup anywhere else, like last year, when Norm Lewis debuted 'Before the Parade Passes By.' That was one of the most amazing moments I've ever experienced. Unbelievable. And omigod, Tom Andersen singing his [AIDS] song, 'Yard Sale.' Norm and Tom were phenomenal. And Jonathan Groff doing his audition song, 'Try Me,' from 'She Loves Me' was hilarious and fun.'

Jonathan Groff (The Singing Forest): 'The reason I keep coming back to 'The Leading Men' concert is because it reminds me of what a fantastic community I'm a part of. This town has so many guys who are not only talented, but so kind and generous to give their time to charity. It's fun to hear them and hang out with them all.'

Photos by Linda Lenzi