Review: BACKSTAGE BABBLE Brings Bounty Of Broadway to 54 Below

Charles Kirsch may have 123 episodes of his podcast under his belt, but last night he made his nightclub debut as an onstage Master of Ceremonies when Backstage Babble (said podcast) transitioned into BACKSTAGE BABBLE LIVE!, one of the starriest, most entertaining, and most important nights of the cabaret season this year.

Mr. Kirsch's story is one that is well-known in the industry: a teenager with a healthy obsession for Broadway and musical theater sought to do more with his pandemic quarantine than read another book about the history of American musical theater, so he created a podcast on the topic. That podcast allowed the prodigy and theater history savant to talk about the topic of his ardor, but not on his own: Charles Kirsch willed (and worked) into existence a chat program during which he would interview the actors who have made Broadway what it is today.

Now that Backstage Babble is an established entity and Charles Kirsch, a considered force with which to be reckoned, it was decided that a live celebration should take place, in honor of All Things Babble. That live celebration was last night.

On the Backstage Babble event page at the 54 Below website, it is declared that Charles Kirsch is a fourteen-year-old who started the Backstage Babble podcast in 2020. Conversely, several of his guests from Backstage Babble Live! are actors who scored hits on Broadway a few decades back. Chances are that if a thirty or a forty or a fifty-year-old stranger cold-called Broadway stars with a request to be on their podcast, they might get a cautious demur, but when a twelve-year-old expert on Broadway wants to talk about the history of the art form and one's own work, it might prove irresistible to most actors. The intergenerational nature and depth of respect of Backstage Babble are heartwarming and hopeful, and it provides interested parties with a chance to hear stories from these prized and honored artists who are the threads in the tapestry of Broadway's history. How much more value could be brought to the Backstage Babble audiences than an opportunity to see and hear these esteemed performers live and in person? Much.

How many times did you listen to Dear World during your life? Because this guy found the cast album at the Reedley Public Library at the age of ten, nearly five decades ago, and played the vinyl record every day of his summer vacation, driving his grandparents to the brink of despair. The Follies cast album joined my collection when I was eighteen, and The Baker's Wife, when I was twenty. That is decades' worth of listening to Kurt Peterson sing from scores that have grown to mean the world to me, on albums that I play, still, at least once a month. Because of Backstage Babble Live!, I and others like me got to hear excised songs from all three of these shows, one of them being "Proud Lady" - and underneath my mask, I may have been mouthing along to the Stephen Schwartz composition. Surely every devotee of The Great White Way was feeling similar feelings as I, all throughout last night.

Although the story John Rubinstein told was a wonderful one about Mr. Sondheim and Merrily We Roll Along, when he sat down to play and sing "Growing Up" (a song he introduced when Merrily went West to California), there was no way, whatsoever, to keep from whispering to myself, "That's Pippin." And when two Jimmys from Grand Hotel turn up onstage anywhere to perform "Maybe My Baby Loves Me" it's a good day, but getting to hear the story of how David White stepped in on Broadway with three hours of rehearsal, only to land a lifelong friend in David Jackson was an added bonus for this Grand Hotel aficionado. Although Charles Busch confessed that he has never been in a Broadway play, he is one of the pillars of the industry, a playwright whose works people produce, and a Kabarettist whose stories people crave to hear, so the opportunity to see his take on "In Buddy's Eyes" was a treasure and a treat And who doesn't want to hear Christine Pedi sing "No Time At All" as everyone from Elaine Stritch to Julie Andrews? Nobody, that's who; everyone can use a little of that.

Backstage Babble Live! was a performance filled with one home run after another, as Mister Kirsch introduced his starry cast, sometimes with a few questions, others with minimal chat, always with some trivia (and always by memory) and there was clear adoration from the guests for the burgeoning show host, who is good, who is on the right track, and whose abilities will flourish with more practice, the kind of practice that could be gained with a second edition of Backstage Babble Live! (#bighint). Kirsch has captured the hearts of the community, as evidenced by affectionate hugs from Brad Oscar and Beth Fowler before and after their magnificent performances of "Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?" and "Patterns," and as made apparent by kind words of appreciation from Jill O'Hara (from Promises, Promises) and Lee Roy Reams (of 42nd Street), both of whom praised Kirsch for the work he is doing with his podcast and with this showcase. They, and anyone else, are right to praise Charles because this is important work. There is an audience for shows like this, there are people who want to see, to hear from, to know about these artists who made their mark in the past but who may not be quite as visible today as they should be. There's no point in being coy about age, no benefit in trying to be delicate: here in America (and, sadly, in show business), there is a youth obsession. While other countries venerate their elder statespeople, this country could do much better. All of the cast members of last night's show are valued and valuable, whatever their individual ages. They are relevant and they are vibrant, and if they want to work, they should get to work, but, quite often, they don't. There are cases of show business seniors who get to work for their entire lives, like evening highlight Len Cariou, who is still thriving on television's Bluebloods, but much of the time there simply isn't enough work to go around for the entertainers of advanced glamor. Last night Charles Kirsch gave people like this lifelong musical theater buff many a thrill because I never got to see Meg Bussert in person until Backstage Babble Live!. I've longed to see my favorite number from The Producers performed live, once more, by the man who introduced the song on Broadway. For nearly four decades I've waited to have Beth Fowler break my heart in person with the song from BABY that was written for her. I long for any chance to see Len Cariou live, having acquired the cast album to APPLAUSE at the ripe age of eight. Charles Kirsch isn't the first precocious child to fall in love with musical theater before graduating from Primary School, there are a lot of us out there... but he is the one to turn his obsession into a career before graduating from Junior High School. And, in doing so, he has given all of us something wonderful, something worthwhile, and something from which we can all benefit. May the young entrepreneur and artist keep the ball rolling on Backstage Babble for a long time to come, for as long as there are people who share his passion and performers to feed the souls of those people, there will be a need for both his podcast and live performances like the one we were all lucky enough to see last night.

Backstage Babble Live! was Musical Directed by Marvelous Maestro Michael Lavine, who is always a blessing to have involved in any production.

THIS is the Backstage Babble podcast website and HERE is the Backstage Babble Instagram page.

Find great shows to see at the 54 Below website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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