Review: Towne Centre's BLACK TIE BROADWAY

The discerning act of cherry-picking songs from the scores of countless musicals and then knitting them together in a revue format is far more difficult than you might think. It requires a great deal of knowledge and awareness to bring disparate styles and motifs under one roof, as it were, to tell some sort of relatable story that meanders and moves - and sometimes hurtles - toward a credible conclusion while entertaining for maximum impact.

Luckily, for audiences of Towne Centre Theatre's 2016 season-opening Black Tie Broadway, an original revue conceived by director/arranger John Ray, they are offered two hours of entertainment given a luxe treatment by a 13-member cast who are having a swell time singing the best of musical theater. Consistent and confident, Ray's cast bring a plethora of showtunes to the stage of the Brentwood theater - some you'll remember from the very first note, others you may be hearing for the first time.

The array of songs kicks off with an interesting arrangement of "Magic to Do" from Pippin which introduces the performers to their audience in a terrific manner, thanks to their enthusiasm and energy and to Katherine Boettcher's original choreography for the number. Nashville theater stalwart Howard Snyder is featured in Gilbert and Sullivan's "Modern Major General" from Pirates of Penzance, which he performs with much vigor and aplomb, backed up by the ensemble's antics.

Olivia Skurka's performance of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II's "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man" from Show Boat provides a transformative musical moment that is well worth the price of admission - something that can also be said of Christy Hathcock's penultimate number in Act Two: Stephen Schwartz's "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, which is performed with a blend of emotion and power that was rather stunning. The two numbers are lovely and appealing, recalling two genre-changing shows whose creations were almost 80 years apart.

The Rodgers and Hammerstein canon is well-represented throughout the program, with selections from Oklahoma! (Kamryn Boyd and Will Lasley's "People Will Say We're in Love" is dandy - she's terrific and he has stage presence to spare) South Pacific (Ed Evins sings "Some Enchanted Evening"), The King and I (Hathcock's "Hello, Young Lovers" is stirring and romantic), The Sound of Music and Carousel - the latter two hit musicals provide Black Tie Broadway with its rousing grand finale, a medley of "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" and "You'll Never Walk Alone" that is as inspiring as you could hope.

Abigail Haggard delivers a splendid version of "I Hate Men" from Cole Porter's Kiss Me, Kate, that's delightfully acerbic and winningly performed, and she is joined by Kate Murphy Johnston (whose rendition of "Memory" from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cats is a gorgeous highlight of Act Two) and Skurka for a wonderful nugget from Stephen Sondheim's Company: "You Could Drive a Person Crazy," which the three women perform with charm and humor to great effect.

Vanessa Londino's talents shine in "Somewhere" from West Side Story (in a duet with Evins) and Act Two's "Someone Like You" (from Frank Wildhorn's Jekyll and Hyde). Linked together by Londino's performance, the revue connects the two altogether different musicals with similar stylistic appeal.

Danielle Threet's performance of "On My Own" from Les Miserables provides one of Act Two's most noteworthy moments as she performs with thorough commitment to her role. Kelly Dutton's "Christmas Lullaby" from Jason Robert Brown's Songs For A New World introduces audiences to a mostly unknown (outside of its theater savvy fans) work of musical theater that should bring even more people to its cadre of devotees. Her duo with Lauren Martin on Thoroughly Modern Millie's "How The Other Half Lives" is another highlight of the second act. Shawn Davie, singing the role of Leaf Coneybear, performs "I'm Not That Smart" from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee with a solid sense of humor.

Ray's artful curation of the 28 songs performed in Black Tie Broadway results in a lovely evening at the theater, with no through-line connecting the beloved tunes which are, nonetheless, presented with a perspective that somehow links them all together as one. It's a largely successful undertaking, to be certain, although there are a few clunkers to be found if you are truly nitpicking.

The women of the ensemble fare more successfully than the men, but there is a pervasive sense of camaraderie among the entire cast that virtually guarantees that "a good time [will] be had by all" who find themselves among the audience for Black Tie Broadway. The ensemble's Act One closer - "The Impossible Dream" from Man of La Mancha - provides the first stanza with an emphatic mark of musical punctuation to ring down the curtain, while "Ease On Down the Road" (presented at the midpoint of Act Two) again showcases Boettcher's choreography to grand effect.

Watching the proceedings as an audience member is different from studying the show as a theater critic: While I may have been dismayed by the lugubrious pace of some transitions, others around me seemed to take them in stride, choosing instead to focus on the altogether pleasant renderings of some gorgeous songs. The show runs through February 13, so it should be fairly well set now, but if it's ever revived - and it should be since it contains some of my favorite songs - I'd suggest these improvements: Edit out as many of the props and set pieces as possible to improve the flow and cut down on the costume changes (perhaps have one costume per performer for act one and another for act two). These are mere quibbles, of course, when stacked up against everything that works in the show, but since theater is organic, such notes could make an already good production more scintillating and accessible.

• Black Tie Broadway. An original revue by director/arranger John Ray. Produced by Kristin Rosario. Choreographed by Katherine Boettcher. Presented by Towne Centre Theatre, 136 Frierson Street, Brentwood. Through February 13. For details, go to www.townecentretheatre.com. Running time: 2 hours (with one 15-minute intermission).

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