Review: BROADWAY IN THE PARK at Wolf Trap

Wolf Trap and Signature Theatre’s yearly collaboration continued this past weekend with the third edition of Broadway in The Park. A concert that is meant to showcase some of our best and brightest talent while also featuring two headliners from Broadway. The event is always a good time and this year’s edition was no exception.

The evening started with Signature Theatre’s Resident Musical Director Jon Kalbfleisch conducting the Wolf Trap orchestra, 25 players strong, in the “Overture” to Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady as orchestrated by Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang. For the musical theatre aficionados, that means the original charts were used.

Following that audible delight, the driving vamp of Scott Ninmer’s orchestration for Lieber and Stoller’s “On Broadway” hit and “Dame” Felicia Curry belted out this classic from Smokey Joe’s Café complete with her stellar backup singers comprised of Katie Mariko Murray and Tracy Lynn Olivera. So much DC theatre royalty in one place ALL HAIL!!

The plethora of local talent in this concert was off the charts to say the least.

Katie Mariko Murray’s “Johnny One Note” from Rodgers and Hart’s Babes in Arms, as orchestrated by Scott Ninmer, showed once again the range of talent Ms. Murray has as a performer. From sultry soprano to brassy belter, Katie Mariko Murray has it all.

Austin Colby and Bobby Smith’s performance of Cy Coleman and David Zippel’s “You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels proved how underrated that musical really is. Maybe it’s time for Signature to consider producing it in a future season. It was great to hear Colby and Smith’s vocal sparring and to hear Billy Byers’ original orchestration used. The song starts with a driving piano vamp (played here by the crazily talented Alex Tang) and just takes off from there. This was Smith’s only appearance of the evening but man, what an impression he left.

Phillip Attmore’s “Too Darn Hot” from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate” showed off his talents as a singer and a killer tapper. Add to that the swinging and kickin orchestration by our recently departed master orchestrator Don Sebesky and you have a perfect storm to showcase Attmore to be sure.

What can I say about Tracy Lynn Olivera that you don’t already know? She is a performer of killer proportions, and her signature (no pun intended) belt came ringing through with Stephen Sondheim’s “There Won’t Be Trumpets” which was originally cut from but in recent years restored to his short lived satirical Anyone Can Whistle. The original Don Walker orchestration was used here.

Kevin McAllister once again made my wife’s face light up with another Sondheim masterpiece. “Being Alive” from Company as arranged and orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick showcased McAllister’s ringing baritone to sheer perfection.

With all that local talent you might think what else did you need to make this edition of Broadway in The Park a success. How about as “Dame Curry introduced them, two Broadway divas!!

First up was the superb Megan Hilty who is best known as Ivy from NBC’s Smash and Broadway’s 9 to 5 and Wicked.

Ms. Hilty performed two songs by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman from Smash. The up tempo and show stopping “They Just Keep Moving the Line” and the heartbreaking “Second Hand White Baby Grand”. The contrast in the two songs showed the range of Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman’s score for that series and the versatility of Ms. Hilty as a performer. The orchestrations were by Fred Barton (They Just Keep Moving the Line) and Jeff Atmajian and Marc Shaiman (Second Hand White Baby Grand) respectively.

For those of you that missed Hilty’s Galinda (That’s Galinda with a GA) in Wicked her performance of Stephen Schwartz’s “Popular” gave you a pretty good idea of what it was like. The original William David Brohn orchestration was used.

Ending her set, Hilty left the audience wanting more and more of Jule Styne and Leo Robin’s “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Gentleman Prefer Blondes. She performed in the show at City Center Encores!. Fred Barton provided the jazzy and showstopping orchestration.

Hang on we’re not done yet. What else could have made this evening any better? How about the brilliance that is Lea Salonga?

Best known as the singing voices of Jasmine and Mulan for Disney, Ms. Salonga’s stellar career includes many performances on Broadway. She was the first Asian to win a Tony Award for her performance as Kim in Miss Saigon and is currently, for a short time, performing in Here Lies Love.

Her set started with “I’d Give My Life to You” from Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil and Richard Maltby Jr’s Miss Saigon.

This was followed by a haunting rendition of “Send in The Clowns” from Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music and featured clarinet solos by Lee Lachman and oboe solos by Ben Bokor.

Her “dead girl” medley from Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boublil, Jean-Marc Natel, and Herbert Kretzmer’s Les Misérables paired “On My Own” and “I Dreamed a Dream” and showcased both of Salonga’s past performances as Fantine and Eponine in the hit show.

Almost all of Salonga’s arrangements and orchestrations were done by her very talented brother Gerald Salonga.

The only exception to this was a once in a lifetime duet by Salonga and Hilty of Stephen Schwartz’s “For Good” from Wicked. William David Brohn’s original orchestration was used here.

The evening came to an unbelievable finish with Salonga and members of the local company of performers singing Pasek and Paul’s “This Is Me” from The Greatest Showman.

Once again, Signature Theatre’s wunderkind of an Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner put together a crowd pleasing and classy evening of Broadway and beyond for 6,000 plus to enjoy.

This kind of show simply can’t run without a strong stage manager so kudos to Taryn Friend for keeping the evening moving along with her usual brilliance.

Once again Wolf Trap and Signature Theatre started summer off with a bang. Let’s hope this winning collaboration continues for many years to come.

Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission.

Broadway in The Park was a one night only event at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for The Performing Arts on June 16th, 2023.

Lead photo credit: L-R Austin Colby, Phillip Attmore and Kevin McAllister performing "New York, New York" in Broadway In The Park. Photo by Traci Medlock.

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