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Broadway By the Year: The Musicals of 1926
The unassuming but oh so witty impresario, Scott Siegel, has done it again. With the help of a star-studded cast of six and Ross Patterson's Little Big Band, Siegel once again delivered an evening full of humorous and informative anecdotes punctuated with marvelously performed melodies from the great and not so great Broadway musicals of the year under consideration. The mix of bite-sized history lessons and music was fun from the time a voiceover of Siegel, tells everyone to "put away your cell phone and put on a smile" until he took his usual place at the side of the stage and congratulated anyone born in 1926 for outwitting the statistical predictions of an average life span of fifty-four.
The year 1926 was, as the narrative portion of the show explains, an optimistic one and on Broadway the names Rodgers & Hart popped up on marquees again and again. Watching this during a much more meager show season, one can only marvel at the total of 40 new musicals that opened -- all available at under $5. Oh, Kay! The Desert Song, The Garrick Gaieties of 1926, Scandals of 1926 are just a few of the shows sampled.
Sutton Foster, best known to New York audiences as that thoroughly modern flapper of Thoroughly Modern Millie, was billed as the guest star. Essentially, like all these evenings, this is an ensemble piece and Nancy Opel and Nancy Anderson had every bit as much star power as Foster. In fact, if I had to pick one of these ladiesas the one I'd most like to see starring in her own big Broadway hit it would be Nancy Anderson. Her rendition of that irresistible toe-tapper and hummer, "Black Bottom" was one of many of the evening's highlights.
As long as I'm wishing on a star, I'd want Marc Kudisch to be Anderson's co-star. Kudisch, who actually played opposite Foster when Millie first opened and most recently has been one of the main reasons to see The Thing About Men, is a return visitor to this series. He is not only a superb show tune belter but a terrific comic actor.
Eddie Korbich, who delighted audiences in last season's final Broadway By the Year, again displayed his physical agility along with his fine voice and comic charm.
Nancy Opel, a theatrical double-dipper who's appeared not only in musicals but in straight plays -- notably as a regular in the short works of David Ives -- was a revelation as a glamorous torch singer. Bill Daugherty added the pleasure of a most satisfying big Irish tenor voice.
The audience seems to love the anecdotes as much as the performances. Siegel's jokes simply refuse to fall flat and his commentary is truly the glue that ties the evening together and justifies another hearing for songs from flops. The viewers were was most ecstatic -- and rightly so -- about the signature "unplugged" numbers delivered as they were originally sung -- without microphones. Accustomed as we've had to become to the hollow sound of over-ampliefied musicals, listening to these pure sounds is indeed a treat.
Since the Broadway By The Year series plays one night readers who weren't at Town Hall on February 9th can only partake of The Musicals of 1926 when it becomes available as a CD, as previous shows have. However, this is, as I said, the first of a 4-show season and as of now tickets are available for The Broadway Musicals of 1935 (March 15th), The Broadway Musicals of 1949 (April 19th), and The Broadway Musicals of 1963 (June 14th). Tickets are available from Town Hall at 123 W. 43rd Street (web site: www.the-townhall-nyc.org).
Another event that sounds like a must see is From Brooklyn to Hollywood, also at Town Hall and also conceived, written and produced by the untiring Scott Siegel. It's again a Monday only event (May 3rd) and will feature Natalie Douglas, Tovah Feldshugh, Annie Golden, Alix Korey and Sharon McNight
For a review of The Broadway Musicals of 1960 go here.
Reviewed by Elyse Sommer, 2/10/04.
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