54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Songs: Volume 5

Ron Forman | May 11, 2016

54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Songs: Volume 5

Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, May 7, 2016

Reviewed by Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes

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For a number of years, Scott Siegel produced and hosted a series of late night weekly, uniformly excellent Broadway Ballyhoo shows at different venues around town. He has taken that format to new heights in prime time to Feinstein’s/54 Below. That format is to present the very best Broadway songs sung by excellent voices introduced with interesting, entertaining and often hilarious comments by Siegel. The fifth edition of 54 Sings Broadway’s Greatest Songs featured six of Broadway’s brightest stars singing a dozen of Broadway’s best songs.

Julia Murney opened the show with a very dramatic rendering of “Maybe This Time,” a number not in the original Broadway production of Cabaret, but one added to the film version and subsequent stage productions. Murney would return later to do a very beautiful “Maria” (West Side Story) as a Mother’s Day song to a baby daughter. Performing the verse very slowly, Stephanie D’Abruzzo led into a luscious “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Martin Vidnovic (pictured), in a voice reminiscent of the great musical leading men of the past, reprised a number he performed in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, “Luck Be a Lady.” Broadway legend Lee Roy Reams told a very amusing story of how he got his role in 42nd Street, and then did a truly delightful “I Only Have Eyes for You” from that show. Although the Stephen Schwartz show The Baker’s Wife has never been produced on Broadway, the score — particularly, the song “Meadowlark” — has become a favorite of Broadway aficionados. Emily Behny’s rendition reminded me of why this song is so memorable. Also performing was Laurel Harris, with “On My Own.” Next to closing, Vidnovic returned for a masterfully touching “Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me).” Lee Roy Reams closed the show, by going back to the score of 42nd Street and sending the audience home with a rousing “Lullaby of Broadway.”

Tags: 42nd Street, 54 Sings Broadway's Greatest Hits Volume 5, American Songbook, Broadway Ballyhoo, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, Clubs, Composers, Emily Behny, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Great American Songbook, Guys and Dolls, I Only Have Eyes for You, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Julia Murney, Laurel Harris, Lee Roy Reams, Luck Be a Lady, Lullaby of Broadway, lyricists, Maria, Martin Vidnovic, Maybe This Time, Meadowlark, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, NYC, On My Own, Popular Song, Revues, Ron Forman, Scott Siegel, Show Tunes, Singers, Someone to Watch Over Me, Songbook, Standards, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, Stephen Schwartz, Supper Clubs, The Baker’s Wife, Venues, Vocalists, West Side Story, Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)