Broadway Originals

Broadway Originals

Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, July 15, 2016

Reviewed by Joel Benjamin for Cabaret Scenes

How exciting it was to hear the singers assembled by Scott Siegel warble the numbers they performed in Broadway productions, especially the more senior cast members for whom time has been very kind.

Bill Hutton, wearing an appropriately colorful tie, told of getting the lead in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice) in 1982, from which he sang “Close Every Door,” with a tremulous bright pop tenor.

Hearing statuesque Shelly Burch do “Unusual Way” (Maury Yeston) from Nine (1982), directing it to her husband Martin Charnin, was quite moving.  Speaking of Charnin:  His absolutely gorgeous love ballad, “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You,” written with Richard Rodgers for Two by Two (1970) was rendered with heartrending emotion by Walter Willison.

The delightful Irish leprechaun Ken Jennings, the original Tobias in Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (1979) from which he sang “Not While I’m Around” with a youthful passion, following it up with a wickedly animated “Snuff That Girl” (Mark Hollmann/Greg Kotis) from Urinetown (2001).  The latter was accompanied by a truly hilarious story about why the Urinetown curtain was once unavoidably delayed.

Leading man Martin Vidnovic’s “From This Day On” (Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner) from a Brigadoon revival, had a youthful fervor and rich texture. Bob Stillman sang the wistfully rueful and very Cole Porter-ish, “Drift Away” (Scott Frankel/Michael Korie) from Grey Gardens (2006), relating his character’s fateful parting from the Big Edie character which sealed her fate. 

Daniel Reichard (pictured), dressed comfortably in shorts, was period perfect in his “Cry for Me” (Bob Gaudio/Bob Crewe), heard in Jersey Boys (2005).

This show opened with young Josh Grisetti repeating his ardent “Whatever” (Barbara Anselmi/Brian Hargrove) from the recent It Shoulda Been You and closed with Tony Danza’s epically sad/funny “Out of the Sun” (Jason Robert Brown), his brilliant turn from last season’s Honeymoon in Vegas in which he describes how his character’s wife sunbathed herself into an early death. Both men, the young and the old guard, were terrific.

As usual, Ross Patterson supplied the pliant, expert accompaniment.

Tags: Alan Jay Lerner, American Songbook, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Barbara Anselmi, Bill Hutton, Bob Crewe, Bob Gaudio, Bob Stillman, Brian Hargrove, Brigadoon, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Broadway Originals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, Close Every Door, Clubs, Cole Porter, Composers, Cry for Me, Daniel Reichard, Drift Away, Feinstein’s/54 Below, Frederick Loewe, From This Day On, Great American Songbook, Greg Kotis, Grey Gardens, Honeymoon in Vegas, I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not love You, Irish, It Shoulda Been You, Jason Robert Brown, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, Jersey Boys, Joel Benjamin, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Josh Grisetti, Ken Jennings, leprechaun, lyricists, Mark Hollmann, Martin Charnin, Martin Vidnovic, Maryann Lopinto, Maury Yeston, Michael Korie, Musicals, Musicians, Nightclubs, Nine, Not While I’m Around, NYC, Out of the Sun, Popular Song, Revues, Richard Rodgers, Ross Patterson, Scott Frankel, Scott Siegel, Shelly Burch, Show Tunes, Singers, Snuff That Girl, Songbook, Standards, Stephen Sondheim, Supper Clubs, Sweeney Todd, Tim Rice, Tony Danza, Two by Two, Unusual Way, Urinetown, Venues, Vocalists, Walter Willison, Whatever

Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional