Chad Kimball and Carole Bufford
photo by Maryann Lopinto
Scott Siegel, the creator, writer and host of this lauded series, now in its tenth year, was again in rare form celebrating the Broadway Musicals of 1927. He began by setting the scene recounting some of the highlights of 1927 - Babe Ruth set homerun record, Lindbergh’s first solo flight across the Atlantic, Farnsworth filed patent for first TV, Kool Aid, 1st Sink Garbage disposal, and commercial Baby Food were all invented. Al Jolson starred in first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, changing the film industry, a record 264 plays and musicals opened including Show Boat (which ran 572 performances), Connecticut Yankee, Good News, Funny Face and others. The evening was a treasure trove of song and dance featuring a huge cast of some of the best young Broadway and Cabaret talent today. The expert musical direction was by Ross Paterson and his Little Big Band.
The show opened with Christopher Fitzgerald, the Leprechaun in the recent revival of Finian’s Rainbow, singing “Sometimes I’m Happy” from Hit The Deck and later performed an adorable duet of “Funny Face” from Funny Face with Carole Bufford. The beautiful Kate Baldwin (Finian’s Rainbow) wowed the audience with “You Are Love” (Show Boat) with Alexander Gemignani, who directed the show. Christiane Noll, the star of the recent revival of Ragtime, sang a gorgeous duet of “Make Believe” (Show Boat) with Quentin Earl Darrington, her co-star in Ragtime. She also performed an amusing version of “Life Upon The Wicked Stage.” Marc Kudish, a BBTY favorite, was very funny singing “She Don’t Wanna” ((Ziegfeld Follies of 1927) and an unplugged rendition of “Here I Am Broken Heated (Artists and Models). Then Marc and Jeffry Denman played banjos singing “He Loves and She Loves” (Funny Face) as a duet. The most memorable numbers of the evening involved the terrific dancers and choreography. Kendrick Jones brought steps on the stage and danced a smooth “The Five Step” (Manhattan Mary) and as Scott said, “only Kendrick can take 3 steps and turn them into 5.” Then he and Melinda Sullivan danced and sang the popular “The Varsity Drag” from Good News. The incredible Jeffry Denman & Noah Racey, recreated Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire’s duet “The Babbitt and the Bromide (Funny Face) and added some choreography of their own – it brought down the house! Chad Kimball, the star of Memphis, scored with “My Blue Heaven” and performed the duet “Thou Swell” (Connecticut Yankee) with Carole Bufford. The golden-voiced Bobby Steggert, ran over to The Town Hall from a press performance of Yank to sing “S’Wonderful” from Funny Face. If anyone had the blues, they were all dispersed with the closing number as the remarkable cast came on stage to sing Irving Berlin’s “Shaking The Blues Away” from Ziegfeld Follies.
Rag Time’s sensation leading male, Quentin Earl Darrington with, Honey Mooners Joyce Randolph and WVOX theatre reviewer Joyce Vetere following his Town Hall debut in Scott Seigel’s Broadway Musicals of 1927
Photo by Dan Miller/DMD IMAGES
Tickets available at Ticketmaster.com or 1-800-982-2787.
www.the-townhall-nyc.org
Next concert: March 22, 2010 - Broadway Musicals of 1948.