BBTY 1954 - My Favs

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/8/08 at 11:50am

Steam Heat - Noah Racey (also choreo) & Melinda Sullivan

Hernando's Hideaway - Jen Cody & Mark Price

Won't You Charleston With Me? - Jen & Mark

Fanny - Sean Palmer

Racing With the Clock - Company

Captain Hook's Lament - Paul Schoeffler & The Pirates

I Won't Grow Up - Harvey Evans & The Lost Boys

Slide , Boy. Slide - Natalie Belcon & Kendrick Jones (also choreo)

I also loved the song Scott Coulter sang that was cut fr Peter Pan called something like "When I Went Home". This & Fanny made me cry. "Distant Melody" beautiful song, too.

Milla

[S.Liling]

Posted: 4/11/08 at 3:48pm

After March's "The Broadway Musicals of 1947," I was wondering how Scott Siegel and co. would ever manage to live up to the precedent set by that all-time-best night. It turns out I needn't have worried. While it's true that, without a director who is also a choreographer, 1954 lacked the inventive dance and overall ultra-professional seamlessness that characterized 1947, director Scott Coulter nevertheless managed to use his own, relaxed style to weave together an evening of terrific entertainment.

Mr. Coulter, the performers, and the very nature of the musicals from 1954 coalesced to give this concert a charming, intimate and fun feeling that was all its own. And it's this diversity that truly marks the strength of the "Broadway by the Year" series, and why I can confidently look forward to each month's installment. Each decade of Broadway musicals has such a different feel, and it seems to me that Mr. Siegel, along with each show's director and whoever else is involved, somehow comes up with a cast that is particularly suited to the flavor of whatever year is being performed. I think specifically of Jenn Cody in "Hernando's Hideaway" and "Please Don't Bring me Down a Baby Brother," Cheyenne Jackson in his numbers from "The Pajama Game," Paul Schoeffler as Captain Hook, and Natalie Venetia Belcon singing the various Pearl Bailey numbers from "House of Flowers." Of course, then there are the regulars who seem perfect in any year, like Emily Skinner, Noah Racey and Mr. Coulter himself.

I guess what I'm saying is that each new concert is a unique and unpredictable affair, and I look forward to being surprised all over again next month at the Musicals of 1965.