Broadway Backwards

Anyone have an extra ticket to sell? PM me.

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Probably the same person who scheduled Marc Kudisch's one-man concert against "Broadway By the Year - 1921" the following Monday...

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I found the evening pretty emotional and ended up shedding a few tears. I was not expecting the evening to focus as much on the recent suicides of LGBT youth, which is an issues that is really personal for me.

I was particularly moved by "Summer Nights" performed by Farah Alvin and Jason Tam (with Jan Maxwell as the school principal). I know that sounds RIDICULOUS, but I think it was because I was about 12 years old when the movie was released and hearing Jason Tam sing Danny's part about "meeting a boy, cute as can be" unleashed a lot of joy that we as young gay kids growing up don't get to feel when we see these things portrayed on film, TV and the stage.

Other favorites for me were "Cell Block Tango" performed by 6 hot guys and the Hunyak being Asian. Hilarious. Bobby Steggert can pretty much do no wrong in my opinion, and he and Robin De Jesus, Mo Rocca and the ensemble opened up the second act with "The Trolley Song' which I wish I could just watch over and over again.

I think the best number though had to go to Tony Yazbeck, who knocked it out of the park with "The Music and the Mirror" complete with his asking Zach for a job in the chorus and what I believe to have been the same choreography that the Cassies have done. Somehow even when he was facing the mirror doing the more feminine looking parts of the choreography, he looked so sexy. I had an album of "show stopping numbers" when I was a teenager, and this song was on it...and Mr. Y stopped the show for me last night.

There were also great solo performances:
Clay Aiken (Home)
Titus Burgess (Stars and the Moon)
Deb Monk (On the Street Where You Live)
Lilias White (Some Enchanted Evening)

The show closed with F Murray Abraham and the ensemble singing "Hello, Young Lovers" along with a young man named JoJo Edward who shared his story of coming to terms with who he is and who he was meant to be with the help of The LGBT Center and its staff and programs.

I can post all the other numbers later if anyone wants, just don't have time now.

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Updated On: 2/8/11 at 09:23 AM

"You Can Drive A Person Crazy" was fine, PJ, but it wasn't a particular standout for me. I was hoping Coleman would have gotten a solo.

The most effective (and affecting) songs for me were the ones done "straight" - as written, with no winking to the audience.

Yazbeck was dazzling... and heartbreaking as he begs his old boyfriend for a job. I don't think a word of the original Cassie/Zach dialogue was altered.

Just as stunning was Brian Charles Rooney's first-act closer as a transgendered young man who is "But Alive!"

And Bobby Steggert was winsome perfection in "The Trolley Song", wittily and rather elaborately staged on a San Francisco trolley. (I instantly thought "Oh, I hope PJ got that extra ticket!") All the ensemble numbers were beautifully choreographed.

Have to note that "Daddy" Len Cariou gave a lovely take on "Bewitched".

The only think I would change: substitute Norm Lewis for Titus Burgess. TB's "Stars and the Moon" was godawful - rushed, garbled and incomprehensible.

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Karen & Mandy Gonzales did "When You're Home". It was (IMHO) the best Lezbunn moment of the show. (IMHO, BB could have used a few more).

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Broadway Backwards was wonderful! I really liked the construct of weaving recent news stories and commentary around the songs. That context made some of the songs so much more poignant.

Some of the highlights:

The sense of joy in Debra Monk's On the Street Where You Live

The playfulness of Alan Cumming's military-themed Don't Tell Mama (a perfect fit with Don't Ask, Don't Tell)

The pairing of Clay Aiken's Home with a story about a teen suicide really highlighted the work of the LGBT Center

The sweet romances of The Trolley Song (set on a San Francisco cable car) and Summer Loving (paired with the Constance MacMillan story) made me smile so very hard. So did When You're Home, which made me miss In the Heights already.

Cell Block Tango was absolutely fierce.

Tony Yazbeck's The Music and the Mirror was both mesmerizing and heartbreaking. I'd wondered if he'd used the same Cassie choreography as well as the monologue.

Lilias White's Some Enchanted Evening brought down the house.

I enjoyed every minute of the show.

Updated On: 2/9/11 at 10:13 AM

The disco "Some Enchanted Evening" proved what most of us have always known: Lillias White can do anything. Anything. She could play her own Siamese twin in a revival of Side Show.

This site's Broadway Beat has 7 1/2 minutes of clips:
Don't Tell Mama, Cell Block Tango, All I Care About; Some Enchanted Evening;The Trolley Song; Hello Young Lovers; Music and Mirror, Home.