Broadway Stands Up for Freedom! (Mini Review)

The concert tonight at Symphony Space was absolutely fantastic! It was a concert to benefit the NY Civil Liberties Union. The entire evening was wonderful and every performance was great, but highlights for me included:

Tony Kushner(!)- His opening speech was well-written and quite funny, although it is obvious he is not an actor. He spoke SO quickly. It was a privilege to hear him speak.

Erich Bergen singing "Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman". Hilarious. He's got a great voice, and is adorable.

Celia Keenan-Bolger- She was part of a duet at first, but then came back out to sing a very cute song about a "party dress". She's wonderful at playing children.

Barrett Foa was great singing a song from L5Y, the name of which escapes me, as well as being a "Britney backup singer".

Cheyenne Jackson was wonderful I have no idea what he sang, but it was wonderful.

Michael Cerveris played his guitar and sang a song by "a young new composer making his Bway debut this year- Robert Zimmerman." He sang "The Times They Are a Changin'". It gave me chills.

Cady Huffman and Leah Hocking were both wonderful, as well.

And last, but most definitely NOT least, my new favorite person: Seth Rudetsky. He did an absolutely hysterical bit about Barbra Streisand (with a little bit of Bea Arthur). Words cannot describe how hilarious and incredible he is. He's also got a very nice singing voice!

Everyone was very kind and gracious at the "stagedoor". It was a lovely evening.

Audra, Jenn Gambatese, and Brenda Braxton were not there.

Eta: Was anyone there?

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Updated On: 7/24/06 at 11:27 PM

sad to hear no audra but glad to hear that celia and the gang were great. Wow what a clever idea to put Spark and Gravity together...i've always seen some similarities in those two songs.

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Oh, yeah, I forgot about Shoshana. She was good, but...I'm not a huge fan.

Sara Kramer was very good! I forget what exactly she sang, but it was about the earth moving and tumbling, or something. Sorry that's not very helpful.

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Tonight was so much fun! Some of my highlights/additional fun moments:

Tony Kushner first and foremost. His writing and ideas are so eloquent and sophisticated, but also simple and completely accessable, if that makes sense. He was asked to speak about the "natural" connection between Broadway and the NYCLU, which he did in a roundabout way, beginning with the fact that they're not really naturally connected.

Kevin Chamberlin sang a cute and funny song by Michael John LaChuisa (I hope I spelled that right.) about a priest who has a crush on the pope.

Celia Keenan-Bolger's song was wonderful and sweet and silly. I liked how she introduced it - as a song sung by a six-year-old who she (she being Celia) believes will one day grow up to fight for civil liberties.

Seth Rudetsky!

and of course Michael Cerveris.

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Updated On: 7/25/06 at 12:45 AM

Just filling in some blanks...

Vespertine - Sara Kramer sang "I Feel The Earth Move"

Also, the duet Celia sang was with Amanda Green, which I believe Amanda introduced as a song from her upcoming musical HIGH FIDELITY. The lyrics were something along the lines of "I'm ready to settle for you..."

Seth Rudetsky was hilarious!

Edit: And the number Barrett did from L5Y was "Moving Too Fast."

Updated On: 7/25/06 at 10:01 AM

Updated On: 10/26/14 at 11:53 AM