Julia was a no-show, not the wolf, not sure who was.
Kerry belted the hell out of her song.
"Hello Little Girl" was combined with a little of "I Know Things Now." It worked great, the scene was in a bar, Red was being come on to by a girl, "the wolf." The line "when you're talking to your meal" went over great.
"Take Me Or Leave Me" was one of my highlights. The two of them were having so much fun with it, and best part was instead of saying "Kiss pookie," David said "Kiss Doogie."
"A Boy Like That" was amazing, especially Aaron with those low notes. That song got the first curtain call of the night.
I haven't seen The Little Mermaid, but Sierra was quite impressive, she sang the chorus part of "Kiss The Girl" solo and everything.
"Bitch of Living" was fun, they brought a couple members of the Spring Awakening band. All the main girls were there except Lea, and in addition to Lilli and Remy, Phoebe Strole sang Georg's part.
Another highlight of mine was "I Want It All." I love this song in general, and Jose, Gavin, and Brooks did such a great job with it (Gavin was a surprise, I don't remember seeing his name anywhere on the announcement -- a lovely surprise though!) They even set this song up as a scene -- Brooks was hesistantly going to an I-want-to-be-a-daddy meeting, and Jose and Gavin were already there, singing the song, encouraging him, until he finally gave in and sang the last verse. The 3 of them sang great both together and individual.
Len Carou told a great story regarding "Send In The Clowns." Sondheim obviously wrote the musical as it progressed, and he kept telling Len that he was gonna get the big 11 o'clock number he was working on. So at one point, Hal Prince, Hugh Wheeler, Glynis Johns, and Len staged the scene where the song would take place. Sondheim watched, kinda went "hmm" and left. The next day the whole company gathered, and Len got ready to sing the song, until Sondheim went up to him and was like "by the way, Len, you're not singing the song anymore, Glynis is." So Len sang what he called HIS song.
Also, before announcing Len, Seth said that this next performer should have started in a film recently...he proceeded to imitate Johnny Depp's "Epiphany," and went "that's not how I remember it on the cast recording..."
Another highlight was "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta My Hair," complete with stripping and a shower scene (though I could see around the "shower curtain" that they still had some undies on, despite appearing naked. Boo. Ah well, it was good enough. One of the dancers was Chuck Saculla, a Broadway Bares regular and cast member of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, it was great seeing him again.
Lainie hit an a-mah-zing note at the end of her song, and then Seth talked to her for a bit, had her tell her story of her first time going on in Funny Girl, which was about a year and a half into the run. Lainie had a list of everyone she was supposed to call when she went on, so she got the call, called everyone, and they all came. 5 minutes before the show started, Barbra walked in and announced "I'm going on." Lainie was crushed. So the next day, the company manager told her she's going on, but that she can't call anyone. She pleaded with him to let her call her mother...who had a duplicate copy of the list.
I was simply speechless after Titus' "Maybe This Time." Those notes he was hitting at the end...there aren't words.
"Suddenly Seymour" was a treat, great to see Anthony sing his part. I found it hysterical that Anthony stood and Cheyenne sat on a stool, presumably so they could be more eye level.
All in all, a great night. I missed out on rush (got there at 5:40), but they sold several side orchestra seats to people in the line for $50, so I can't complain. Great talent and a great cause on the stage. You could tell everyone was having a lot of fun.
"If there was a Mount Rushmore for Broadway scores, "West Side Story" would be front and center. It snaps, it crackles it pops! It surges with a roar, its energy and sheer life undiminished by the years" - NYPost reviewer Elisabeth Vincentelli
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