Broadway for Medicine benefit. A great success!

I attended the Broadway for Medicine benefit tonight which raised $1 million (!!) for the National Foundation for Facial Reconstruction. It was such a wonderful show! Some of the highlights:

-Donna McKechnie singing and dancing to "The Music & the Mirror." I am so happy that I got to see her perform this song. I never saw the original production of A Chorus Line, but I have listened to the cast album many times and adore this song. She sounded wonderful! I couldn't believe it was over 30 years ago that she first performed that number.

-Betty Buckley singing "Memory." Oh this was just something else. As soon as the first notes began and the audience realized what sogn she was doing, everyone broke out into immediate applause. This is such a beautiful song and again, while I did see Cats it wasn't with her in the role, so to hear her perform it live was such a treat.

-The finale with Hugh Panaro & Lisa Vroman singing "Make Our Garden Grow" from Candide. These two performers have such wonderful chemistry. I love hearing them together. Hugh & Lisa were my favorite pair to play opposite each other as the Phantom & Christine and their voices just played off one another magnificently in this piece.

Some other great moments were Mimi Hines singing "The Music That Makes Me Dance," which brought the house down. There must have been a minute of applause & shouted "Bravo"s for her. I also loved seeing Howard McGillin, Manoel Felciano & Malcom Gets.

Such a brilliant show overall, and I had a wonderful time! Was anyone else lucky enough to attend?

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Hmm, Kate Burton didn't perform anything. Was she scheduled to attend? The full set list was as follows:

Melissa Errico - "He Was Too Good To Me"
Manoel Felciano - "Finishing the Hat"
Deborah Gibson - "I'm the Greatest Star"
Joanna Gleason - "Everybody Loves My Baby"
Howard McGillin - "My Romance/The Folks Who Live on the Hill"
Charles Busch - "The Stepmother" (a dialogue performance piece)
Mimi Hines - "The Music That Makes Me Dance"
Josh Strickland, Jenn Gambatese & Chester Gregory - "Son of Man"
Malcolm Gets - "Way Ahead of My Time"
Debbie Gravitte - "Defying Gravity"
Donna McKechnie - "The Music & the Mirror"
Betty Buckley - "With One Look"
Betty Buckley - "Memory"
Hugh Panaro & Lisa Vroman - "Make Our Garden Grow"

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I was able to attend the benefit. Burton was on the poster outside the theatre, but no performance. I'm assuming that's why Betty Buckley performed two songs.

Julie Halston was hysterical as the host.

Rosie's Broadway Kids were adorable. I love what she does for the theatre community.

Debbie Gravitte did an...interesting...Defying Gravity. I didn't like it at all.

Updated On: 3/13/07 at 01:03 AM

It was an interesting take on Gravity, with it being in a much lower key...or reworked, like the end didn't go up much at all. Some notes were nice, but overall, I like the way it is in the show better.

I, too, was lucky enough to attend this amazing night and I am so glad I did! Along with Kate Burton, Andrea McArdle and Judy Kuhn were scheduled to perform but did not. I'm used to there being a couple of performers who are no-shows, and the cast we did get certainly made up for the no-shows.

Joanna Gleason's back-up singers included former DRS'ers Tim Alex and Dennis Stowe! What a treat to see them. (I could have sworn the second name Halston said was Michael Berresse...I was in the rear mezz and couldn't see that well, but I had a feeling I heard wrong. Did anyone get the actual name? Would have been cool if it was another DRS'er. Anyway, the 3 of them carried Joanna on sideways--she said she always wanted to do that. Heh.

I really enjoyed Charles Busch' stepmother story. Was excited to hear the end as he proceeded with it.

Mimi Hines' performance was wonderful. When Halston came back out, she said that she and others were crying backstage. Very touching.

Josh Strickland, Jenn Gambatese and Chester Gregory totally rocked out on Son of Man, with Chester singing his usual part, Josh taking other solos, and Jenn providing the female harmony. It's one of my favorite songs from Tarzan, just gets me moving, high energy and fun, and the 3 of them were definitely having fun up there.

A little off-topic but I saw Malcom Gets in Finian's Rainbow in Conn (with Melissa Errico) as Og, and he was hysterical and stole the show. he was funny tonight as well, but wanted to share that fact for no good reason.

But the most amazing moments of the nights were saved for the end. Donna came out looking radiant as ever (everytime I see her, she looks more amazing for her age) and the music started playing for Chorus Line and she introduced the song by explaining A Chorus Line...Michael Bennett, etc, got dancers together to tell their stories, etc..."and this is my story." And began to sing the music and the mirror. I grabbed my friend's hand and squeezed it I was so excited. She still sounds great, especially some particular belted notes. But then when she started dancing--ahh! What a treasure to see. Sure, it wasn't the total exhaust-fest choreography that she danced in the original production, but she did quite a few turns, and still did perfect dips. What a treat to see. Knowing this was her story and there she is singing and dancing...gah.

Betty Buckley...wow. With One Look was gorgeous, but Memory...sure who liked Cats, but that is a great song and to hear her sing it...I was so excited, and I got such chills when she started the key change during "Touch Me."

I might also add there was a wonderful orchestra on the stage (very good sax soloist), and Buckley's songs made me realize just how much I adore Webber's orchestrations. They're so beautiful. OT, anyway...

but speak of orchestrations...as soon as I heard the beginning of Make Your Garden Grow...Candide...Bernstein, ahh! And I've always been a huge fan of Hugh's but damn, he blew me away tonight! He's seriously ready for his opera debut should he want one. It was so beautiful. It's such a great hard song, and they did such a great job with it. A wonderful finale.

I'll also briefly add that Donna was a doll at the stage door, taking pictures, signing, and was so sweet and thankful for compliments and laughed as my friend and I told her how we were about 4 when the original chorus line closed, etc. And I know there's been stories about Betty Buckley, and I was a couple feet away, but she did seem to be gracious and seemed to sign and take pics with everyone, just something I thought I would mention.

All in all, a wonderful benefit for a great cause. I did not expect some of the performances at the end--what a wonderful night!

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I also attended the benefit last night. Everyone was amazing and a few performances brought down the house. The audience was great last night!! I agree that "Defying Gravity" was not great.

Hugh Panaro was fantasic last night and sounded amazing, since last seeing him in Lestat.
Josh Strickland, Jenn Gambatese, and Chester Gregory were amazing last night singing "Son of Man". It was great to see the 3 of them sing together and Josh completely rocked it out last night!

LOL! Ok then.

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