Broadway's Greatest Showstoppers

[UnderTheHill]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 3:51pm

Did anyone else attend the Marvin Hamlisch Broadway's Greatest Showstoppers yesterday with the New York Philharmonic? It was about 90 minutes in length with Kristin Chenoweth and Raul Esparza as the main singers. Was a fun time all around, especially sitting in the first orchestra section. Being able to hear all the songs performed by the Philharmonic was really great. These were the songs performed:

"There’s No Business Like Show Business" from Annie Get Your Gun

"Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables

"Ol' Man River" from Show Boat

Music from My Fair Lady

Soliloquy from Carousel

"Being Alive" from Company

"Vanilla Ice Cream" from She Loves Me

"Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide

"Tonight" from West Side Story

Overture from A Chorus Line

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 4:13pm

Um, like A CHORUS LINE ain't gots no Overture.


"Turkey Lurkey Time" from PROMISES, PROMISES

[insertclevernamehere]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:18pm

There are some sound clips on kchenoweth.net. My personal favorite is Kristin and Raul singing "Anything You Can Do".

[morosco]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:27pm

Overture from A Chorus Line

Oh good lord. Is Marvin Hamlisch still serving up that shtick routine complete with monologue?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 5:33pm

I went. (I wouldn't have missed it for the world.) I had a great time. Raúl and Kristin were both fabulous, and they are just adorable together. "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun was an excellent surprise. I think that was my favorite part, actually, as stunning as Soliloquy was.

There's not an overture in A Chorus Line, but Hamlisch did write one for it. It was fun, but awfully long!

Updated On: 5/21/08 at 05:33 PM

[misschung]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 6:47pm

It was long, wasn't it? I was sort of hoping they'd do some variation on the opening number, but then I remembered that the dancers only had like, two week worth of performance space.

The woman next to me kept singing along with the ACL "overture." sigh.

[spidey_882]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 6:55pm

Yeah, I had a "singer" next to me too, during the "My Fair Lady" section. It was very annoying, as was the 45 year long tap number in the beginning.

The rest of it was spectacular though. Hearing Raul do "Soliloquy" is a dream come true. I could listen to him do that piece forever.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 10:19pm

Hehe, there were people next to me who were singing along to the music from My Fair Lady. But barely audibly, so it wasn't annoying. I thought it was kind of cute.

I had only heard Soliloquy a few times before, and once I knew it was on last night's list, I sort of wanted to preserve the element of surprise. Anything You Can Do is something I've hoped to hear Raul sing for a while, though.

[Nikki2]

Posted: 5/21/08 at 10:39pm

It was a wonderful event and the chemistry definitely is there between Raul and Kristin. Would love to see them in a Broadway show together. His rendition of the Soliloquy was terrific.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 12:58am

There were people next to me singing as well...but they were very lound and very annoying.

As for Soliloquy, it was amazing.

And yes, Hamlisch was a bit long winded about everything.

[humbugfoto]

Posted: 5/22/08 at 11:34am

Very nice review of the concert in the NY Times today.

Make It Proud and Loud, With Strings