It's very hard to rank the performances because nothing worked perfectly, but the reasons for the respective shortcomings were so diverse. As such I've placed the performances in a tentative order that could accomodate some shuffles and switches by one place here and there.
PORGY AND BESS was featured excellent performances, but it felt disjointed because it wasn't in fact a medley, but a series of clips that followed one another without any overall vision. A medley of songs can work, but it needs to be constructed with care, with insight and with vision. That was what was missing from this showcase of the show.
FOLLIES featured an excellent performance by Danny Burstein, with good support from the two women, but it seemed lost in space, which was a pity. The number may also have read better with a clearer set up from Bernadette Peters, but there was nothing wrong with the performance itself.
THE BOOK OF MORMON was fine all around, but the size of the performances here just weren't TV friendly. I also felt a pang of embarrassement when the audience started applauding when Elder Cunningham appeared and then stopped suddenly when they realised the actor wasn't who they expected it to be.
EVITA was as good as it was going to be given the way that the number is staged itself. As usual, Rob Ashford's generic, athletic choreography doesn't aid the storytelling in the number and I felt as though in his uncertainly of what to do with Eva and Che, he ended up forgetting that the connection between the two characters is at the heart of the conflict that is played out in the show and so the number became an energetic showpiece instead of remarkable storytelling. It was best in the moments when he had figured out what to do with Eva and Che and those moments where obvious in comparison with those where they were merely cogs in the wheel of what was going on on stage.
LEAP OF FAITH worked well as a performance out of context, but it's a pity the number itself is so underwhelming. Menken really has overextended himself the past few years and I think it is to the detriment of all of the shows upon which he has worked, with LEAP OF FAITH bearing the brunt of it.
ONCE featured great material, but the lack of context hurt it. It made it easy for detractors of the show to dismiss the show and to pretend that the show itself lacks context, craft and emotional impact, which is - of course - a ridiculous assertion.
NEWSIES delivered high energy, but the choreography still adds up to a bunch of energetic moves that don't tell the story. I wondered briefly what someone like Jerome Robbins might have crafted and lamented what was actually presented on stage. I wish that they'd gone with another number here, possibly "Carrying the Banner".
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT. What a mess. This made the show look exactly like the thing it doesn't want to be perceived as: a second-rate CRAZY FOR YOU. Matthew Broderick and his showfirls and the song and the staging just don't match up to the equivalent number in that show, "I Can't Be Bothered Now" nd "Someone to Watch Over Me" made little sense out of context despite being a song that doesn't rely on context to be effective, when it's sung whole, that is.
JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was devestatingly bad. Poor staging. Poor vocals. Josh Young is just vocally out of his depth as Judas. It was painful to watch and hear.
GHOST was one of the low points of the night. This was the wrong song to showcase an already shaky score and it didn't read at all. Nice lighting though.
GODSPELL has a certain charm to it. That charm was lost here in a sea of overstated energy and an audience participation segment that was embarrasing and uncomfortable to watch. The vocals were insecure. The number was poorly chosen too. There are better numbers in the show that would have worked better here.
HAIRSPRAY was uneven in its quality, but sincere in its contribution. The leads impressed less than the chorus. It was nice that they chose to do those two segments of the show over "You Can't Stop the Beat", but the performances just weren't what they should have been in a broadcast of this nature.
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