The Public Sings — Page 2

i guess you're right. i wonder what hotel they'll put betty in.

I don't know if Braff can sing or not (lots of people in the lineup can't, or rather, aren't known for it -- Nichols, Portman, Stiller, Wright). His association with the Public is doing a couple of Shakespeare productions for them a few years ago before he became famous.

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Cynthia Nixon is performing Dance Ten, Looks Three? Does this seem strange to anyone else? (or can I not detect MEF's sarcasm?)

thanks, MEF. i'm looking forward to it!

"BSo, Lea and Jesse have been best friends since On the Town, where they actually played lovers! "

Well, since I had already brought up the subject of LF...

But wouldn't that make for an exciting combo?

P.S. Lea's jazz CD is a lot of fun.

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Nichols and Streep are doing a duet.

"I'm singing something from Hair and doing a duet with Mike Nichols, believe it or not-unless he develops a chronic illness before Monday, which he has threatened to do."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/playbill/20060127/en_playbill/97622

Updated On: 1/28/06 at 05:37 AM

Are cameras going to be allowed inside?

TICKET UPDATE - I can hardly believe it. I just went online and bought a rear mezzanine ticket for this event. I've been trying for weeks and had been told that all the less expensive seats were sold out. Then suddenly, when I checked the City Center website tonight, they appeared! A miracle - I'm so happy! Anyone else who still needs a ticket should go check immediately.

I'll be there too! Can't wait...though with my cheap seats...and I mean CHEAP!

No Donna?! That blows...

What do you think Donna Murphy and Stritchie will sing?

I'd pay a lot of money to see Stritch sing and dance "Music and the Mirror".

OK, I just got back from the concert. WOW! What a heck of a night with one wonderful performance after another. And the virtual who's who of celebrities was in attendance -- from Sondheim to Phillip Seymour Hoffman to Richard Kind to Bernie Gersten (head of Lincoln Center) to Carol Kane (who looked much younger and prettier in person than I thought she would) to several others I'm forgetting.

Here's what I can remember of the run down of the show (a video screen upstage flashed the name of each show being presented as the singers would start singing, but didn't name the singer or the song and it wasn't in the program) -- so I hope I'm somewhat accurate with names and song titles (from halfway up the mezz, it was hard to recognize a few people):

-- The show opened (almost predictably) with the "I Hope I Get It" opening audition from A CHORUS LINE with a stage full of a few dozen gifted Broadway gypsies breathlessly executing the original Bennett choreography -- I got goosebumps. After about two or three minutes of that, the dancers froze and then sat, and lights came up, upstage on Savion Glover and five of his dancers, a bucket drummer and a singer (and maybe Jeffrey Wright -- I couldn't tell from where I was) did the opening to BRING IN DA NOISE. After a couple of minutes of that with each dancer doing a solo, then the A CHORUS LINE dancers joined in and the stage became a montage of the openings of the two shows. Quite thrilling.

-- Betty Buckley with Norm Lewis and Cheyenne Jackson sang "Joe Papp" (by William Finn)

-- Idina Menzel started singing "Awaiting You" from SATURNS RETURNS but after a few measures Zach Braff came out and interrupted her, telling her that the song was too slow for the first act of the show. Idina laughed and asked "Well, what do you want to sing?" He then launched into "Sing" from A CHORUS LINE which they did together, and then were soon joined by Norm Lewis and Rosie Perez. Very cute and funny.

-- Billy Porter sang "Romance in Hard TImes" from the show of the same name (by William FInn)

-- Chuck Cooper led a large chorus (I recognized several of them from last summer's TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA in the Park) in "Bring All the Boys Back Home" from that show.

-- Betty Buckley sang "Old Friends" from I'M GETTING MY ACT TOGETHER AND TAKING IT ON THE ROAD

Then there was a HAIR medley:

-- Daphne Rubin-Vega and several women did "Good Morning Starshine" (she sounded very good)

-- Natalie Portman did "Frank Mills" (very cute; while she's not really a singer, she sounded sweet)

-- "White Boys/Black Boys" was done completely with men which was very funny and the guys looked like they were having a ball dancing and flirting and singing together. Cheyenne Jackson took the lead on "Black Boys" and a terrific and very handsome African American singer whom I didn't recognize (anyone out there know?) led "White Boys"

-- Meryl Streep then came out and get the biggest ovation of the night thus far doing "Sodomy." She was hysterical, but more importantly, showed that she still has a great set of pipes. She nailed the last note in full on chest voice, precisely on pitch (no head voice for her) and brought the house down. Someone put this woman in musical soon PLEASE.

-- Braff and Portman sang "Initials"

-- Daphne Rubin Vega did a pretty solid rendition of "Easy To Be Hard"

-- Then the whole company did a reprise of "Good Morning Starshine"

After that,

-- Lea Delaria did a very jazzy version of "New York, New York" from ON THE TOWN with lots of scat singing. A great piece of showmanship

-- Donna Murphy wiped out the room with an intense, flawless version of "Pirate Jenny" from THREEPENNY OPERA. The applause went on for two minutes

Then there was a PIRATES OF PENZANCE tribute with

-- Marc Kudisch performing a very funny and well-sung "Pirate King"

-- In the biggest surprise of the night George Wolfe -- artistic director of The Public until last year and now a trustee of the theatre -- came out to a huge ovation and did "I Am The Very Model of A Modern Major General" with lyrics reworked to reflect his tenure as the head of the theatre. Very funny.

-- "Poor Wandering One" was sung by, I THINK, Donna Murphy (my friends and I in the mezz weren't sure). I know she has that upper range -- though you could she was laughing at herself (as was Jessie Tyler Ferguson whom she was singing it to) as the song kept getting higher and higher. She finessed her way up through the high A, but smilingly skipped the high C. The audience loved it.

-- Lea sang "Tarentara" (sp?) and then Act One finished with them all doing -- and I'm blanking here on what it's called (it's been many years since I saw or heard PIRATES) -- " Oh, Better Far To Live And Die"? I'll correct that one later if I'm wrong (and I probably am)

WHEW....... OK ACT II

-- Opened with Elaine Stritch carrying out her stool in her white shirt and tights to a tremendous ovation. She did the opening to her AT LIBERTY show (the reworked "There's No Business Like Show Business" complete with patter). She then carried the stool downstage center and sat on it, said a few words expressing how nervous she was (she was slightly shaky with her dialogue here and there, but it was completely forgivable), thanked The Public Theatre for what it's meant to her and then said, "I just did the first song from my show and now I'm going to do the last. If you wanna hear what's in between -- it'll cost you." She then performed her touching rendition of "I Must Have Done Something Good." Simply wonderful.

-- A bunch of kids from The National Dance Institute did a number from Elizabeth Swados' RUNAWAYS

-- A young lady I didn't recognize with a very lovely voice sang "I Hate The Bus" from CAROLINE, OR CHANGE

-- Cynthia Nixon did "Dance 10, Looks 3" from A CHORUS LINE. She's not a singer, but sold it pretty well.

-- Betty Buckley and Donna Murphy sang "The Writing on the Wall" from The MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, complete with suits and bowler hats

-- Idina Menzel was able to finally sing the full version of "Awaiting You" from SATURN RETURNS, but after she finished, Ben Stiller came out and they did another duet of "Sing." The tempo got to fast for him and he stopped the orchestra and they started the song over a little bit slower. Then Perez, Lewis and Braff came out and finished the song with them.

-- Lillias White (with music stand) and a large gospel choir did a number from SATURNS RETURNS

-- Eartha Kitt (also with music stand) sang a fantastic version "When It Ends" from THE WILD PARTY

-- Then one of my favorite moments of the night happened -- Adriane Lenox (substituting for Tonya Pinkins who cancelled -- Lenox was her standby in CAROLINE) along with Ramona Keller, Marva Hicks, Tracy Nicole Chapman and Capathia Jenkins sang the hell out of "16 Feet Beneath the Sea" (the opening to CAROINE OR CHANGE). Lenox sounded absolutely fantastic -- I wish I had seen her go on in the show. I have seen her in other musicals through the years, but I forgot what a terrific voice she has.

-- Mary Testa performed a terrific rendition of "There Must Be A Miracle" from SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE. God I love her voice.

-- Then Testa was joined on stage by Lenox and Menzel singing "Aquarius" from HAIR which then segued into "Flesh Failures/Let the Sun Shine In" with the entire cast and ensmeble of the concert (except for Stritch, Kitt and Streep) coming on the stage, with, one by one verses, being taken on by Norm Lewis, Cheyenne Jackson, Murphy, Rubin-Vega, Buckley, Porter, and Nichols. It made for quite a rousing ending.

-- Afterwards, with the whole audience on its feet, Meryl Streep and Mike Nichols did a very sweet rendition of "Some Other Time" from ON THE TOWN, which brought another standing ovation

At the end, Oskar Eustis -- the new head of the Public Theatre --- came out and expressed his sadness at the recent death of Wendy Wasserstein, which brought a cascade of gasps from the audience. He then thanked everyone -- past and present -- for the Public Theatre's ongoing success.

I hope I didn't leave anything important out or make too many mistakes -- PLEASE correct me if I did. Such a special night -- I'm so glad I got to see it.

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Updated On: 1/31/06 at 12:00 AM

The singer opposite Cheyenne Jackson was Destan Owens, the current Collins in Rent.

Thanks for posting such a complete review...I couldn't tell who a few of the people were.