Looking Forward to Broadway by the Year

This Monday, March 3, Scott Siegel will present the first of his Broadway by the Year concerts for 2008 at Town Hall. The year being celebrated – 1947.

As of a couple of weeks ago, the performers scheduled to appear in the show (which will be staged by Jeffrey Denman) include such singers as Howard McGillin (Broadway's "Phantom"), Noah Racey (of Never Gonna Dance), Marc Kudisch (fresh from The Glorious Ones at Lincoln Center Theatre, Christiane Noll (perhaps best remembered for her work in Jekyll and Hyde), Donna Lynne Champlin (late of Sweeney Todd, Eddie Korbich (currently appearing in The Little Mermaid), and Alexander Gemignani (on Broadway these days in "Sunday in the Park…").

Now then, what might we be able to hear this illustrious group (and a number other performers) singing come Monday? Well, 1947's musical season – in terms of premieres got underway with Street Scene - a musical based on Elmer Rice's Street Scene, where the book was by Rice and the score came from Kurt Weill and Langston Hughes. It will be interesting to hear a selection or two from this, given that another Rice adaptation is currently playing downtown – the contemporary Adding Machine. "Lonely House" and "Wouldn't You Like to Be on Broadway," of course, are the obvious ones here.

I guess you could say that 1947 burst into full gear with the premiere of Finian's Rainbow which opened on January 10. I imagine we'll be hearing a few of the standards from this one, including "Old Devil Moon" and "How Are Things in Glocca Morra?" More standards, I'm sure will come from the third premiere musical of the year, Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Brigadoon - a March 10 opening that year.

It will be interesting to see if Siegel pulls anything from Barefoot Boy with Cheek - a show from Sidney Lippman (music), Sylvia Dee (lyrics) and "Dobie Gillis" creator Max Shulman (book, which he adapted from his novel of the same name). The show featured, among others Red Buttons and Nancy Walker. I have to admit that looking at the songlist for this one, the title that intrigues me most is the show's first act finale – "Alice in Boogieland."

Now as 1947 hit its midpoint, a pair of operas descended on Broadway – Gian-Carlo Menotti's The Telephone and The Medium, and I'm wondering if the presence of Kudisch and Noll indicate that we might have one or two songs from these pieces performed by these dynamic singers.

Now as 1947 marched on, there was a "Musical Icetravaganza" - Icetime of 1948 - that might have a tune that requires resuscitation in this "By the Year" concert and the same could be said for a tune from a show that lasted only four performances Louisiana Lady,

As summer turned to fall that year, another hit emerged on Broadway – Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn's High Button Shoes, starring Phil Silvers, which racked up an impressive 727 performances at the Broadway Theatre. The year wound down with an experimentation from Rodgers and Hammerstein – Allegro - and I'm betting we'll get "The Gentleman is a Dope" from this one (a song originated by Lisa Kirk, who'd be moving on to Kiss Me, Kate in just about a year).

As if there weren't enough to sift through from these shows there are a couple of others that Siegel could select from: the musical revues Caribbean Canival and Angel in the Wings, and a "Romantic Musical Play" Music in My Heart, where the melodies came from Tchaikovsky and the star was Vivienne Segal.

No matter what is selected from these shows – I'm betting that it will be a robust array of the familiar and the unknown and as always, it's an evening I'm eagerly anticipating.

QUICK LINKS

Siegel Presents: http://www.siegelpresents.com/
Town Hall: http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org/