Broadway Hits

We went to a fabulous show last night and if you ever get the chance...It is well worth it. Make the effort and go see it!!!! The kids loved it. After the 2 1/2 hour show, C turns to me - give me a HUGE hug and says "Thanks Mom! That was awesome!!" M who loves Broadway show tunes also agreed. B who is my accomplished singer loved how amazingly the singers could project and other technical aspects. What show would inspire such excitement?....

We went to Neil Berg's 101 years of Broadway Hits. (He started it last year to celebrate Broadway's centennial, but it's so popular he came back.) Neil Berg is a Broadway producer and composer. (He did Prince & the Pauper, The Man who Would be King among others and is composing for the new show Grumpy Old Men which should come out next year.) I liked the fact that he introduced each song (there were over 40) and then gave a background about why this song, show, or composing team were so important.

He brought 5 real Broadway stars who have starred in at least 2 hits shows. (We had the female lead from Chicago and Grizabella in Cats who was nominated for a Tony for her work in It Ain't Nothing' But The Blues (Carter Conway). Rita Harvey was Christine in the Phantom for 5 years and is currently Hodel in the revival of Fiddler on the Roof. Danny Zolli (best known for his monumental number of performances as Jesus, Juda and Annas in more than 18 productions of Jesus Christ Superstar and has sung with The Three Tenors. Words fail to describe how amazing his performance of Jesus in the Garden of Gesthemene was. Wow! is all I can say!!! The two othe men were also incredible and not just because they were in my favorite musical of all time!! I in fact heard them both when they toured and performed Le Misrables. Charles Bergell (amazing baritone) performed Jean Valjean both on Broadway and during the National Tours. He was also Andre for the one of the national tours of Phantom of the Opera. The final singer was Erick Buckley who was the first person in the world to perform both roles of Marius and Jean Valjean in Les Miserables. He was Piangi in Phantom, Dave in the Full Monty and Roger in Grease! As you can tell this was an amazing cast of performers.

The show started out with Big Spender, and was followed by Send in the Clowns, He Had it Coming (one of C's faves), Nothing but a Dame, Tonight from Westside Story, This Nearly was Mine from South Pacific, Camelot's If Ever I Would Leave You, Over the Rainbow, a Judy Garland medley, If I Were a Rich Man and Far From the Home I Love from Fiddler on the Roof , Suddenly Seymour form Little Shop of Horrors, and many, many more. It was awesome! I loved the surprise ending!!!!! What an awesome idea!!! Go see it!!