The Kaufman Center concluded its fall Broadway Close Up series on December 3^rd with one of its most anticipated concerts, Bound for Broadway VIII, in which selections from up and coming musicals are performed and those shows’ creators are interviewed.  Hosted again by the lovely and charming Liz Callaway, the five shows spotlighted for this series encompassed a wide spectrum of styles and source material, proving once again that writer’s limits are constrained only by their imagination.

Presented first was Next Thing You Know by the song-writing team of Joshua Salzman (music) and Ryan Cunningham (lyrics), the same duo whose I Love You Because was showcased in the series several years ago before going on to a successful run off-Broadway, a cast recording and a life in regional theatre.  A witty revue of songs about relationships and ‘life,’ Next Thing You Know displays great promise due to Salzman’s melodic songs and Cunningham’s sharp wordplay. The first selection was “That’s You,” a reflective song about the nature of staleness in relationships, sweetly delivered by the handsome Colin Hanlon (who starred in I Love You Because off-Broadway) and the heavenly Lisa Howard (who appeared in one of the final workshops of Because before going on to star on Broadway in The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee); the second song was a self-evident comedy number entitled “Why Is She Always Mad at Me?” performed by a trio of under-grads at NYU (Jay Armstrong Johnson, Nic Rouleau and Ryan Scoble) who all acquitted themselves nicely vocally, in spite of some rather busy choreography; and a final selection, “Home Calls,” a wistful meditation on the safety and security of our hometown (even though we eventually have to leave someday), beautifully rendered by Howard who possesses one of the finest sopranos to be found in any town anywhere.

The next show was The Tragic and Horrible Life of the Singing Nun by Andy Monroe (music and lyrics) and Blair Fell (book and additional lyrics), a nonsensical spoof of the real life Belgian nun Jeannine Deckers that had a short run in the 2006 New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and is based on Mr. Fell’s play of the same name that’s been kicking around for more than a decade. A demented combination of The Nun’s Story and Valley of the Dolls, Tragic and Horrible Life… is based on Deckers’ real life story, including her fame with the hit song “Dominique” in the 1960s (when she was known as ‘Soeur Sourire’ or Sister Smile), her apparent lesbianism, and the financial ruin that befell her when the church took all the money from the sales of her records leaving her to pay the Belgian taxes on her own. Of course, all of this is filtered through the eyes of a transgender nun in an insane asylum who claims to know the real story of Sister Smile, and not the sanitized, Hollywood version of her life as portrayed in the 1966 MGM film The Singing Nun which starred Debbie Reynolds (and was, I might note, a film not even the great Agnes Moorehead could save). I had the great misfortune of sitting through The Tragic and Horrible Life… at NYMF and can attest to the fact that its score and book are as aptly named as their heroine’s fate.  For this concert, Laura Daniel and Tracey Gilbert sang three selections, “Don’t Be Afraid, Adele” (Sister Smile’s paean to her guitar…which she’s named Adele), “I’ll Follow You” (a song of devotion sung by her childhood girlfriend…who becomes her girlfriend) and “Offer It Up To God” (the young women’s pledge to a life of celibacy in light of their sinful sexuality). Both Daniel and Gilbert are adequate singers, but the quality of Monroe’s music paled in comparison to the rest of the evening’s program. Truly, some shows are better left as festival fodder as opposed to commercial ventures.

Rounding out the first act was the intriguing musical, The Road to Qatar!, by David Krane (music) and Stephen Cole (book and lyrics). A tongue-in-cheek tuner that tells the story of how Krane & Cole were commissioned to write the first American musical to be performed in the Middle East (called Aspire, a 90-minute extravaganza about a sultan and his son that premiered in Doha, Qatar in 2005), The Road to Qatar! is a combination of the Crosby & Hope ‘road movies’ crossed with a zany farce like Ahrens & Flaherty’s Lucky Stiff.  Blessed with a superb trio of performers, Chip Zien, David Hibbard and Mary Testa, the three selections from Road evidenced a dizzying energy and palpable excitement. As the stand-by’s for Krane & Cole, Zien & Hibbard tore into the title number, “The Road to Qatar!” and “Must Be,” with the same verve that Testa brought to “Nazirah’s in London,” a song about their translator/producer’s discovery of Western culture that proved a showcase for Testa’s megawatt talent. Krane’s music is clearly accomplished and exhibits a level of craft and compositional savvy that’s admirable. But I couldn’t help thinking that, as delightful as the selections were, he and Cole still have a bit of polishing and refining to do on the lyrics to elevate the show from ‘charming’ to ‘terrific.’ With the right cast and director, The Road to Qatar! could easily turn into a rip-roaring evening of cultural and theatrical mayhem perfect for an off-Broadway run.

The second act opened with selections from a musical that had a 2006 production at TheatreWorks in Palo Alto and is slated for another at the Pasadena Playhouse next summer before heading to Broadway in the fall of 2008.  Vanities, with a score by David Kirshenbaum (Summer of ’42) and a book by Jack Heifer, is based on Heifner’s incredibly successful play of the same name which debuted at Playwrights Horizons in January, 1976, before moving to a long off-Broadway run at the Westside Theatre.  That original production, which starred Kathy Bates, Jane Galloway and Susan Merson, focused on the coming-of-age trials and tribulations of three vivacious Texas teenagers as they progressed from cheerleaders to sorority sisters to housewives and, finally, liberated women.  For Bound for Broadway, Kirshenbaum and director Judith Ivey had three of Broadway’s brightest stars on-hand to bring Heifner’s women to life, including Kelli O’Hara (The Light in the Piazza, The Pajama Game and the upcoming South Pacific at Lincoln Center), Erin Dilly (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and Sarah Stiles (currently playing Kate Monster in Avenue Q), the latter of whom appeared in Vanities in its TheatreWorks production (alongside Leslie Kritzer and Megan Hilty).  In short, Kirshenbaum’s score is sensational, richly melodic with texture, depth and natural lyrics that sound like an extension of Heifner’s dialogue.  O’Hara, Dilly and Stiles brought great conviction and playfulness to “Hey There, Beautiful,” “An Organized Life” and “We’re Gonna Be Okay” while O’Hara lent her stunning soprano to “Fly Into the Future,” which seems exactly what this musicalized version of Vanities is about to do.

Concluding the evening were three selections from Ever After by Zina Goldrich (music) and Marcy Heisler (book and lyrics), another terrific musical that’s slated for an out-of-town tryout soon before joining the 2008-09 season on Broadway.  Based on Andy Tennant’s 1998 film of the same name which starred Drew Barrymore and Angelica Houston, Ever After is a slightly altered retelling of the Cinderella story, giving the heroine some contemporary touches while keeping her ensconced in a French renaissance setting.  Repeating the role she performed at an invitation-only reading this past July, the divine Jan Maxwell was on hand to sing the Baroness Rodmilla’s chilling meditation on a mother’s love for her child, “After All,” which she did brilliantly, summoning both evil malevolence and heartbreaking resignation.   (For the record, the multi-talented Maxwell also stopped the show at the Broadway Close Up evening of Sheldon Harnick’s work, where she performed a delicious version of “A Trip to the Library” from She Loves Me, as well as a revelatory “Do You Love Me” from Fiddler on the Roof alongside Donald Marguiles.)  The sweet-voiced Goeff Packard sang Prince Henry’s ‘wish song,’ “Right Before My Eyes,” with gusto, and the evening’s hostess Liz Callaway took on the role of Danielle (Cinderella), singing the ‘list song’ “Who Needs Love?” with warmth and introspection.  Best known for their work in cabaret (“Taylor, the Latte Boy”) and youth-oriented musicals like Junie B. Jones and Dear Edwina, Goldrich & Heisler’s work in Ever After is simply wonderful.  If the rest of the score is as good as the selections heard at this concert, Ever After may be the critical and box-office hit this talented songwriting duo so richly deserves.

David Hurst
Cabaret Scenes
December 2, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org