Broadway Winners it was called, and the opening production of Town Hall's 2009 Summer Broadway Festival certainly lived up to its title.  Pulling musical plums from the inviting grab bag of hit songs from past and present award-winning Broadway shows, its creator/writer/host, Scott Siegel, crafted a progression of long-established favorites.

Essentially a musical revue nicely held together with Siegel's ongoing intros and anecdotes, each singer presented but a single song.  But what singers, and twenty-two in all!  A bevvy of Broadway musical theater figures and a choice handful of New York cabaret's talented crew.  The program opened on a high note with the international theater and cabaret figure, Ute Lemper, striding on stage to start things off with a commanding rendition of “Cabaret.” She was immediately followed by a big, bright and charming version of “She Loves Me” by the equally bright and charming Alex Gemignani. Then a quietly touching “No One is Alone” from Into the Woods by the honey-voiced cabaret artist, Jeanne MacDonald. Michael Winther visited an artist's angst with Sunday in the Park with George's “Finishing the Hat.”  From its opening moments, the show's performers alternately moved, amused and dazzled those in the hall.

Some of the numbers took on a fresh life of their own, easily matching if not surpassing the impact they enjoyed in the original productions: Dillon McCartney's impassioned “Bring Him Home” from Les Miz, William Michals' emotional “Soliloquy” from Carousel, and Tovah Feldshuh (pictured) – who is such a mesmerizing performer in her various stage roles that it is too easy to fail to credit her excellent voice – offered a touching “Before the Parade Passes By.”  Lumiri Tubo's dejected “My Handy Man Ain't Handy No More, from Eubie and Donna Lynne Champlin's distressed “Gooch's Song” from Mame, were comedy bits to cherish before the evening ended with the full company's rendition of “The Brotherhood of Man.”

The evening was attractively directed by Scott Thompson, with highly enjoyable arrangements and musical direction by Fred Barton.

These shows of Scott Siegel's – he does more than a dozen different productions at Town Hall each year – are a kaleidescope of musical theater history and its numbers.  With scores of successful shows already to his Town Hall credit, Broadway Winners was as good as it gets, and then some.  Two more Broadway Festival productions follow: Broadway Rising Stars on Monday, July 20^th, and All Singin' All Dancin' on July 27^th.

(Photo: Maryann Lopinto)

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
July 13, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org