On all counts, 1966 was quite a year, with miniskirts, Pampers, Vietnam, Black Panthers and Miranda rights. The meat of The Broadway Musicals of 1966, however, was the knock-'em-dead theater music by top entertainers. When you can open The Broadway Musicals of 1966 with “Wilkommen” from John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Cabaret, one of the year’s most successful shows, and you round things up with Sweet Charity’s complex "Rhythm of Life" (Cy Coleman and Dorothy Fields), you have a pretty special evening. A salute goes to director/choreographer Jeffry Denman (pictured), who kept the pace fluid, imaginative and energetic.

Scott Siegel is celebrating his tenth season of the Broadway by the Year series at the historic Town Hall, and for 1966, he had a plethora of glorious tunes and memorable shows. Other shows included were Mame and I Do! I Do!, with nods offered to The Apple Tree, It’s a Bird..It’s a Plane…It’s Superman, Pousse-Café and Walking Happy, featuring Denman performing the title song and Carole J. Bufford’s interpretive delivery of “What Makes It Happen?”

Kerry O’Malley delivered the title song from Cabaret with audacious flair and showed her sentimental side when paired with Bob Stillman for “Married.” Sara Gettelfinger, Jennifer Rias and Elizabeth Clinard were powerful with “Big Spender” as opposed to the same trio’s aggressively stage-crowding choreography to “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This,” both from Sweet Charity. Delightful was Meredith Patterson showcasing her multi-musical talents and personality in “If My Friends Could See Me Now.” Michele Ragusa was convincing with Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock’s "Gorgeous" (The Apple Tree) and joined Bob Cuccioli for “The Honeymoon Is Over” (I Do! I Do! ) by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.

Liz Callaway, who never fails with a song, was emotionally evocative with Sweet Charity’s “Where Am I Going?” and later with the evening’s heartbreaker, “If He Walked Into My Life,” from Jerry Herman’s Mame. If this was the show’s most heartbreaking song, the tune that certainly grabbed most hearts was also from Mame. It was delivered by eight-year-old Mercer Patterson, son of musical director Ross Patterson. Poised and winsome, he sang “My Best Girl.” In fine form, he then bowed, gave his dad at the piano a high-five, and ran off stage. Hopefully, his mom had the camera and recorder ready.

On June 14, Town Hall scheduled a special The Broadway Musicals of 1990-2010, to celebrate Scott Siegel’s series’ tenth anniversary.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
May 10, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org