It must be both fun and challenging for Scott Siegel to create his various Town Hall productions paying homage to Broadway show music through the decades. After all, in addition to the very popular Broadway by the Year series and Broadway Unplugged, there is now a three-part Summer Broadway Festival series staged on three consecutive Mondays in July. The fifth season of the SBF kicked off with Broadway Winners, which is essentially another greatest-hits-of-Broadway-history package. Siegel’s challenge is not only to construct programs that offer his audience—many of whom are loyal regulars—a wide variety of memorable, beloved and underrated songs, but to also find a group of engaging performers who can make everything old sound new again.

Broadway Winners got off to a promising start with Alexander Gemignani’s (who also directed the show) funny and warm rendition of “She Loves Me” (Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock) from the 1963 Best Musical Tony nominee of the same name. Scott Coulter followed with an engagingly minimalist interpretation of “The Sound of Music,” delivered almost entirely in his lovely falsetto, then Dara Hartman, one of the show’s five former Broadway Rising Stars (another Siegel production) was surprisingly evocative on “My Funny Valentine.”

After that, the show was a mixed bag of questionable song choices and surprising star turns. Stephanie Umoh’s powerful voice could have been put to better use than on “A Lovely Day to Be Out of Jail” from The Life and “Easy as Life,” from Aida, and former Rising Star Kristin Dausch should have been miked on “The Music That Makes Me Dance” from Funny Girl. While it was a cute idea to have Eddie Korbich sing “I Love a Cop,” from Fiorello! from a gay man’s point of view (including altering a line to reference New York’s recent passing of same-sex marriage), a better choice from that underrated musical would have been Korbich, Gemignani, Scott Coulter, Tom Wopat, Marc Kudisch, and guest star Larry Gatlin having some fun with “Politics and Poker.”

The highlights of Act I included Oakley Boycott’s overly campy but hilarious “He Vas My Boyfriend,” from Young Frankenstein, and Tom Wopat’s unplugged version of “Send in the Clowns.” Wopat, currently appearing on Broadway in Catch Me If You Can, even turned multiple flubs on the first lines of “The Best Is Yet to Come” into a crowd-pleaser.

Act II didn’t kick into gear until the second half when Gatlin, on acoustic guitar, delivered a stirring “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables, followed by an unmiked Korbich and his lovely tenor on “So in Love” from Kiss Me, Kate. But the best revelations were yet to come. Christina Bianco (pictured), who earlier had joined Coulter for a fun duet on “You’re Just in Love (I Wonder Why)” from Call Me Madam, brought down the house with her take on “Cabaret.” This Christine Pedi “Mini Me” (currently performing with Pedi in NEWSical the Musical) with a powerhouse voice in a pixie’s body, delivered Liza Minnelli’s signature song with spot on takes of Streisand, Garland, Patti LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Kristin Chenoweth, Julie Andrews and Celine Dion. Only in New York could you have two amazing female singer impressionists.

Marc Kudisch had the daunting task of following Bianco, and the singer/actor, who after the show could be seen motorcycle helmet in tow, did a wonderful job as Broadway’s iconic horse-drawn dairyman. Kudisch’s energetic and fresh “If I Were a Rich Man,” from Fiddler on the Roof, should have some producer offering him the role of Tevye faster than you can say “Harvey Fierstein.”

The Town Hall’s 5th Annual Summer Broadway Festival continues on July 25 with All Singin’ All Dancin’.

Stephen Hanks
Cabaret Scenes
July 11, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org