Broadway at Bryant Park- Week 4

Week four at Broadway at Bryant Park had something for everyone: Sinatra, skiffle, music from a show not yet open, a show based on the movie Silence of the Lambs and fan favorite Mamma Mia.

Cary Hoffman created and stars in his one man off-Broadway show, My Sinatra, the Musical, about his obsession with the man and his music. He sounds like Sinatra, even if he if he looks a little like Mel Brooks. I really enjoyed his performance of the classic Sinatra songs- The Summer Wind, I've Got the World on a String and my favorite, Fly Me to the Moon, which you can see here:



He joked that his obsession began with his bar mitzvah and ended with "my death by heatstroke, here today on this stage." It was hot out there! His show features fifteen Sinatra songs, and I think my husband would like this one.

A show that is opening next month, Chaplin: the Musical gave us a preview with three songs from stars Rob McClure (Chaplin), who performed Someone Other Than Me, Christiane Noll (Hannah Chaplin) who sang Play Your Part and Jenn Colella (Hedda Hopper) who wowed the crowd with her performance of Whatcha Gonna Do? I'm definitely putting this on my list of shows to see.

Rob McClure from Chaplin, the Musical

Christiane Noll from Chaplin, the Musical

Jenn Colella from Chaplin, the Musical

A performance from the cast of the off-Broadway musical comedy, Silence: the Musical,  (notice a theme here this week?) had us all in stitches. Based on the movie Silence of the Lambs, it skewers the movie using only dialogue from the source. The woman who played Clarisse was hilarious, although she sounded more Holly Hunter to me than Jodie Foster. David Garrison is Hannibal Lechter, and they closed their performance with the phone call from the end of the movie.

The cast of Silence, the Musical

The Broadway show One Man, Two Guvnors is not a musical, but it does have a musical group, the Craze, who perform as a kind of Greek chorus on stage. I enjoyed their skiffle music and hope to see them in person in a few weeks.


Fan favorites, the cast from Mamma Mia, had the crowd on their feet and singing along with The Winner Takes It All, Dancing Queen and Waterloo, as seen in the clip below.


Two more weeks of Broadway at Bryant Park, the calendar is here.

Broadway in Bryant Park 2012- Week 2

The second week of Broadway in Bryant Park featured five shows and cooler weather. First up were the entertainers from Zarkana from Cirque du Soleil, which isn't really my cup of tea, but the crowd seemed to enjoy them.

Zarkana

Next up were the ladies from Wicked, a real crowd favorite. Donna Devino (Elphaba) sang "The Wizard and I", followed by Kate Vahrner (Glinda) performing "Popular" in a humorous style. The ladies teamed up on "For Good".

Kate and Donna from Wicked

Following them was Memphis, with Kevin Massey singing "The Music of My Soul", joined by Danyelle Williamson, who then blew the roof off the joint (if there was one) with her rendition of "Colored Woman". They then teamed up for a medley of songs from this wonderful show, which unfortunately will be closing next week. If you have a chance to see the tour, do yourself a favor and go see it, the music is fantastic.

Kevin and Danyelle from Memphis

Danyelle from Memphis just killing it

The ladies from Sister Act performed "I'm Fabulous Baby" and then Rashidra Scott powered through the title song, "Sister Act"' This show too is closing soon, and will be on tour as well. I enjoyed this show and especially the R&B music. I was sorry to see that the guys from the show didn't perform as they did last summer at Broadway At Bryant Park, they were hysterical, and the audience loved them.

Sister Act

Finally, the stars of Ghost, Cassie Levy and Richard Fleeshman sang "Here Right Now" and I loved how their voices blended together. I wasn't as thrilled with Fleeshman's rendition of the iconic Righteous Brothers' song, "Unchained Melody", the arrangement didn't work for me. Tony nominee Da'vine Joy Randolph, who plays the role made famous by Whoopie Goldberg, showed why she got her nomination as she belted "I'm Outta Here". It's really great when the actual stars from the show perform at Bryant Park, kudos to them. Again though, this show is closing, a recurring theme for this week's shows.

Cassie and Richard from Ghost

Da'Vine Joy Randolph from Ghost

Thursday at 12:30 on July 25th,  it's Voca People, Traces, The Fantastiks and Jersey Boys.

Broadway in Bryant Park is Back!

One of the most enjoyable free things to do in NYC in the summer is Broadway in Bryant Park. For six weeks in July and August, you can hear songs from current Broadway shows on Thursday afternoons at 12:30pm. If you get there early enough (and you should to get a good seat), you can hear the rehearsals too.

Sponsored by 106.7 Lite FM Radio, there are four to five shows each week, and this year's kicked off with an appearance from Joey, the star of War Horse, who drews oohs and ahhs and choruses of "we love you Joey!" from the crowd as they trotted him through the park. (Joey is a puppet of sorts.)

Joey the horse from War Horse

First up were perennial favorites from Phantom of the Opera. Raoul  (Kyle Barrish) and Christine (Trista Moldavan) sang the love ballad "All I Ask of You" and when they kissed at the end, the audience swooned.

Raoul & Christine from Phantom

Then the Phantom, as sung by Paul A. Shaefer, brought the crowd to a hush as he powerfully sang "The Music of the Night". (If only the young ladies seated next to me weren't yakking the entire time!)

The Music of the Night

Next up was the crew from the off-Broadway show Stomp, who brought the house down with their drumming. Everyone loves when the little guy joins them on stage and when they try to get the audience to keep up with their clapping. (They always lose us at the end when it gets more complicated.)

Stomp, with the little guy

Matthew Thomas from Spiderman sang three songs, "Bouncing Off the Walls", "Rise Above" (with Katrina Link) and as he sang "Boy Falls From the Sky", the crowd went wild when three costumed Spidermen joined him stage. (The press went crazy too, rushing the stage, knowing a great photo op when they see one.)

The three Spidermen drove the crowd wild

Last up was the Tony award winning best musical revival, The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess, which I saw and loved. They performed the gorgeous "Summertime" (Trevon Davis and I believe Bryonha Parnham) and led into the dance number "A Woman is a Sometime Thing".

Dancing to "A Woman is a Sometime Thing"

Nathaniel Stampley as Porgy closed out the show with "I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'", a song that whenever I hear it, gets stuck in my head. I end up singing it all day long.

I Got Plenty o Nuttin'

Next week's shows are Wicked, Zarkana, Memphis, Ghost & Sister Act. For more information on Broadway in Bryant Park, visit their website. Hope to see you there!

Broadway at Bryant Park

Today began Broadway at Bryant Park, a summer series that offers free performances from Broadway and off-Broadway musicals every Thursday during July and August.

It's always a good time and this season's first show featured performances from Sister Act: The Musical, Baby, It's You, STOMP and an introduction from Cirque du Soleil's Zarkana.


I got a front row seat, but boy was it hot. I'm glad I picked up a bottle of Vitamin Water and the complimentary Bank of America fans were in heavy use by the audience.

The colorful characters from Zarkana wandered through the crowd 

The show began with performers from Baby, It's You, a jukebox musical about the life of Florence Greenberg, the founder of the Shirelles girl group. I saw that show and enjoyed it; my review is here. The "Shirelles" sang a medley of hits including Soldier Boy and Mama Said.

Next up, the wonderful Geno Henderson as "Curtis Jackson" sang You're So Fine, the group ended with a rousing rendition of Rockin' Robin that had the crowd clapping.

The guys and gals from STOMP always put on a fabulous show, and this year was no different. They really get the audience involved, and when they bring out a little guy banging on a mini garbage can, the crowd loves it.

Sister Act  closed out the show with the gangster's henchmen (Caesar Samayoa, John Treacy Egan, and Desmond Green) singing their humorous song, Haven't Got a Prayer. 

Next up, "Delores VanCartier" and the girls sang I'm Fabulous.  I was bummed that Tony nominated Patina Miller did not perform as Delores, but understudy Rashidra Scott really belted it out.

The last song was the showstopper, Take Me to Heaven, sung by Delores and the nuns. I saw Sister Act with my husband, brother-in-law and his wife and we all loved it. The music has a lot of 70's Motown and disco style songs and if you are in NYC, it's a good show that all will enjoy.