Ragtime At Lincoln Center

I have attended close to one hundred Broadway shows and concerts and I have never actually seen an audience leap to its feet at the end of a show until last night's Manhattan Concert Production's performance of Ragtime at Lincoln Center.

It was a glorious show, with each role cast to perfection. Some of the highlights included the incomparable Norm Lewis (Porgy & Bess) as Coalhouse Walker Jr., who transforms from a soulful musician desperately in love with the beautiful Sarah to a vengeful man seeking justice after a racial incident spirals into tragedy. His deep, rich voice is best expressed on Make Them Hear You and his beautiful duet with Patina Miller (Sister Act), Wheels of a Dream.

Miller had the audience in the palm of her hand as she sang Your Daddy's Son, and she somehow made the audience believe that the binder she held in her arms was her son.

Lea Salonga (Miss Saigon) was a clear audience favorite in the role of Mother, and the audience roared their approval after she sang Back to Before.  The humorous performance of What a Game had a joyful energy as the ensemble guys praised the great American past time of baseball.

The group numbers, Ragtime, which opens the show with a bang, Til We Reach That Day (which closes Act I) and the reprise of Ragtime/Wheels of a Dream that closes the show filled the auditorium with such a joyful noise, it gave me chills.

Other standout performers were Michael Arden as Younger Brother, Manoel Felciano as Tateh, Howard McGillin (the Phantom in Phantom of the Opera) as Father, Kerry Butler as a bubbly Evelyn Nesbit and an incredible young Lewis Grosso as The Little Boy. Remember that name, you will hear from him for a long time to come. It was also great to see the amazing Tyne Daly as Emma Goldman; I just wish she had a larger role.

A chorus filled with high school, college and community choirs from around the country added their voices to the ensemble, along with over a dozen ensemble performers I recognized from Broadway shows.

This was one of the top five shows I have seen since I've been in NYC; it will be difficult to top this experience and I think many of the hundreds of people at Lincoln Center last night agree with me.

Here are some backstage photos from last night's show via Broadway.com

Broadway Reviews- Gore Vidal's The Best Man

I've been on a run of Broadway shows lately, and with eleven of them opening with in the last month or so, and have been remiss in posting reviews. Now that the Tony Awards are creeping up on June 12, I realized I've got to catch up.

I saw the revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man last month, and as I am a political and Broadway junkie, this show was right up my alley. I saw John Larroquette, one of the stars, on his way into the theater a week before I attended the show and I told him how I enjoyed his Tony-winning performance in How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,  and he graciously thanked me (PS- he is VERY tall).

The theater is set like the interior of a political convention, the setting of the show. There is red, white, and blue bunting all over the place, and the stage has dozens of campaign signs.

The campaign signs on the stage

It looked like a convention floor inside the theater

Although the show was written in the 1960s, it is timely. John Larroquette plays former Secretary of State Russell locked in a primary battle with a young, snaky Senator Cantwell from the South, played by Eric McCormack (TV's Will & Grace).

Russell wants to take the high moral road, against the advice of others, while Cantwell is willing to play dirty to get the nomination. Both actors are good, and Larroquette is marvelous in everything he does. Candice Bergen plays his wife, reluctant to campaign because she wants a divorce from her philandering husband. It was joy to see her on stage, and the audience gave her thunderous applause when she appeared on stage. Kerry Butler is perfect as Cantwell's steely magnolia of a wife, urging her husband on to do what is necessary to get the nomination.

James Earl Jones steals the show as he eats up the scenery portraying former President, a good ol' Southern boy whose plays both sides against each other as they wait for his endorsement. Jones has the best role in the show, and he plays it to the hilt. He was rewarded with a nomination for Best Leading Actor in a play, although I felt his role was more of a featured role.

Angela Lansbury, the party Chairman of the Women's Division, plays the role beautifully. It  was a joy to see her and Jones in the play together, a real treat for the viewer.

The show cover many topics timely for today (unfortunately), such as contraception, religion and prejudice against gays. (It's sad that we are still fighting about this stuff forty years after the play was written. Have we made such little progress?)

There are some great lines from this funny, thought-provoking show. Jones says  he doesn't like conservatives because "they pour God all over everything, like ketchup."

Candice Bergen's character is the voice of reason in one fabulous scene with herself, Butler and Lansbury. As Butler takes jabs at Bergen's husband, Bergen talks about hoping that "intelligence is contagious", and says that the role of the wives is to be " interchangeably inoffensive".  I saw some shades of Murphy Brown in those readings.

Gore Vidal's Best Man is nominated for Best Revival of a Play, and I would say go see this if only for the masterful performances. It's not often you get so many terrific performers on one stage. This is a show worth paying full-price for a ticket. See it soon, it has a limited run.

Catch Me if You Can at Macy's

Last week my husband dragged me to Macy's because he needed shorts. I went (reluctantly), and got a big surprise. When we first walked in, I saw two women wearing bright blue stewardesses outfits, but they looked very dated. Then it struck me that they looked like the stewardesses from the Broadway musical, Catch Me If You Can.


We go upstairs, and the lovely ladies are there announcing that there will be a performance of three songs from Catch Me If You Can, in the men's department. Hallelujah! I told my husband to take his time, I would be enjoying the show.

Tom Wopat, who plays Frank Abagnale Sr. started the party with the song "50 Checks", which is on the cast recording CD, but not in the show. Too bad- it's a great song, and he is terrific. I loved him in the show.











Kerry Butler plays the love interest Brenda, and she belted out "Fly, Fly Away", her only big song in the show, which is a shame because she has a fantastic voice.

Aaron Tveit plays Frank Abagnale Jr, con man extraordinaire, and he sang "Good-Bye". He is so fabulous in the show, and he makes you forget that Leo DiCaprio played the role in the movie, no small feat indeed.

I saw the show and thought its was terrific- it is nominated for Best Musical this week at the Tony's, and while it probably won't win, if you are in NYC and want to see a fun show, go see it. Norbert  Leo Butz (nominated for a Tony) is unbelievable, and has the show stopper song, "Don't Break the Rules" that is amazing.

You never know what's around the corner in NYC- a Broadway musical preview at Macy's on a week night. I got to meet the stars and tell them how much I enjoyed the show.