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!

The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess

I was on my way to see Justin Kirk, whom I have deemed 'the nicest guy in show business' in Other Desert Cities on Broadway, when I stopped by the TKTS booth because there was no line at 11am on Wednesday. Gotta love January.  They had Porgy and Bess at 40% off, and since I really wanted to see Audra McDonald on Broadway,  a change of plans was in order.

I have never seen Porgy & Bess; not on stage, not the movie version. I kinda knew the basic story, and that there has been some controversy over this incarnation of the show, and that probably added to the 'must-see' factor for me.

The story takes place on Catfish Row in Charleston, North Carolina in the 1930s. Catfish Row is a community of African-Americans, fishermen and cotton pickers. The opening song, "Summertime", sung by Nikki Renee Daniels and Joshua Henry, is iconic, and they set the tone for this wonderful show.

The ensemble break out into song and dance, "A Woman Is a Sometime Thing", "Crap Game" and "Gone, Gone, Gone", their voices filling the theater, communicating to the audience their sense of community.

What struck me was the similarity between Porgy & Bess and the last show director  Diane Paulus brought to Broadway- the revival of Hair! In both shows, the ensemble plays a key role. Community is important; the band of hippies in Hair! and the residents of Catfish Row in Porgy & Bess are both a large family for people on the outskirts of the mainstream society.

The casting is perfect. Audra McDonald gives such a raw, stunning performance as Bess, and her voice is awe-inspiring. Bess is a character who has such a dramatic arc- from drug-addicted tramp to loving companion and friend to traumatized victim and beyond- and you see all of these embodied in McDonald's face and body and voice. It is a performance for the ages.

Norm Lewis, who has one of the finest voices around, plays Porgy as a man transformed and tormented by love. Porgy also has a long, tortured journey, and Lewis amazes the audience with his interpretation.

I knew that David Alan Grier could act (I last saw him in the Broadway play Race), but I did not know that he had such a powerful singing voice. His "It Ain't Necessarily So" and "There's a Boat That's Leaving Soon" brought down the house. He played the character of Sporting Life like a well-dressed snake in the Garden of Eden, tempting Bess as if she was Eve. He earned his standing ovation at the end of the show.

There are other wonderful performances- Philip Boykin, who played the brutal Crown was so evil, he actually got booed at curtain call. The actors who played the white policemen who harass the residents and beat Porgy also got booed. I have never seen an audience so into a serious show as this one that they booed the bad guys. Mariah, the matriarch of Catfish Row, was played powerfully by the amazing NaTasha Yvette Williams.

The dancing was fabulous too; I overheard someone say it reminded them of Alvin Ailey, and I second that description. I especially enjoyed the opening number of Act Two. It was so joyous!

The classic music, by George and Ira Gershwin, is performed by a joyous, pitch-perfect cast. When McDonald and Lewis sing "Bess, You Is My Woman Now" and "I Loves You, Porgy", I teared up (and I wasn't the only one.) I knew I was witnessing something special, something I would never forget.

Whatever the controversy, I was moved by the story, the music, and the luminous performances, and to my mind, that is what great theater is all about. Go see it for yourself.