In both Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club and An Enemy of the People the audience becomes an additional character in the productions. Both shows have the audience on all sides -which can probably also be said to be true about their opinions of the themes of both shows.

In Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (with a new script by Amy Herzog), Doctor Stockmann (Jeremy Strong), who cares very much for the well-being of his community, finds himself fighting those in power when he discovers the water that would feed the public baths the community sorely needs for economic reasons is contaminated. His deeply held concern for the health of his fellow citizens does battle with the people in power, including his own brother (Michael Imperioli), who is the town’s mayor.

The literal mirror in this production comes at the beginning of the second act when a public forum is held so that Stockmann can discuss his findings. The house lights are kept on after members of the audience have been encouraged to sample a beverage on stage during intermission. 

Some of those audience members remain on stage and serve as fellow citizens. The rest of us remain silent partners in the proceedings. Just like we are to most actions taking place in our own communities. We remain silent. 

Yet who amongst us does not have an opinion (whether independently formed or guided by whichever news outlet most closely aligns with our beliefs) about the power structure in politics? The health and well-being of ourselves and our communities? Can and should science be believed?  Should profits for the few be given a greater sense of priority over the health of our people?

Perhaps you should ask the people in Flint, Michigan for their answer.

Or look at any number of the issues your own city is facing.  

What director Sam Gold’s production does so simply and so effectively is make each of us who attends think about these issues in our own lives. How complicit are we in what happens or doesn’t happen? Just take a look in the mirror that An Enemy of the People brilliantly offers. Not bad for a play that debuted in 1883.

83 years later, composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb and book writer Joe Masteroff had their musical Cabaret take Broadway by storm. It is based on a 1951 play I Am a Camera by John Van Druten which was itself based on Christopher Isherwood’s 1939 novel Goodbye to Berlin.

The 1930s was a pivotal time in German history. Isherwood’s own experiences in the late 1920s to early 1930s as the Weimar Republic was coming to an end and Hitler and the Nazi party was rising to power.

That was certainly a good time to say goodbye to Berlin.

One need not look too deeply into today’s headlines to understand that this musical is, and sadly will perhaps always be, topical.

Critics have been deeply divided about Rebecca Frecknall’s production. The experience begins 90 minutes before the show starts as the audience walks through the alley on the east side of the August Wilson Theatre to enter the theater. Once you’ve made your way into the theater you enter the debaucherous world of the Kit Kat Club complete with performers doing various acts and drinks a plenty.

The musical starts and the Emcee (Eddie Redmayne) welcomes us to Cabaret. He tells us that we should leave our troubles outside. The creators, of course, had other ideas.

We find ourselves, once again, looking at the action from all sides and at each other. Audience participation as we start act two further deepens our ability to look at our neighbors. Another mirror has been constructed for us.

I’ve always felt that the regrettably evergreen relevance of Cabaret requires little to make us keenly aware that issues of antisemitism are unlikely to go away anytime soon. No matter how brilliantly staged, should we applaud the end of Tomorrow Belongs to Me? Or should we be appalled? Or both?

As an audience member we get to make that choice and see our fellow theatergoers wrestle with that same dilemma (if they wrestle with it at all) in our shared mirror. But we’ve always had that choice with Cabaret. For 58 years this incredible musical has asked each and every one of us the same questions. How those questions get posed to us vary from production-to-production.

Yet the questions must continue to be posed. The audience must continue to be involved. The mirrors must be in place and remain there.

Perhaps someday that mirror will tell us who is the fairest society of them all.

An Enemy of the People received 5 Tony nominations and plays through June 23^rd at the Circle-in-the Square Theatre in New York.

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club received 9 Tony nominations and has an open-ended run at the August Wilson Theatre in New York.

Main Photo: Victoria Pedretti, Caleb Eberhardt and Jeremy Strong in “An Enemy of the People” (Photo by Emilio Madrid)

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I want to pick up with something else Tommy Tune told me. He feels that he is now obsolete and that there isn’t a place on Broadway for him. He also can’t bear to work without his regular collaborators who have passed away. How do you handle loss and what do you do differently than Tommy?

I just stay. I keep my eyes and ears open and say yes. I look forward to tomorrow. I absolutely do. It keeps me young and in it. It keeps my laughing. it keeps me a part of it. Freddy is gone [Fred Ebb – lyricist for Chicago and Kiss of the Spider Woman] but his lyrics have not. His memory is not. If the opportunity comes, why not if you are asked to? Why not? Why not seek another view or way of doing things? I’m always hungry for new things. And I’m loaded with old things. And they are good. You know listening to scores you love that they are still relevant. They are still exciting, beautiful and moving.

With YouTube a lot of people can see some of your old television and stage appearances. For example, I watched you perform “I Got Plenty O’ Nottin'” on Judy Garland’s show. How do you feel about that?

With that hair? Have you ever seen so much hair in your life? You’d think there would be three little people underneath all that hair! I think it’s fabulous. It’s wonderful. I’m not really a part of this new age. I don’t do all that Facebook and all that stuff. It’s great, except sometimes people think they are critics and they are heard now and they kind of go crazy with their opinions. People aren’t nice enough today. They think criticizing is far more interesting than adoring or liking something. They think that darkness is more valuable. I don’t. I think the light is far more interesting and alluring.

Whatever happened to class?

Freddy had it absolutely right But mind you, they are two murderers who sing that song. That’s what’s funny about it. That they had the audacity to ask, but they are the least classy people to ask. But yes, whatever happened to class.

Can you believe the revival of Chicago is still running?

I’m so glad it’s running now and I’m so happy for the kids. But it just doesn’t compare with Tony Walton’s original sets and the show the way Bobby [Fosse] directed it. It just doesn’t compare. You just sort of wish people had seen it in its original state. That big elevator that Velma came up on. Amazing design.

Speaking of class, as a Puerto Rican, I have to believe you are less than impressed with the US Government’s response to Hurricane Maria.

Oh please. [She lets out the biggest sigh.] I made a promise I would wake up every day and not turn on the news. I think it’s disgusting and disgraceful. I’m embarrassed and ashamed and I’m angry. And you know who I’m angry at. I don’t even like to say his name. I don’t understand. I don’t understand that or the people who put him there.

One time when I spoke with your Sweet Charity co-star Shirley MacLaine, she said “I’m so old. But I’m current. If there audience is with you, there’s nothing like being on stage.” Do you agree and, if so, do you still feel that way?

That’s exactly right. I totally agree. I guess I would add with her…it’s just that age brings a whole other fantastic bit of, what can I say, we bring our adventures, our knowledge and our history with us. And so we have a double thing going. We’re current because Shirley is not going to give in. She’s not going to go anywhere. She’s going to go with what’s going on. She has to know. Just like I am. She’s a bit more curious than I am. On top of the years she has been here she has all the other lives before. She’s got a bag bigger than anybody’s. She was the cherry on the top of my adventure of doing the film of Sweet Charity. That’s what’s nice about having all these fabulous people who are my friends. I still have them and I will always have them.

Ever the pro, Chita knew exactly when our allotted amount of time was up. But she one more thing to say which surprised me.

I had an interview just before you. I could not have been more bored. I thank you for saving my day. You have a wonderful sense of humor and great background and questions. Thank you.

Even if I didn’t know what you ask someone who has been so peppered with questions her whole career, I guess it didn’t go too badly after all. Thank you Chita!

Chita Rivera and Seth Rudetsky appear on Thursday, May 10th in two performances of Broadway @ The Wallis: Chita Rivera.

For part one of our interview, please go here.

Main photo: Chita Rivera in Kiss of the Spider Woman. Photo by Martha Swope. Courtesy of the NY Public Library.

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Sometimes you’re dreams get broken in pieces
But that doesn’t matter at all
Take it from me, there’s still going to be
A summer, a winter, a spring and a fall

For the creators of the Broadway musical – writers David Thompson and Sharon Washington; composers Kander and Ebb and Lin-Manuel Miranda; director/choreographer Susan Stroman – their big-budgeted musical didn’t make it in the city that doesn’t sleep. The show closed after only 110 official performances.

But for fans who loved the musical or the people who never got a chance to see the show, there is the ultimate souvenir to experience: the original Broadway cast recording (OBCR).

As they did for the show itself, orchestrators Sam Davis (who was also the arranger) and Daryl Waters were in the studio with the cast and creators to memorialize the enormous amount of work that went into this show so that their little town blues could melt away and they could all make a brand new start of it. And more importantly, so you could hear the 28 songs and 5 demos.

It’s not unlike how they first became aware of musicals.

“Everything I know about musical theater, and my whole love of shows and show music, all came from albums,” said Davis for whom New York, New York was his twelfth Broadway show. “I would get cast albums as a kid and listen to the songs and love the songs, but not know anything about the plots. So, for instance, I made up my own plot for South Pacific.”

Waters, who grew up in Cleveland, got to see shows, “but certainly not Broadway quality,” he recalled. “Listening to all this glorious music just draws you even that much closer to the whole scene and makes you want to be a part of it. That’s how I ended up here.” It was Waters’ work on Shuffle Along, or, The Making of The Musical Sensation of 1921 and All that Followed, that prompted Davis to bring Waters in for New York, New York.

Davis recalls, “I had never worked with Daryl before this, but Shuffle Along made me think he’d be really great with Stro [Stroman] working with dance. I arranged the whole score of New York, New York, but wasn’t going to orchestrate the whole thing myself because it would be too much work. It was such a stylistic hodgepodge that there were definitely areas that were taking me out of my comfort zone as an orchestrator. So I thought it would be great if we could get someone else to do a lot of the orchestrations and bring their flavor to it. Darryl was the perfect person.”

The hodgepodge that Davis was referring to was the various sources for the songs that made up this musical.

“We have classic Kander and Ebb songs like New York, New York and But The World Goes Round, and then we have lesser known Kander and Ebb classics like Marry Me [from The Rink],” Davis listed. “Then we also had these new songs that Kander was writing with Lin. We had a song from Funny Lady [a 1975 film sequel to Funny Girl – the song is Let’s Hear It For Me]. And the danger would be that they would all sound like they were from different shows – which they are.”

According to Waters, they made it work. “The way that Sam has delivered that thread throughout the show was absolutely incredible to me. When you talk about art, threads are important. All I had to do was layer in my own part. Sometimes I feel like I have to superimpose something on there that wasn’t there. It was all there this show.”

When it came time to go into the studio to make the OBCR, Davis and Waters faced some challenges in recording an album that mirrors the show.

Davis recalls, “The show is such a big dance show and it’s such a visual show. How do you create that? How do you keep the joy of that when you don’t have anything to look at? Mostly that just meant in the way that the songs were performed. We have a big production number in Act Two called the San Juan Supper Club. When you see it in the audience with Susan Stroman’s choreography, it was thrilling. But when we recorded it the way we do it in the show, without the visuals it seemed a little lackluster. So we ended up doing it almost twice the tempo that we do it in the show to create all the excitement that you saw visually. There were lots of little tweaks like that.”

But they also go to enhance the experience as well for the album. Waters reveals, “Let’s not forget something very major: You try and keep to the minimum number of players because every year it gets more expensive. For the album we had the luxury of actually adding some strings that gave us a much richer sound than you would normally hear.”

During our conversation I mentioned to Waters and Davis that seven years earlier I had interviewed Kander and he mentioned that he hoped that revivals of his shows The Rink and Steel Pier might happen soon. Neither show was a hit, though he was deeply passionate about them.

So if New York, New York gets a revival in the future, what do Davis and Waters think the reason for that revival would be? What discoveries could be made that didn’t engage an audience this year?

Waters responds first, “This is the everyman story – at least for New York City. We all can relate to all these stories. I’m disappointed more people didn’t get a chance to see it this time. Next time, it’s just have to come on in there and take a look at it. Because the storylines are real. The truth is real.”

That truth, that honesty, is also important to Davis.

“What lasts in theater is when pieces have something to say that is honest. If a little time goes by and we forget arguing which plot line we should have cut or which scene didn’t work, people will realize the show really does say something genuine about New York. Every scene, every song and every musical moment expresses all of our collective love and our fantasy about what that means being in New York and arriving in New York from somewhere else. We all put it so fervently into the piece. I just feel like it’s there waiting to be discovered.”

Until then there’s the cast recording. A recording that will last as a permanent document of the show. So what happens in five decades from now when someone first listens to New York, New York? Will they create their own storyline as Davis did? Davis has some ideas.

“One thing that may not be clear 50 years from now, but what I think is so unique now, is how unusual it was for a show like New York, New York to open in 2023 – just a couple of years out of the pandemic and and in a time where everyone is scaling down and so many shows have contemporary pop scores – that we were doing a show with a big budget that had a huge set, fantastic lavish costumes, great choreography and a full orchestra with strings. It’s like a defiant throwback in a way.

“Maybe in 50 years every show will be like that again. But I would love people to know how brave and unusual that was that we did.”

To see my interview with Sam Davis and Daryl Waters, which has plenty of other stories about New York, New York and other shows and collaborators, please go here.

Main Photo: The company of New York, New York (Photo by Paul Kolnik)

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Gravitte will be joined by friends of hers who will join for conversation and song. Monday’s guest is composer Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin). On May 9th she’ll be joined by composer Marc Shaiman (Hairspray; Catch Me If You Can) and on September 12th her guest will be Harvey Fierstein (Torch Song Trilogy; Kinky Boots).

Gravitte finds that all three of her guests have something in common.

“These first three people I’ve asked happened to be all incredibly wealthy, famous Jewish men,” she said during our recent Zoom conversation. “I know them personally. I’ve experienced things with them as as friends and in business and I think that they feel comfortable with me.”

Though she’s never appeared on Broadway in a show created by any of these three men, she has had other working relationships with them.

“Stephen and I did concerts before Wicked opened. I was like the first person who sang Defying Gravity,” she revealed. “Of course I did Godspell because I think every human being who’s ever done a show in their life has done either Godspell or Pippin. And Marc Shaiman, when I met him I think he was 17 or 18. We were both really young and he was already playing for Bette Midler because his talent is undeniable. It’s just crazy. He did the orchestrations and arrangements for my first cabaret show. And then Harvey happens to live in my town in Connecticut. We’ve become buddies. I was doing a show at a local theater here and I asked Harvey to come and we sang Do You Love Me from Fiddler [On The Roof]. So we sort of performed together.”

When asked about opportunities she’d like to have with Schwartz, Shaiman and Fierstein, she doesn’t hesitate with her dream roles – one of which is surprising.

“I’d love to be Elphaba. Although when I first took my children they turned to me, I think they were like 10 years old, and said, ‘Mom, you are so perfect for this show. You’d be the perfect Glinda,’ because they think I’m funny. So I’d love to do Elphaba, scream my lungs out and fly. Wouldn’t it be glorious? And with Marc, I’d like to be the lead in Catch Me If You Can. I’d like to sing Live in Living Color. That’s not going to happen. And I think that I’m in the perfect role with Harvey because we’re friends.”

For all of her experiences on concert stages, Broadway (including Zorba and Chicago) and cabaret venues, it was a suggestion years ago from a former late-night talk show host/comedian that inspired Debbie Gravitte Plus One.

“I was opening for Jay Leno years ago in Atlantic City. This was right after I’d won the Tony Award. I had all my dialogue written out. It was so scripted. And he says to me, ‘You know you’re really funny. Why don’t you just talk? Which is why I’m doing this series. I’m very comfortable just talking.”

As Gravitte was when we she told a great story about being in London with lyricist Fred Ebb (Cabaret; Kiss of the Spider Woman) and composer Jerry Herman (Hello, Dolly!; Mame).

“I’m trying to breathe basically thinking about how rich these men are and how incredibly famous they are and their bodies of work. This was before Chicago had its second life on Broadway for Fred. Jerry walks away and Fred says to me, ‘God I wish I was as famous as Jerry Herman.’ What is he talking about? He’s Fred Ebb of Kander and Ebb, and I just realize that it’s very relative. It’s just part of life; the grass is always greener.”

For Gravitte, who grew up in West Los Angeles, being around people like her guests or Ebb or Herman wasn’t necessarily what she thought her life would be.

“I don’t think so, but I think I always hoped so. Who knows what you’re thinking as a girl growing up in L.A.? Literally my house overlooked 20th Century Fox. It was really up high on a hill. I could literally see 20th Century Fox; movies, movies, movies, movies. And all I ever wanted to do was Broadway – to be a Broadway star.”

She achieved her dream and is fully aware of how privileged she is to have done so.

“I was doing a concert one time and this woman came up to me. I guess she was of a certain age. She was older and she came up to me weeping. ‘I always wanted to do what you wanted to do.’ Then I’m saying, ‘Well, you can do it. You can still do it. You can sing in the shower.’

“When I am standing on a stage and am fully present and people are gazing back at me with that look of expectation, I absolutely feel like I am the luckiest human on the planet. I get to do what millions of people wish they could do. You know me, I wish I could build bookshelves. We all have things we want to do. I’ve never gone ‘I am an actor. I’m a dancer. I’m a singer.’ I’m an entertainer. I want to entertain people.”

To see and hear the entire delightful conversation with Debbie Gravitte, please go here.

Photo: Debbie Gravitte (photo by Bill Westmoreland/Courtesy of Birdland)

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Our top pick, previewed yesterday, is a reading of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart on Saturday. We also have some great jazz music for you (both traditional vocals and a very contemporary performance), a London production of Chekhov that earned rave reviews, a tribute to two of Broadway’s best songwriters, chamber music and a contortionist. After all, it’s Mother’s Day weekend. Don’t all mothers just love contortionists?

Here are the Top 10 Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th

*TOP PICK* PLAY READING: The Normal Heart – ONE Archives Foundation – May 8th – 8:00 PM ET/5:00 PM PT

We previewed this event yesterday as out Top Pick, but here are the pertinent details:

Director Paris Barclay has assembled Sterling K. Brown, Laverne Cox, Jeremy Pope, Vincent Rodriguez III, Guillermo Díaz, Jake Borelli, Ryan O’Connell, Daniel Newman, Jay Hayden and Danielle Savre for a virtual reading of Larry Kramer’s play.

The reading will be introduced by Martin Sheen.

There will be just this one live performance of The Normal Heart. It will not be available for viewing afterwards. There will be a Q&A with the cast and Barclay following the reading. Tickets begin at $10 for students, $20 for general admission.

PLAY READING: Rachel – Roundabout Theatre Company’s Refocus Project – Now – May 7th

Angelina Weld Grimké’s 1916 play Rachel, is the second play in the Refocus Project from Roundabout Theatre Company. Their project puts emphasis on plays by Black playwrights from the 20th century that didn’t get enough attention or faded into footnotes of history in an effort to bring greater awareness to these works.

Rachel tells the story of a Black woman who, upon learning some long-ago buried secrets about her family, has to rethink being a Black parent and bringing children into the world.

Miranda Haymon directs Sekai Abení, Alexander Bello, E. Faye Butler, Stephanie Everett, Paige Gilbert, Brandon Gill, Toney Goins, Abigail Jean-Baptiste and Zani Jones Mbayise.

The reading is free, but registration is required.

JAZZ: Joel Ross & Immanuel Wilkins – Village Vanguard – May 7th – May 9th

You’d be hard-pressed to find a more compelling pairing of jazz musicians than vibraphonist Joel Ross and alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

The two have been collaborating for quite some time. Wilkins is a member of Ross’ Good Vibes quintet.

Nate Chinen, in a report for NPR, described a 2018 concert in which Ross performed with drummer Makaya McCraven this way. “Ross took one solo that provoked the sort of raucous hollers you’d sooner expect in a basketball arena. Again, this was a vibraphone solo.“

Wilkins album, Omega, was declared the Best Jazz Album of 2020 by Giovanni Russonello of the New York Times.

I spoke to Wilkins last year about the album and his music. You can read that interview here. And if you’re a fan, Jason Moran, who produced the album, told me that this music was “just the tip of the iceberg.”

Tickets for this concert are $10.

PLAY: Uncle Vanya – PBS Great Performances – May 7th check local listings

Anton Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya is performed by a cast headed by Richard Armitrage and Toby Jones. Conor McPherson adapted the play for this production which played at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London and was directed by Ian Rickson.

Arifa Akbar, writing in her five-star review for The Guardian, said of the production:

“Ian Rickson’s exquisite production is full of energy despite the play’s prevailing ennui. It does not radically reinvent or revolutionise Chekov’s 19th-century story. It returns us to the great, mournful spirit of Chekhov’s tale about unrequited love, ageing and disappointment in middle-age, while giving it a sleeker, modern beat.

“McPherson’s script has a stripped, vivid simplicity which quickens the pace of the drama, and despite its contemporary language – Vanya swears and uses such terms as “wanging on” – it does not grate or take away from the melancholic poetry.”

CHAMBER MUSIC: Beyond the Horizon – LA Chamber Orchestra – Premieres May 7th – 9:30 PM ET/6:30 PM PT

This is the 12th episode in LACO’s Close Quarters series and definitely one of its most intriguing. Jessie Montgomery, the composer who curated the previous episode, curates this episode as well. She is joined by her fellow alums from Juilliard, mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (who directs) and music producer Nadia Sirota.

The program features Alvin Singleton’s Be Natural (a pun any music major will understand); Mazz Swift’s The End of All That Is Holy, The Beginning of All That is Good and Montgomery’s Break Away.

The performance portion of Beyond the Horizon is conducted by Christopher Rountree of Wild Up! Visual artist Yee Eun Nam contributes to the film as does art director James Darrah.

There is no charge to watch Beyond the Horizon.

CHAMBER MUSIC: MusiKaravan: A Classical Road Trip with Delerium Musicum – The Wallis Sorting Room Sessions – May 7th – May 9th

Music by Johannes Brahms, Charlie Chaplin, Frederic Chopin, Vittorio Monti, Sergei Prokofiev, Giacomo Puccini and Dmitri Shostakovich will be performed by Delerium Musicum founding violinists Étienne Gara and YuEun Kim. They will be joined for two pieces by bassist Ryan Baird.

The full ensemble of musicians that make up Delerium Musicum will join for one of these pieces? Which one will it be? There is only one way to find out.

This concert is part of The Sorting Room Sessions at The Wallis.

Tickets are $20 and will allow for streaming for 48 hours

MOTHER’S DAY OFFERINGS: MOMentum Place and A Catalina Tribute to Mothers – May 8th

Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum is celebrating Mother’s Day with MOMentum Place, a show featuring aerial artists, circus performers, dancers and musicians. The line-up includes circus artist Elena Brocade; contortionist and acrobat Georgia Bryan, aerialist and stilt dancer Jena Carpenter of Dream World Cirque, ventriloquist Karl Herlinger, hand balancer Tyler Jacobson, stilt walker and acrobat Aaron Lyon, aerialist Kate Minwegen, cyr wheeler Sarah Moser and Cirque du Soleil alum Eric Newton, plus Dance Dimensions Kids and Focus Fish Kids. The show was curated by aerlist/dancer Lexi Pearl. Tickets are $35.

Catalina Jazz Club is holding A Catalina Tribute to Mothers at 9:00 PM ET/6:00 PM PT. Headlining the concert are singers Jack Jones, Freda Payne and Tierney Sutton. Vocalist Barbara Morrison is a special guest. Also performing are  Kristina Aglinz, Suren Arustamyan, Lynne Fiddmont, Andy Langham, Annie Reiner, Dayren Santamaria, Tyrone Mr. Superfantastic and more. Dave Damiani is the host. The show is free, however donations to help keep the doors open at Catalina Jazz Club are welcomed and encouraged.

JAZZ: Love in Exile – The Phillips Collection – May 9th – 4:00 PM ET/1:00 PM PT

There is no set program for this performance by pianist/composer Vijay Iyer, vocalist Arooj Aftab and bassist Shazad Ismaily. The website says Love in Exile performs as one continuous hour-long set.

Having long been a fan of Iyer, spending an hour wherever he and his fellow musicians wants to go sounds like pure heaven to me.

Iyer’s most recent album, Uneasy, was released in April on ECM Records and finds him performing with double bassist Linda May Han Oh and drummer Tyshawn Sorey. It’s a great album. You should definitely check it out.

There is no charge to watch this concert, but registration is required. Once Love in Exile debuts, you’ll have 7 days to watch the performance as often as you’d like.

DANCE: Past, Present, Future – ALL ARTS – May 9th – May 11th

ALL ARTS, part of New York’s PBS stations, is holding an three-night on-line dance festival beginning on Sunday.

If We Were a Love Song is first up at 8:00 PM ET on Sunday. Nina Simone’s music accompanies this work conceived by choreographer Kyle Abraham who is collaborating with filmmaker Dehanza Rogers.

Dancers (Slightly Out of Shape) airs on Monday at 8:00 PM ET. This is part documentary/part dance featuring choreographer Pam Tanowitz as she and her company resume rehearsals last year during the Covid crisis. It leads to excerpts from Every Moment Alters which is set to the music of Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.

One + One Make Three closes out the festival on Tuesday at 8:00 PM ET. This film showcases the work of Kinetic Light, an ensemble featuring disabled performers. This is also part documentary/part dance made by director Katherine Helen Fisher.

All three films will be accompanied by ASL and Open Captions for the hearing impaired.

BROADWAY: Broadway Close Up: Kander and Ebb – Kaufman Music Center – May 10th – 7:00 PM ET/4:00 PM PT

You know the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb: Cabaret, Chicago, Flora the Red Menace, Kiss of the Spider Woman, New York New York, The Scottsboro Boys and Woman of the Year.

Their work will be explored, discussed and performed with host Sean Hartley.

He’s joined by Tony Award-winner Karen Ziemba (Contact) who appeared in two musicals by the duo: Curtains and Steel Pier. The latter was written specifically for her.

Any fan of Kander and Ebb will want to purchase a ticket for this show. Tickets are $15

Those are our Top Ten Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th (even if we cheated a little bit by having two options listed together). But there are a few reminders:

The Metropolitan Opera has their own view of mothers with their theme of Happy Mother’s Day featuring Berg’s Wozzeck on Friday; Puccini’s Madama Butterfly on Saturday and Handel’s Agrippina on Sunday.

Puccini returns for the start of National Council Auditions Alumni Week with a 1981-1982 season production of La Bohème. We’ll have all the details for you on Monday.

LA Opera’s Signature Recital Series continues with the addition of a recital by the brilliant soprano Christine Goerke.

One rumor to pass along to you: word has it Alan Cumming will be Jim Caruso’s guest on Monday’s Pajama Cast Party.

That completes all our selections of Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th. I hope all of you who are mothers have a terrific weekend. For those of you celebrating with your moms, I hope we’ve given you plenty of options to consider.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy the culture!

Photo: Larry Kramer (Photo by David Shankbone/Courtesy David Shankbone)

The post Best Bets: May 7th – May 10th appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

Hair – 1969 Tony Awards

Nominated for Best Musical and Best Direction of a Musical, Hair opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre and ran for 1,750 performances. The show, directed by Tom O’Horgan, did not win any Tonys. Amongst the original cast members were two of its creators Gerome Ragni and James Rado, Diane Keaton and Paul Jabara. The 2009 revival of the musical won the Tony Award for Best Revival.

Purlie – 1970 Tony Awards

Purlie was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Musical. Cleavon Little and Melba Moore won Tony Awards for their performances. The show, directed by Philip Rose who co-wrote the book, first opened at the Broadway Theater and later moved to the Winter Garden and the ANTA Playhouse.

Chicago – 1976 Tony Awards

The original production of Kander and Ebb’s musical Chicago was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. It won none of them. Directed by Bob Fosse and starring Gwen Verdon, Chita Rivera and Jerry Orbach, the show ran for 936 performances at the 42nd Street Theatre.

A Chorus Line – 1976 Tony Awards

This is the reason Chicago didn’t win any Tony Awards. Michael Bennett’s show, with music and lyrics by Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban, was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won nine of them. Its run of 6,137 performances made it the longest running Broadway musical. It is now number six on that list. Ironically, the revival of Chicago, still running in New York, is currently number two on that list with 9,692 performances so far.

The Act – 1978 Tony Awards

This is also a Kander and Ebb musical with the unique distinction of being the only Broadway show directed by Martin Scorsese. The show received six Tony nominations with the only win being for Liza Minnelli. The Act played at the Majestic Theatre and played for 233 performances.

Sweeney Todd – 1979 Tony Awards (though I have no idea who is sitting in as Sweeney)

Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical was nominated for nine Tony Awards. The show won eight of them including Best Musical, Best Actress for Angela Lansbury and Best Actor for Len Cariou. Directed by Harold Prince, Sweeney Todd played at the Uris Theatre (later renamed The Gershwin Theatre) for 557 performances.

Evita – 1980 Tony Awards

Evita, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, was nominated for 11 Tony Awards. The show won seven including Best Musical, Best Actress for Patti LuPone and Best Featured Actor for Mandy Patinkin. Directed by Harold Prince, Evita played at the Broadway Theatre and ran for 1,567 performances.

Dreamgirls – 1982 Tony Awards

Dreamgirls was nominated for 13 Tony Awards and won six of them. The show, directed by Michael Bennett, played the Imperial Theatre and ran for 1,521 performances. The Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen musical featured the staggering Tony-winning performance by Jennifer Holliday as “Effie White.”

Cats – 1983 Tony Awards

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical inspired by T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won seven including Best Musical. Trevor Nunn directed Cats which played the Winter Garden Theatre. The musical broke A Chorus Line‘s record for longest-running Broadway show with 7,485 performances. Betty Buckley won a Tony Award for her performance as Grizabella who sings the show’s best-known song.

Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur – 1988 Tony Awards

Jerry Herman’s musical Mame opened in 1966 and was nominated for eight Tony Awards. Amongst the three winners were co-stars Angela Lansbury (as Mame Dennis) and Bea Arthur (as Vera Charles). 22 years later they reunited on the 1988 Tony Awards and performed their classic duet from the show. (This was the year The Phantom of the Opera won Best Musical.)

Grand Hotel – 1990 Tony Awards

Grand Hotel was nominated for 12 Tony Awards and won five including two for director and choreographer Tommy Tune and one for Michael Jeter as Otto Kringelein. The show opened at the Martin Beck Theatre and later transferred to the Gershwin Theatre. Grand Hotel ran for a total of 1,017 performances

Kiss of the Spider Woman – 1993 Tony Awards

Kander and Ebb won yet another Tony Award for this musical based on Manuel Puig’s novel (which also inspired the Academy Award-winning film.) Kiss of the Spider Woman received 11 Tony nominations winning seven of them including Terrence McNally for Best Book of a Musical and for the performances by Chita Rivera as “Spider Woman/Aurora,” Brent Carver as “Molina” and Anthony Crivello as “Valentin.” The musical, directed by Harold Prince, opened at the Broadhurst Theatre and ran for a total of 904 performances.

Passion – 1994 Tony Awards

The film Passione d’Amore by Ettore Scola was the inspiration for this Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine musical. The musical opened at the Plymouth Theatre near the end of Tony season and ran for only 280 performances. Donna Murphy, Jere Shea and Marin Mazzie starred in Passion. All three were amongst the 10 Tony nominations the show received with Murphy taking the Tony for Best Performance by an Actress. The musical won Best Score, Best Book and also Best Musical.

The Wild Party – 2000 Tony Awards

Composers Michael John LaChiusa and Andrew Lippa wrote musicals called The Wild Party. Both were based on Joseph Moncure March’s poem of the same name and both were produced the same year. LaChiusa’s show, directed by George C. Wolfe, made it to Broadway’s Virginia Theatre where it was nominated for seven Tony Awards. It did not win any and closed after a run of only 68 performances. The cast featured Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt.

Caroline, Or Change – 2004 Tony Awards

Playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and composer Jeanine Tesori teamed up for this 2004 musical (also directed by George C. Wolfe) that received six Tony Award nominations. Anika Noni Rose was the sole winner for her performance as “Emmie Thibodeaux.” Caroline, or Change was scheduled to have a revival this season, but those plans have been postponed until next season. For anyone who saw the show at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre during its brief 136 performance run, Tonya Pinkins‘ performance of “Lot’s Wife” will stand as one of the greatest performances in modern Broadway history.

Fela! – 2010 Tony Awards

Fela! electrified audiences when it opened at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in 2009. The musical was nominated for 11 Tony Awards and won three (including Best Choreography by Bill T. Jones). Jim Lewis collaborated with Jones (who also directed) on the book of this musical about legendary Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The show ran for 463 performances.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch – 2014 Tony Awards

It took 16 years for this Stephen Trask and John Cameron Mitchell musical to finally make it to Broadway. The show began its life off-Broadway at the Jane Street Theatre in 1998. Directed by Michael Mayer and starring Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall, the show was nominated for eight Tony Awards. Harris and Hall both won and Hedwig and the Angry Inch was awarded the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical. The show ran for 507 performances at the Belasco Theatre.

The Color Purple – 2016 Tony Awards

Alice Walker’s novel inspired this musical by playwright Marsha Norman and composers/lyricists Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray. This revival, directed by John Doyle, opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre and was nominated for four Tony Awards. It won for Best Revival of a Musical and for Cynthia Erivo’s performance as Celie. The Color Purple ran for 450 performances.

Hamilton – 2016 Tony Awards

Much like A Chorus Line (which also began its life at The Public Theater), Hamilton was the juggernaut at the Tony Awards that couldn’t be beaten. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical was nominated for 16 Tony Awards and won 11 of them. The show, directed by Thomas Kail, is still running at the Richard Rodgers Theatre with 1,919 performances so far.

What makes this performance particular emotional is that the Tony Awards took place just after the mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. Given the recent events the cast opted not to use the prop guns that are usually seen in the show.

Those are 18 of my favorite Tony Awards performances. Let me know what your favorites are by posting your thoughts in our comments.

The post My Favorite Tony Award Performances appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

The World Goes ‘Round replaced the previously announced Victor, Victoria as the second show in this first season of Reprise’s re-launch. Originally created in the early 1990s, The World… celebrates the work of these two songwriters who were responsible for many legendary Broadway musicals as Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman and songs from such movies as Funny Lady and New York, New York.

During a break from rehearsals I spoke with Sternbach by phone about the rebirth of Reprise, Kander & Ebb and some changes that have been made to the show.

What makes Kander & Ebb, from your point of view, unique in the canon of musical theatre?

When they started working in the theatre they were an amalgam of popular idiom. They carry on the tradition of musical theatre writers that are a combination of popular things. It wasn’t art songs. It’s not all the Great American songbook. They were not afraid to write great pop songs, but they were also a great team that came up in the middle of everything. They were just past the edge of Irving Berlin, Richard Rodgers and the Gershwins. They started a new trend that got a kick in the butt with Leonard Bernstein integrating American culture instead of trading off of Europe like we had with the other composers I mentioned. Their unique voice hits right in the center of the New York motor that was happening in the early 1950s and 1960s.

I interviewed John Kander and asked him about his use of rising half-steps (as he does in “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret, “But The World Goes ‘Round” from New York, New York and “Funny Honey” from Chicago) in his music. We admitted to realizing it was a habit for him. But isn’t this a signature way of identifying one of their songs?

I do think it’s how you identify their music. Kander & Ebb stuff is piano driven, more than other composers. One of the ways you know it’s their song is it’s driven by piano hooks and a catchy introduction. I can identify that song in one vamp!

John Kander once said, “I guess I think of a musical as something in which the music is sort of like the engine of the piece – whether it is in the theatre or in film.” When a show like this is the music and lyrics, as it is here, what is your responsibility as Music Director to make sure that the engine fires on all cylinders?

As Music Director I believe in the true name of my title. I’m a musical director. I’m not just a pianist. I do accompany, but I’m a collaborator with the director and choreographer. It’s all about storytelling. I make sure that the lyrics and music are on equal footing. I serve the people who are working and keep the motor running.  We all report back to the director and pay respect and homage to what is being showcased in the show. In this case, it’s the great work of Kander & Ebb.

There appear to have been a couple versions of the show including a change of orchestrations and the architecture of the show as well. What version will Reprise be doing?

There’s only one that was licensed. However, Richard Israel made some cuts. We have cut three numbers and rearranged the show to the show’s advantage. The show moves like lightning. We are showcasing the talented people involved and the humor that is really at the core of what a lot of Fred Ebb’s lyrics are.

The relaunch of Reprise as announced was very ambitious. The original show planed for this spot was Victor, Victoria. Replacing that show with this one means you have a show that has been done in and around equity waiver and community theatre for years and is a much less ambitious project. What makes The World Goes ‘Round an equally valid choice for that second spot?

I think that we chose five stellar performers. We’re bringing our A-game to this production. The fact that it is a smaller show we felt was necessary to do at this time. There is nothing that I would have any reservation about this being a diminishing of quality for the second offering. It’s about the logistics, contracts and money and we do live in different times. We hit the ground running with Sweet Charity and we’ll be back in the saddle soon with Grand Hotel. I’m glad we’re making the choice to keep running.

Lin-Manuel Miranda apparently wrote “The Room Where It Happens” from Hamilton as a love letter to Kander & Ebb. What do songwriters who came up in the shadow of these two owe them?

Oh wow. I’m also a composer and I have two musicals. All of us writers who aspire to work in musical theatre, the great writers have inspired us to communicate and touch people. There’s nothing that replaces a good song. They wrote songs to tell stories; to communicate and to communicate emotion. All of us, whether you are Jason Robert Brown or Lin-Manuel Miranda or the new talents of the 21st century, we’re all following all these people who are great storytellers who didn’t shy away from being true to their craft. With this show you will walk away knowing what great craftsmen they were. There’s not a stinker in the show. I’m very excited about the work. 

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Tom Drucker

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Carryl is not a household name (Failure: A Love Story and Romeo & Juliet on stage locally.) Nor is she the first person you would assume would be cast as the landlady renting out space to an American writer (Christopher Maikish) who falls in love with Kit Kat Club entertainer Sally Bowles (Talisa Friedman) and who falls in love herself with Herr Schultz (Matthew Henerson.) She’s not as old as most women who have played the part. And then there’s the fact that she’s African-American. If any of this surprises you, your surprise can’t possibly measure up to Carryl’s when she was asked by director Michael Matthews to do the show.

“I was shocked,” she says with a laugh. “He said this role and I went,” and she makes a loud gulping sound. “I think I was terrified. I think part of it was the political side of me which was I don’t want to be the betrayer. No matter how tragic the story, you can’t help but judge her a little. I think when you are a cultural other you get blamed for a lot of things. To be this Black woman who plays somebody who is a betrayer, I was terrified there would be no empathy. Plus I didn’t want to think of myself as a person who would fail. This character is so complicated and scary and challenging and I didn’t want to mess it up.”

For those unfamiliar with Cabaret, set in Berlin during the rise of the Nazi party, Fraulein Schenider falls in love with Herr Schultz, a Jew. When they get engaged a party is held to celebrate their upcoming wedding. But at the party one of the characters reveals himself to be a Nazi. Schneider calls off the engagement as it would jeopardize the security of her life. Playing a woman for whom survival is the key to most of her decisions was made easier for Carryl with one tip from her director.

“He didn’t even talk to me about history. He said, ‘what’s the love in the scene?’ When you step back and look at her, there is love. There is a kind of love with  [tenant] Fraulein Kost – that motherly/sisterly love where they drive each other insane and still the fact is, she may threaten to call the police, but she never does. Cliff says he could give her 50 marks, she needs 100. He doesn’t saying anything and she responds on a human level to another person in need. It’s really easy when you find what in the scene is about love. What is kindness.”

Having a mixed race relationship amongst the two oldest characters in the musical actually allows for a more topical resonance according to Carryl.  “Difference is just the beginning. We are talking about a society where the point was to erase all difference. That was the Nazi design. They did kill Blacks. They did kill gypsies, homosexuals, everyone who was different from them. What is says about what’s happening today is really powerful and it is an opportunity that Michael trusted would be there. That’s not the story. It’s not what it’s about, but it is a reality and it is there. That I got to be a part of that is exhilarating.”

As for Fraulein Schneider being the emotional center of the musical, Carryl never thought of the character that way.

“That’s what Michael said to me,” she reveals. “He took me aside and said very securely, ‘you are the emotional center of the show.’  I think that quite possibly it is because where Sally is exceptional in her own way, Fraulein Schneider and Herr Schultz are more the every day. They are kind of your every man. And ultimately they are the reasons Germany went the way that it did: Fraulein Schneider for not having the courage of her conviction and Herr Schultz for not being willing to see what was happening.”

The role does allow Carryl to sing all or parts of three songs and she has an obvious favorite.

“What Would You Do?,” she says without hesitation. “She proves that she has just enough courage to care about something and someone. She has to dare to step outside herself and let herself love. Then she sees all the people she must survive with. She knows what’s right, but she doesn’t know what’s survivable. If you have to choose between what’s right and surviving, that’s where most of us live – you chose survival.”

She also credits the show’s writers, John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff, for writing a show that will continue to resonate for decades to come.

“These people were geniuses. The text is so open and so simple. Any time people talk in terms of superiority/inferiority and who belongs and who doesn’t, any culture that grapples with those questions will gravitate to this text. We are born with all of this amazing beautiful stuff in us: whether different colors, genders or sexualities or have different thoughts. But we have this drive towards destruction in the programming. It’s heartbreaking.”

Production Photos by Matthew Brian Denman

The post The Perfectly Marvelous June Carryl appeared first on Cultural Attaché.

He thinks the title song is regularly performed incorrectly
If you take the song without any context, it sounds like a really joyous, upbeat song. If you take it in context, it’s an awful moment in the life of the person who is singing it. She decides in the middle of it, I’ve always felt, to have an abortion. I don’t know that you can get that without the context.

The song “I Don’t Care Much” was written at a dinner party
We wrote really fast. I was at Fred’s house for dinner one night with three other people. We were talking about how fast we found ourselves writing. We got boastful, and Freddy said, “Clear the table, and we’ll write you a song between desert and coffee.” They took us up on it. We went to the piano and Fred said, “What do we write about?” I said, “I don’t know. I don’t care much.” Fred said, “Play a waltz.” I played a waltz and we wrote “I Don’t Care Much.”

There are three different versions of “Cabaret”
There are three versions now which we sanction. I don’t know that there will [be one definitive version]. I’m fond of all three. When “Meeskite” was taken out, I think we focused a little more clearly on exactly what was happening in Berlin. German Jews, some of my own family as a matter of fact, considered themselves much more German than Jewish, so it was a little dishonest.

His first reaction to the film wasn’t positive
It was so enormously different than the piece we had written. It took us time to get used to it. The first time Freddy and I saw it, we were kind of bewildered by it. The second time I thought it was just extraordinary.

You’d be surprised how people respond to songs in the show
A few years after Cabaret opened and ‘Tomorrow Belongs to Me” became kind of well-known, I got a note from a Jewish boy’s camp asking if they could use it for their camp song. I had to write back to explain what the song was. [Editor’s note: The song is written from the perspective of Nazi sympathizers.]

He would love for Cabaret to feel dated, but fears it never will
I think, unfortunately, as long as people act out of hatred, Cabaret will always be pertinent. Wouldn’t it be great if you went to see Cabaret and said, “I don’t get it, the world isn’t like this.” But the world is like this. I think it’s sort of ironic. Its popularity is an indictment of the world we live in.

Photo Credit:  Joan Marcus

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