Oakley Boycott never fails to stop the show. She is a unique, totally committed performer. This was from the first show of our 15th season.
Kerry O'Malley singing "Cigars, Cigarettes" - a little known Depression-Era Song - was one of the most stunning moments in BBTY.
Patrick Page, performing some Rocky Horror magic with the Broadway by the Year Chorus was sensational, unexpected fun. He was carried into the theater down the center aisle. Unforgettable!
Anytime Marc Kudisch and Jeffry Denman perform together, it's musical theater magic. They performed both parts of "Agony" from Into the Woods and brought down the house. They are indeed, Princes!
Christina Bianco singing "Cabaret" as everyone from Kristin Chenoweth to Celine Dion elicited a thunderclap of applause that I don't think anyone who saw her performance will ever forget.
Carole J. Bufford has become a star out of her Broadway by the Year performances, which began when, unknown, she came out and sang "Can't Help Lovin' That Man of Mine" from Show Boat (Broadway Musicals of 1927) and stopped the show. I said it from the stage, and critics all over town agreed, "You just saw a star being born."
William Michals has made both men and women swoon with his glorious baritone voice. And that's with or without a microphone! The first time he performed at Broadway by the Year, you would have thought John Raitt had been reincarnated and appeared on stage. He has always been
the go-to-guy for Broadway classic numbers.
One of the smartest, luckiest, happiest things I've ever done in the development of Broadway by the Year was introduce dance. The concerts instantly became "shows" -- and it started with Noah Racey and Nancy Lemenager pictured above in the Broadway Musicals of 1935. The dance, choreographed by Noah, was hilarious, explosive, and just plain brilliant. Noah would become the resident choreographer for Broadway by the Year. And he's back on Monday night, March 30th. Couldn't be happier to have him on the Town Hall stage again.
Liz Callaway has been, from the very beginning of Broadway by the Year, one of our most generous performers. If I'm not mistaken, she has been in one of our concerts virtually every season. And she never fails to score. She's in this coming Monday night's show, singing from Finian's Rainbow. How glorious!
Jason Graae was in the very first Broadway by the Year concert 15 years ago. He was adorable then; he's adorable now. His version of "Popular" from Wicked was created for Broadway by the Year and he does it all over the country now. So proud!
After seeing Chuck Cooper in The Life, I was terrified of him. Nancy Anderson told me, however, that he was nothing like his character in the show. In fact, he was exactly the opposite. She was right.
He has been not only one of the great regularly featured singers in Broadway by the Year, he's also one of the nicest people you might ever meet. I can't count the number of times he has earned massive ovations at Town Hall.
He has been not only one of the great regularly featured singers in Broadway by the Year, he's also one of the nicest people you might ever meet. I can't count the number of times he has earned massive ovations at Town Hall.
Nancy Anderson did something in one of the Broadway by the Year concerts that performers rarely accomplish: she stopped the show with a totally unknown song from an unknown show. The song was "That Means Nothin' to Me" from the 1925 production of Naughty Cinderella. She became a Broadway by the Year favorite with that performance. In the early years of the series, she performed in more of our concerts than I can count. She has recently returned last month and once again mesmerized our audience with her sterling talent.
One of Broadway by the Year's most celebrated concerts was our show celebrating the year 1997; we managed to get an extraordinary number of original stars from that year to come back and sing the songs they originated that year: Christine Andreas from The Scarlet Pimpernel, Karen Ziemba from Steel Pier, Chuck Cooper from The Life, and many others -- but the big coup was getting all three stars from Jekyll & Hyde-- Linda Eder, Christiane Noll, and Robert Cuccioli -- in their first joint appearance since they appeared together in the show on Broadway. The Jekkies came out in force. Bob Cuccioli was his matinee idol self. The audience went wild!
One of the greatest personal success stories to come out of Broadway by the Year has to be the journey that Lari White (seen here singing with the Broadway by the Year Chorus) took based on her appearances at Town Hall in this concert series. Based upon being seen in these concerts, she got --directly -- booked to do the following: make her Oak Room Cabaret Debut, appear with Michael Feinstein at Carnegie Hall (Jr.), The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall (Sr.), and sing a Yentl Medley at a private party in front of Barbra Streisand. Happily, Lari will be in this coming Monday night's Broadway by the Year. Lord knows what will happen for her next -:).
Over there on the right is a picture of Jessie Mueller in The Broadway Musicals of 1946. Broadway by the Year was the first show she did in New York after her big splash in On a Clear Day. I was thrilled to get her. We have worked together subsequently and I look forward to working with her again. An amazing talent and NICE!
And, finally, that's me, applauding all this talent from every Broadway by the Year concert during the last 15 amazing years -:).
