Little Me

It's been a while for me, but eventually the delight of a fresh production at Encores! has caught my attention.  Little Me - Book by Neil Simon - Music by Cy Coleman-  is an evening of pure fluff and fun at The City Center!  Nothing serious going on here - that's for sure. Just pure joy!

Christian Borle dazzles and entertains as multiple characters passing through the life of Miss Poitrine (Judy Kaye).   The all-star cast that supports is full of fun and fabulous characters too - Rachel York as the young Miss Poitrine, Tony Yazbeck as the dashing and debonair George Musgrove, Harriet Harris as the wealthy and evil mother and a fantastic dancing chorus of boys and girls and extras including so many names, faces and talents they are too numerous to list!

Mr. Borle masters the many characters with hilarity, quick costume changes, and lots of hamming it up.  Ms. Kaye's humor is delicious and the music, songs, singing, and dancing are all well above average - especially considering this is a semi-staged production running for a very short time.  Of course the Encores! Orchestra - lead by Rob Berman pulled off an outstanding performance on-stage as usual in all their glory.

This one is quick - so get your last minute tickets while they last!

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes

Sometimes it takes just one diamond to make a musical sparkle - and Encores! final installment of the 2012 season has several.  With a cornball book by Loos and Fields, silly lyrics by Leo Robin and delicious music by Jule Styne, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes has a rich history of exploding stars into orbit.  In 1949 it introduced Carol Channing to the American lexicon.  In 1953 the movie by the same name propelled Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell's careers into the stratosphere.  This time around, we've got the SMASH *Bombshell*, Megan Hilty (Lorelei Lee) and triple-threat star of the upcoming national tour of Anything Goes, Rachel York (Dorothy Shaw).

Encores! concert renditions are *almost* fully staged.  Books in hand occasionally, but never a missed note or a called line.  The cast aboard the S.S Ile de France is magnificent.  GPB is most surely a dancer's musical - with full-on tap, ballet, and ballroom all packed into several razzle-dazzle numbers in addition such as great vocal numbers as Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend, and I'm Just a Little Girl From Little Rock, and the titular song, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

If I had a vote for the hardest working ensemble in the biz right now, GPB would win hands-down.  Tap dancing can get a crowd to its feet in raucous applause and the tap number with Megan Sikora (Gloria Stark) and Attmore & Grimes (Phillip Attmore and Jared Grimes are their actual names) was nothing short of stupendous.  A well earned standing ovation - and that was just the opening of Act II.  Ms. Hilty tore the roof off the place (encores are a trademark of this show) with 3 encores in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and the last one nearly delayed the show by 3 minutes alone due to the uproarious applause.  And I haven't even discussed the to-die-for bodies of the male dancers (shirts on AND off), the hysterical Robert Lemanteur and his son Louis (Brennan Brown and Steven Boyer) or the genius comedic timing of Deborah Rush as Mrs. Ella Spofford or her elegantly tuneful son, Henry (Aaron Lazar).  And lest we not forget to mention the always-delightful and uber-talented Encores! Orchestra - led by Music Director and Conductor Rob Berman... And on... And on...

Now, the show is not perfect.  Don't get me wrong.  It's just that when you combine talent and an old fashioned good-time with top notch dancing, pitch-perfect singing, and great comedic acting it's hard to complain about structure and connecting a few dots with a show that has a run of less than a week!  It's not about that at Encores!  

Is it Broadway bound?   I doubt it - but it may be the closest we get to SMASH's Bombshell being on Broadway this season or next!  Marc Shaiman & Scott Whitman may indeed have all the songs written as we have heard, but ... pssst... Debra Messing nor Christian Borle are *really* book-writers in real life.  Go figure.

The Best Is Yet To Come: The Music of Cy Coleman

OK, so we won't call this theatre, exactly.  It's one of those delicious treats that visits a stage every now and again - a musical review, an homage to a great one, a thoroughly entertaining evening that involves a little toe tapping, finger snapping, head bobbing, and a whole lotta feelin' good.  Ironically, the last show I saw at Theatre A at 59E59 was also a great musical pastiche of another genre - In Transit.  I think everyone would recognize at least one, if not two or more musical numbers that Cy Coleman penned.  They've been performed by the best - Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Steve & Eddie, Perry Como, Dione Warwick, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Liza, just to name a few!  Maybe these few will ring some bells - The Best is Yet to Come, Witchraft, Big Spender, and If My Friends Could See Me Now.

Director, David Zippel, along with musical director, conductor, pianist, and performer extraordinaire, Billy Stritch, has compiled an intelligent, thoughtful, and melodious arc through Cy Coleman's best works.  Of course, all that would be an academic exercise were it not for the classy, elegant band led by Stritch along with the other 5 uber-enthusiastic and talented performers of all ages that all held court on the supper-club styled stage.

Lillias White blew the roof off the joint with her stylized and sultry vocals in The Oldest Profession and Don't Ask a Lady.  Sally Mayes convinced us all that Nobody Does it Like Me. Rachel York ushered out Spring with a little Come Summer and The Doodling Song.  Billy Stritch, himself, captured our attention with It amazes Me and Some Kind of Music while Howard McGillin charmed us with You Fascinate Me So and With Every Breath I Take.  Of course, I was completely charmed and mesmerized by just about every move David Burnham made - but I figure that everyone else at least enjoyed his rendition of Witchcraft and I've Got Your Number.  I could say more but that would just be shameless flirting (who me?).

So get your fingers, toes and head all synchronized and pop over to 59E59 Theaters and put your tochas in a seat and enjoy an evening or afternoon of sheer musical entertainment.  There is no way you could leave this theater without a smile on your face. Cy Coleman was one of the greats and this production showcases the best-of-the-best performing his best.