Broadway's divas — Patti Lupone's Gypsy, Audra MacDonald's 110 in the Shade, Christine Ebersole's Grey Gardens — were gone, but at Town Hall, it was All Singin'!, All Dancin'! and all fun. Scott Siegel, at the top of his game, again impeccably produced the last of three Monday evenings in the first Summer Broadway Festival. Spotted in the packed audience were songwriters like John Kander, Ervin Drake, Francesca Blumenthal, and performers David Hyde Pierce, Harriet Harris, and Tommy Tune.

The imaginative hand of director/choreographer Noah Racey, interspersed with Siegel's quips and info, wove the show's fabric of song and dance, together and separately. In Act I, John Bolton portrayed an impatient new suitor with "Tonight at Eight" (Bock/Harnick), and soon after, Julia Murney sped through Frank Loesser's "Can't Stop Talking About Him." Act II brought the two together, reprising a bit of their vigorous earlier tunes, and then pairing to deliver what love is all about in John Kander's touching "A Quiet Thing."

Another creative interpretation was Christopher Spaudling's "What'll I Do?" (Irving Berlin), singing at a gravesite and then dream dancing with the memory of his lost love. Lorin Latarro, associate choreographer, gracefully stepped in at the last moment as his partner.

Except for some sound mishaps, there was not a dead spot in the show of over 20 performances. Other notable moments included Nancy Anderson portraying what she does so well, a not-as-innocent-as-she-looks flapper, sinuously insisting "That Means Nothing To Me!" (Keith/Sterling). Harvey Evans was a welcome return to the theatre stage and a crowd-pleaser with Donaldson's "It Ain't No Sin," and the velvet-voiced Julia Murney broke hearts with Sondheim's "Good Thing Going/Not A Day Goes By" accompanied by cellist Mairi Dorman.

With vigor and enthusiasm, Jack Noseworthy belted the street hustler's theme song, "Use What You Got" (Coleman and Gasman). Kendrick Jones, so outstanding in Encore's recent Stairway to Paradise, showed what top-notch tap-dancing is all about, with Eubie Blake's "Hot Feet."

Six hunky dancers par excellence, portrayed friends meeting on the street, slapping, tapping, and thumping to convey a rhythmic excitement of conversational rhythm. Moving in to spike the mix was Joyce Chittick, singing Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin," first with just the dancers' physical accompaniment, then Steve Doyle's bass, then the rest of Ross Patterson's unbeatable band.

Meredith Patterson and Shonn Wiley delivered a medley of songs, hilariously inappropriate as dance numbers, like Cabaret's Nazi anthem, "Tomorrow Belongs To Me," "Seasons of Love" from Rent, in waltz time, good-time vaudeville take on "And I'm Not Telling You I'm Not Going" (Dreamgirls).

Karen Ziemba, in a drop-dead black gown, closed the show with Kander and Ebb's "And the World Goes Round." Indeed it does. The performers returned to join her for a finale to a formidable program, which will be remembered.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
July 30, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org