Winding up his seventh season of Broadway by the Year with a second look at the musicals of 1964. Scott Siegel noted that the first look five years earlier revealed such plums of music and musicals that he promised a follow-up, and Part II was it. True, this time around, he didn't have Barbra Streisand and Carol Channing (a.k.a. Steven Brinberg and Richard Skipper) sharing the stage as mother of the bride and mother of the groom in Fiddler's "Sunrise, Sunset." And many of the most popular songs from that year's shows, having previously been featured in Part I, were put out of bounds for this Part II.

Siegel again plumbed Funny Girl, Golden Boy, High Spirits, Fiddler on the Roof, Hello, Dolly! and others. If some of the songs not presented in that earlier BBTY never became standards -- a few understandably so -- Siegel brought a stage full of distinguished players to Town Hall to sing the current production's selections, and there was no arguing with the quality of the cast of nine. David Pittu and Beth Leavel's bewitching duet of Fiddler's "Do You Love Me?," Liz Callaway's lovely "Night Song" from Golden Boy, and Scott Coulter's alluring "It Only Takes a Moment" from Hello, Dolly! easily explained why Siegel felt justified in reassembling a 1964 Part II. Devin Richards' totally unamplified "I Want to be With You" from Golden Boy, a memento of what body mikes would soon make an anachronism, filled and thrilled the hall, fortuitously encouraging audience members to queue up for tickets to Siegel’s forthcoming Broadway Unplugged in November.

Seven seasons into his ongoing series (enhanced by Siegel's anecdotes and wit), with over two-dozen years prospected to date, Siegel '- who has reached as far back as the nineteen-twenties '- has many years left to mine before reaching "what now?" Still, one might contemplate a future Part Two, or several, that didn’t shun every song included in the initial production. The very fact that people continue to cherish the hits from many of yesteryear’s popular musicals is key to what makes Siegel’s ongoing series so enjoyably nostalgic. It suggests the feasibility of revisiting many of Broadway’s best years, plus the benefit of not excluding every landmark song already presented in various Part Ones.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
June 18, 2007
www.cabaretscenes.org