Scott Siegel continued his entertaining and evocative Broadway by the Year series with a return to the musicals of 1954.  While Pajama Game clearly was the show’s mother lode for songs, Siegel was also able to mine the scores of House of Flowers, The Boyfriend and Peter Pan, plus Golden Apple and Fanny. As Siegel’s rummaging through years past has shown, even shows not particularly successful at the time often have a gem or two to offer.

To begin 1954, however, Siegel and director Scott Coulter recognized a sure winner when they had one, and the Ross Patterson Little Big Band’s engaging jazz-based overture was followed by the full company’s high-spirited rendition of Pajama Game’s “Racing With The Clock.”

Siegel casts his series with musical theater players, some featured in current shows.  Sierra Boggess – who would do a scintillating “There Once Was A Man” number with Cheyenne Jackson — is The Little Mermaid’s Ariel, Sean Palmer is that show’s Prince Eric, and the cast of sixteen enjoyed a bevy of other talented performers. 

Youthful Kendrick Jones was a standout, dancing to “Slide, Boy, Slide,” from House of Flowers.  Noah Racey and Melinda Sullivan were equal fleet-footed knockouts to “Steam Heat.” Right up there with the best of them were Jen Cody and Mark Price with Josh Rhodes’ choreographed “Hernando’s Hideaway” and The Boyfriend’s “Won’t You Charleston With Me.”  The petite Jen also wowed everyone with her so-called Lottie Gibson Specialty from By The Beautiful Sea, as a child clutching a giant teddy bear, grimly singing “Please don’t send me down a baby brother.”

Scott Coulter, the show’s only cabaret regular and a stunning vocalist, had opportunities to engage the audience with “I’m Flying” from Peter Pan, and a soulful tune cut from the show before it hit New York, “When I Went Home.” Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner improved on her grade-b material, adding plenty of laughs to “I’d Rather Wake Up By Myself.”  Surprisingly, Cheyenne Jackson, so appealing in the “There Once Was A Man” number, missed out on “Hey, There,” surrendering interpretation to some gymnastics with his agreeably attractive voice. 

It was also clear that things change in musical theater over the years, as well as musical styles.  Audio amplification took over in the 1950s, and while Siegel’s annual Unplugged program glorifies the days when the human voice would, and could, fill a theater, not all contemporary vocalists have mastered what it takes to project to an audience without the aid of a microphone.  Of the half-dozen or so numbers done without a mike, at least two of the performers’ efforts didn’t make it as far as the twelfth row. This unfamiliarity with being unamplified may explain why Sean Palmer seemed so rigid in his posture when singing “Fanny,” center stage and facing the audience, or why it was so difficult to catch Natalie Venetia Belcon’s “A Sleepin’ Bee” lyrics. They both might benefit from the experience of singing to a cabaret room audience, where the communication is direct and one-to-one. Finally, one has to mention the delightful septuagenarian trio of Harvey Evans, Bert Michaels and Don Percassie doing a song-and-dance take on Peter Pan’s “I Won’t Grow Up.”

Happily, 1954 offered ample choices for Siegel to pick and choose.  Still, while some years are more of a treasure trove than others, even in the leaner years Siegel’s amusing and informative commentary – on the songs, the shows, the personalities and the times – keeps his productions interesting and relevant to his musical selections.  With two more shows in the series coming up soon, Broadway Musicals of 1965 on May 12^th, and Broadway Musicals of 1979 on June 16^th, my suggestion is to mark your calendar.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
April 7, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org