Broadway Unplugged
Merkin Hall, NYC, November 18, 2019
Reviewed by Ron Forman
When I began going to Broadway musicals (pre-1964), I could hear the actual voices of the performers even though I was frequently siting in one of the last two rows of the balcony. These days, most musical performers either cannot, or don’t have to, project their voices as all musical shows are miked. For the past 18 years, Scott Siegel has allowed us to return to those glorious days of yesteryear by gathering together a cast of singers who can be heard anywhere in a concert hall without electronic support, for his annual Broadway Unplugged. What makes all of Siegel’s shows special is his interesting and amusing introductions to each number.
Metropolitan Opera star and four-time Grammy Award winner John Easterlin opened the program by electrifying the audience with his performance of “One Alone,” holding the final note on the word “mine” while the audience applauded. He would return for a softer, but equally beautiful “She Wasn’t You.” Klea Blackhurst, using her Ethel Mermanish voice, performed one of Merman’s songs from Annie Get Your Gun, “I Got the Sun in the Morning.” She would return for another one of Merman’s songs, a duet with Bill Daugherty, “You’re Just in Love.” Douglas Ladnier, with his great looks and powerful voice, is a throwback to the great Broadway musical leading men of the 1940s and 1950s. The power of his voice was displayed with his performance of “They Call the Wind Maria.” Ladnier joined Brian Charles Rooney for a thrilling duet of the only song of the night not from a Broadway show, “Soul and Inspiration,” chosen because Siegel said, “I love this song.”
William Michals dramatically reprised a song that he had performed as the Beast on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, “If I Can’t Love Her.”He returned to do “If We Only Have Love.” The very beautiful Maxine Linehan thrilled with her moving performance of “Memory.” She returned next to closing for a lovely duet with Ben Jones on “Move On.” Cooper Grodin with “On This Night of a Thousand Stars” and Michael Winther with “Love Can Happen” displayed their ability to project to the last row of the balcony in Merkin Hall, as did four of Siegel’s Rising Stars: Christopher Brian, Mara Friedman, Brian Gabriel, and Adan Gallagher with “What I Did for Love.” Farah Alvin ended the evening on a high note with a very dramatic performance of “The Music That Makes Me Dance.”
