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DIVA TALK: The Best of 2006
By Andrew Gans
29 Dec 2006
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Chenoweth in Apple Tree; Company; Hudson in "Dreamgirls"; Ebersole in Gardens; Foster in Drowsy; Luker in Poppins; Marshall & Robert Cuccioli in Brel; Peters; Groff & Michele in Spring Awakening; Streisand.
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News, views and reviews about the multi-talented women of the musical theatre and the concert/cabaret stage.
Hello, diva lovers! This week's column offers a backwards glance at the year that comes to a close this weekend. This year's "best of" list includes favorite musicals and/or musical performances on the theatrical and concert stages as well as one movie musical. I limited my selections to those productions that opened on or after Jan. 1, 2006. And, to widen my canvas, anyone who appeared on my "10 Best of 2005" list was not eligible this year.
I'm thankful I was able to catch so many wonderful performances, and I hope the year to come brings even more memorable ones. Wishing you all much joy and peace in 2007.
THE 10 BEST OF 2006 (in somewhat alphabetical order):
KRISTIN CHENOWETH
Had she been alive during the Golden Age of Broadway, composers would have lined up to write musicals for this unique talent, who combines a gorgeous, rangy soprano with near-perfect comic timing and an often-bubbly, magnetic stage personality. Those gifts were seen to full advantage in the blockbuster Stephen Schwartz-Winnie Holzman musical Wicked Chenoweth created the role of the curly-locked Glinda. The Tony-winning actress, who has been amassing an impressive array of screen credits, is back on stage this season in the Roundabout Theatre Company's revival of The Apple Tree at Studio 54. Chenoweth has the chance to portray several characters in the three-act musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick Eve, Princess Barbαra, Ella and Passionella and she delights with her portrayals of all four markedly different women. Yet, it is her simple rendition of "What Makes Me Love Him," which concludes the show's first act, that is the most moving and memorable.
COMPANY
As much as I loved the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's Sweeney Todd which cast Tony winners Patti LuPone and Michael Cerveris in John Doyle's actor-musician staging I'm even more impressed by Doyle's work for the revival of Sondheim and George Furth's Company. Sweeney is an ageless masterpiece, one that can work in a variety of stagings, but Company has proven a bit problematic. In fact, previous productions of the show have left me rather cold; although I've always loved the Sondheim score, Furth's book, fresh and innovative to audiences in the early seventies, has seemed somewhat dated in recent productions. This is not at all the case, however, with Doyle's new staging at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. Somehow, having the actors double as the show's orchestra makes the book come alive in unexpected ways, and the entire show seems as relevant as ever. Leading man Raul Esparza has also never been better, bringing a palpable longing to his work as birthday-boy bachelor Bobby, especially in his beautiful renditions of "Marry Me a Little" and the climactic "Being Alive." There is also fine work from Barbara Walsh as the acerbic, wise-cracking, triangle-playing Joanne, who delivers a powerful "The Ladies Who Lunch"; and Heather Laws, who stops the show with the tongue-twisting "Getting Married Today." And, the staging of "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" with April (Elizabeth Stanley), Kathy (Kelly Jeanne Grant) and Marta (Angel Desai) supplying saxophone licks rather than vocal trills is simply brilliant.
"DREAMGIRLS"
It took over 25 years for Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen's Dreamgirls to make the jump from stage to screen, but the wait seems to have been justified. The new DreamWorks/Paramount film, which opened nationwide Christmas Day, simply overflows with music, emotion and talent. Directed by Bill Condon, who also wrote the film's screenplay, "Dreamgirls" casts former "American Idol" contestant Jennifer Hudson as Effie White, the role of the struggling singer created onstage by Jennifer Holliday. Like the Tony-winning Holliday, Hudson provides a gut-wrenching version of the powerful ballad "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" that is one of the most moving movie-musical performances this writer can recall. Hudson also brings much warmth and humor to her role, yet she is not the only actor offering a splendid performance. Tony winner Anika Noni Rose, who delighted Broadway audiences in Caroline, or Change, glows onstage as Lorrell Robinson, and pop star Beyonce Knowles hits her stride in the second half of the film when she belts out one of the new tunes Krieger wrote for the film, "Listen." Eddie Murphy is, perhaps, the film's biggest surprise, offering terrific vocal and acting work as the ill-fated James "Thunder" Early.
CHRISTINE EBERSOLE and MARY LOUISE WILSON
After winning every major award available to her for her dazzling performance in the Playwrights Horizons production of Grey Gardens, Christine Ebersole brought her portrayals of Edith Bouvier Beale and "Little" Edie Beale to Broadway's Walter Kerr Theatre earlier this season. The new musical, which features a book by Doug Wright, music by Scott Frankel and lyrics by Michael Korie, was inspired by the 1975 documentary of the same name that captured the lives of the two Beales, who were then living in squalor in what had once been a luxurious estate. Ebersole portrays both women with staggering emotional detail: the spotlight-hungry mother Edith in the first half of the evening and the middle-aged, nonconformist Little Edie in the second. Her gorgeous soprano is period-perfect in a first act that culminates with the beautiful ballad "Will You?" But it's in the second half of the evening where Ebersole truly shines, bringing Little Edie to full life. Her delivery of "Around the World" and "Another Winter in a Summer Town" will not soon be forgotten. . . . In her own award-winning career, Mary Louise Wilson has played a remarkable array of characters including fashion editor Diana Vreeland in Full Gallop, the acclaimed play she penned with Mark Hampton but perhaps none has been quite as colorful as her current assignment. Wilson portrays the older Edith Bouvier Beale opposite Ebersole in the second half of Grey Gardens. Wilson brings delightful comic timing and a big Broadway belt to her role and makes more of songs about cake ("The Cake I Had") and corn ("Jerry Likes My Corn") than one would think humanly possible. Wilson was a standout in the revival of Cabaret, and she is here as well.
SUTTON FOSTER and BETH LEAVEL
Tony Award winners Sutton Foster and Beth Leavel play, respectively, Janet Van De Graaff and the title character in the joyous, charming, delightfully clever and ultimately moving musical at the Marquis Theatre, The Drowsy Chaperone. Foster, who possesses a crystal-clear, rangy and powerful Broadway belt, is also a talented actress and dancer, but it is her remarkable gift for comedy that, for me, sets her apart from many of her peers. Chaperone allows Foster the chance to further explore those gifts, which she first displayed to Tony-winning effect as Millie Dillmount. As Janet, the young starlet who is about to leave showbiz behind for the love of her life, Foster also has the chance to strut her stuff in one of the evening's most thrilling offerings, a tour de force simply titled "Show Off." Leavel, who received a Tony Award for her performance as the tipsy Chaperone, also has the chance to shine, earning laugh after laugh with every knowing glance and deadpan line delivery. She also thrills with her no-holds-barred, scenery-chewing, belty version of "As We Stumble Along" and provides one of the musical's funniest moments as Man in Chair recalls the one line of the show-within-the-show he could never quite comprehend.
REBECCA LUKER
The Broadway production of Mary Poppins boasts a top-notch cast including Ashley Brown in the title role and Gavin Lee as Bert but the performance I enjoyed most in the lavish Disney-Cameron Mackintosh musical was delivered by Rebecca Luker, who was Tony-nominated for her work in the revivals of Show Boat and The Music Man. Since her Broadway bow as Christine in The Phantom of the Opera, it has always been clear that Luker possesses one of the most thrilling sopranos in the business, but in the past 15 years she has also grown into a fine actress and a formidable stage presence. In fact, the warmth she exudes as Mrs. Banks is so palpable, one almost wonders why this family would even need a flying nanny. But, it should be noted, it is a treat to watch Brown fly through the New Amsterdam Theatre and lead the cast in such classics as "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "A Spoonful of Sugar." Continued...
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