By Matthew Blank
08 Dec 2009
Chita Rivera, Rosie Perez, Marian Seldes, John Glover and others were on hand at the Transport Group's Dec. 7 Gimme a Break benefit gala honoring playwright Terrence McNally and director Joe Mantello.
[title of show] co-creators and co-stars Hunter Bell and Jeff Bowen hosted an 8 PM performance in which Rivera, Perez, Seldes, Glover, as well as Stephanie J. Block, Brooks Ashmanskas and playwright Jon Robin Baitz shared stories about their collaborations with the night's honorees and performed musical numbers particularly meaningful to their lives.
Chita Rivera opened the performance, talking about her work on such McNally-penned shows as Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Rink, and performed a Stephen Flaherty-Lynn Ahrens song from The Dancer's Life.
Next came a tribute from Tony Award winner Marian Seldes, whose most recent Broadway appearance was playing opposite Angela Lansbury in McNally's Deuce.
Tony nominee Brooks Ashmanskas — seen in the recent revival of McNally's The Ritz (which Mantello directed) — had the audience in stitches, joking that the worst mistake of his career was turning down the role of Louis in Angels in America (Mantello originated the part on Broadway). He followed with a performance of Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down On Me," which he credits with landing him his first big break 17 years ago when he belted it out at the now-closed piano bar Rose's Turn while in the company of Songs For a New World composer Jason Robert Brown.
Rosie Perez shared a few comic backstage stories from her work on two McNally plays: Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune and The Ritz. Stephanie J. Block thanked Mantello for two of her favorite roles, in Wicked and 9 to 5, before bringing down the house with the latter's 11 o'clock number, "Get Out and Stay Out."
The final performance came from Mario Cantone, who replaced Nathan Lane in the McNally-written, Mantello-directed Love! Valour! Compassion! and would go on to work with Mantello on Laugh Whore and Assassins. The singing actor-comedian treated the audience to a beloved holiday song, performed as a duet between Liza Minnelli and Judy Garland.
Finally Jon Robin Baitz and John Glover presented Mantello and McNally with their respective Transporting American Theatre Awards.
Here is a look at the evening:
|
*
Transport Group aims to "transport audiences with innovative, American theatre." Jack Cummings III is the artistic director.
Visit www.transportgroup.org
