By Andrew Gans
06 Aug 2004
DIVA TIDBITS
I had a great time watching the promotional copy of Broadway's Lost Treasures II, which was sent to me early last week. The one-hour program, which will debut on PBS stations across the country Aug. 9 (WNET premieres the show at 8 PM ET), features 12 wonderful production numbers from past Tony telecasts. Divided into three sections — "The Leads," "Revivals and Record Breakers" and "All Singing! All Dancing!" — the hosts include Lauren Bacall, Bebe Neuwirth, Jerry Orbach and Brian Stokes Mitchell. Patti LuPone and the company of Anything Goes kick off the program with LuPone's belty, high-energy version of the Cole Porter title tune. LuPone is in terrific voice and was a perfect choice to start this terrific hour of show-stoppers. Other high points: Angela Lansbury and Bea Arthur revisiting their Mame duet, "Bosom Buddies"; George Hearn's powerful declaration of "I Am What I Am" from the Tony-winning La Cage aux Folles; the powerful first-act finale of Les Misérables, "One Day More," featuring such theatre favorites as Colm Wilkinson, Judy Kuhn and Frances Ruffelle; the talented stars of Ain't Misbehavin' — led by the late Nell Carter — on "The Ladies Who Sing"; Walter Bobbie and the cast of the Guys and Dolls revival belting out "Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat"; and thrilling performances by two stars now gone — Michael Jeter in Grand Hotel's "We'll Take a Glass Together" and Gregory Hines in Jelly's Last Jam's "That's How You Jam."
What a pleasure to catch Stephanie Block's Manhattan solo concert debut this past Monday night at Birdland. Block, who stars opposite Hugh Jackman in The Boy From Oz, is a good Liza but demonstrated that she's an even better Stephanie Block. Possessing a rangy, powerful Broadway belt that has a sweet, vibrato-filled middle range, Block offered an eclectic mix of tunes that started with an upbeat "The Sweetest Sounds." Among the high points of the 70-minute program were a terrific, toe-tapping medley of Petula Clark hits; a comedic number, "The Dieter's Prayer"; a self penned specialty number about Block's performing life thus far; Peter Allen's beautiful "I Could've Been a Sailor"; and two songs from Stephen Schwartz's Wicked. It was on the Wicked tunes where Block shone most brightly, proving her case for an Elphaba replacement somewhere down the line. Block, who stoodby for the role during Wicked's out-of-town San Francisco tryout, performed both the touching ballad "I'm Not That Girl" and the first-act finale, "Defying Gravity." She brought a tenderness to the former and a ferocity to the latter. She also scored with an impromptu encore, "He Touched Me." Though I would have rather heard a few more musical-theatre tunes and a few less jazz arrangements, overall it was a triumphant cabaret debut for this new gal on the Block.
I was also completely delighted by those multi-talented Avenue Q folk — Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Jennifer Barnhart and John Tartaglia — who went Empty-Handed for a third time Sunday night at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. The threesome, performing without their puppet friends, offered a mix of comedic and dramatic songs, many from the musical theatre. The Qers opened with a send-up of A Chorus Line's "Who Am I Anyway," featuring the actors holding photos of their puppet alter-egos: "Who am I anyway?/My puppet protege/The funny faces, funny voices that we throw./Tonight we're going to be/Jen, John and Stephanie/If you came expecting puppets, you should go./We hope you'll stay, and please enjoy our show." They followed with a terrific rewrite of the Harry Belafonte signature "Day-O" — entitled "Day-Off" — that gently poked fun at the numerous benefits and concerts they have taken part in on their one day off a week. The puppet-free evening then allowed D'Abruzzo, Barnhart and Tartaglia to shine individually: D'Abruzzo scored with belty renditions of Chess's "Where I Want to Be" and the tongue-twisting "If" as well as the comedic number penned by Q musical director Gary Adler, "If I Weren't Married. . ."; Barnhart also did well with two humorous songs, "Let's Talk Dirty in Hawaiian" (featuring a surprise appearance by Ann Harada) and "Drinking for Two"; and Tartaglia brought his charm and vocal stylings to William Finn's "I'd Rather Be Sailing," Stephen Schwartz's "The Spark of Creation" and what was the most touching offering of the night, Heisler and Goldrich's "Taylor, the Latte Boy." The threesome also reteamed for Avenue Q's 11 o'clock number "I Wish I Could Go Back to College" as well as "Make Your Own Kind of Music" and a terrific encore of "Time Warp." Mixing comedy, song and great talent, the Alan Muraoka-directed evening had a feel of the wonderful TV variety shows of days gone by. Bravo.
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| Avenue Q's Stephanie D'Abruzzo, John Tartaglia and Jennifer Barnhart went Empty-Handed at the Lucille Lortel
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| photo by Ben Strothmann |
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