Bring Broadway Home

How many times have you left a Broadway show wishing you could see it again in your living room? Well in some cases you can. Many Broadway productions and concert versions of shows are actually filmed and released commercially for purchase. Keep in mind that these are not movie musicals, they are filmed versions of live theatre. They can generally be found at book stores like Borders or Barnes & Noble or on Amazon. The following are the videos that I know of, please feel free to let me know if I've missed any.

• Candide (concert)
• Company
• Follies (concert)
• Fosse
• Into the Woods
• Les Miserables
• Oklahoma
• Passion (concert)
• RENT (final Broadway performance)
• Sunday in the Park with George
• Sweeney Todd (1982 staged production)
• Sweeney Todd (2001 concert)

Fun Fact of the Day: Winner of the Most Tony awards

Every casual Broadway fan has probably heard of director Hal Prince, but only the most die hard theatre buffs will know that Prince has won not 1, not 2, but 21 Tony Awards, the most by any individual! He has been awarded Tonys for directing & producing musicals, as well as 3 special awards. A notable period in Prince's career was his partnership with Stephen Sondheim in the direction/production of 7 of his musicals in the 1970s.

His impressive record at the Tonys is as follows:

• 1955 Best Musical (producer)-The Pajama Game
• 1956 Best Musical (producer)-Damn Yankees
• 1960 Best Musical (producer)-Fiorello!
• 1963 Best Musical (producer)-A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
• 1963 Best Producer of a Musical-A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum   
• 1965 Best Musical (producer)-Fiddler on the Roof
• 1965 Best Producer of a Musical-Fiddler on the Roof
• 1967 Best Direction of a Musical-Cabaret
• 1967 Best Musical (producer)-Cabaret
• 1971 Best Direction of a Musical-Company     
• 1971 Best Musical (producer)-Company 
• 1972 Best Direction of a Musical-Follies
• 1972 Special Tony Award-Fiddler on the Roof
• 1973 Best Musical (producer)-A Little Night Music
• 1974 Best Direction of a Musical-Candide
• 1974 Special Tony Award-Candide
• 1979 Best Direction of a Musical-Sweeney Todd
• 1980 Best Direction of a Musical-Evita
• 1988 Best Direction of a Musical-Phantom of the Opera
• 1995 Best Direction of a Musical-Showboat
• 2006 Tony Lifetime Achievement Award

Ode to a Broadway Star: Kristin Chenoweth

Okay so lets be realistic, when I added this weekly post, we all knew it would only be a matter of time before Kristin Chenoweth appeared. So now without further ado, my favorite performances by my favorite Broadway gal.

Kristin's Tony winning performance as Sally Brown in the revival of You're A Good Man Charlie Brown



In my opinion, the song "Thank Goodness" is Glinda's standout moment in Wicked as it reveals the most character development and is the most vocally and emotionally demanding song in the show

*thank you to Broadway.com for the above clip 

From personal experience, I know that "Glitter and Be Gay" from Candide is one of the most difficult songs for a singer in all of musical theatre; Kristin knocks this song out of the park and it really shows off her vocal virtuosity and impeccable comedic timing at their finest

My Fave Five Broadway Sopranos

Kelli O'Hara

This southern gal is a product of the same teacher, Florence Birdwell of Oklahoma City University, that produced Kristin Chenoweth. She is best known for her Tony nominated roles: Clara in The Light In The Pizza, Babe in The Pajama Game, and Nellie in South Pacific. Her earlier Broadway work shows off her light, sweet, airy sound, but her later work and her solo album, Wonder in the World, demonstrate that there is more to this girl than blonde hair and high notes. There is genuine soul behind that glorious voice. Because her voice and her look are so classical, she seems more inclined to revivals and I think that if My Fair Lady is ever revived on Broadway, the role of Eliza Doolittle just may be her ticket to finally winning that TONY. Listen to the title track of The Light in the Piazza for a taste of Kelli's impeccable control and sweeping vibrato. 

Audra McDonald

Television fans will know her as Dr. Naomi Bennet on ABC's Private Pactice, but theatre fans know she is a Broadway Baby at heart. She is a classically trained soprano from Julliard. Many know her as a belter, which is not untrue, but her power in her lower register actually comes from her soprano training.She performed an unthinkable feat, winning 3 TONY awards in 5 years as Carrie Pipperidge in Carousel(1994), Sharon in Master Class (1996), and Sarah in Ragtime (1998). She won a 4th TONY in 2004, portraying the role of Ruth Younger in A Raisin in the Sun. She shares the title of "4-time TONY winner" with legends like Gwen Verdon and Mary Martin. She continues to perform concerts worldwide, specializing in opera and classical song cycles. My personal favorite Audra recording is "Your Daddy's Son" from Ragtime.

Julie Andrews

Perhaps the most well known of these 5 sopranos, Julie Andrews captured the hearts of audiences world-wide on film as Mary in Mary Poppins and Maria in The Sound of Music. Her stage highlights include My Fair Lady, Camelot, and Victor/Victoria. Vocally, she is known for her crisp diction and perfect pitch. Unfortunately, in recent years, she has been limited to non-singing roles due to a botched throat surgery that rendered her singing voice unusable. But she has continued to perform in films and her speaking voice is just as fluid and mesmerizing as when she had the use of vibrato. And we will always remember her as the silvery-voiced soprano we fell in love with. The title track from The Sound of Music is a classic Julie Andrews piece that is not to be missed.

Kristin Chenoweth

Anybody who has ever met me knows that Kristin Chenoweth is my idol. I've loved her ever since I began to study voice and found that I too was a soprano. I thought that only belters could have Broadway careers until I began following Kristin's career and then I decided I wanted to be just like her. Her Broadway highlights are certainly her performances as Glinda in Wicked and her TONY winning turn as Sally in You're A Good Man Charlie Brown where she showed off her upper register and her belting capabilities that, like in Audra's case, stem from her classical training. As Cunegonde in Candide, she showed off her coloratura range in what every soprano considers the most demanding song written for the musical theatre, Glitter & Be Gay. She is currently showing a darker side to her performance in the revival of Promises, Promises and though it is great to hear her sing the classic Burt Bacharach tunes, I miss hearing those great high C's, otherwise known as the "cheno note". "The Girl in 14G," written specifically for Kristin by Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan is a shining example of her abilities to shift from operatic arias to jazz riffs and belting all in one song.

Barbara Cook

And last but not least, the woman who has inspired every soprano in the musical theatre, the Queen herself, Barbara Cook. Her earliest roles were in the ingenue category, from her TONY winning portrayal of Marian in The Music Man to originating the role of Cunegonde in Bernstein's operetta Candide. After a hiatus from Broadway, Cook embarked upon a very successful cabaret and concert career. She has also become known as one of the greatest living interpreters of Stephen Sondheim's work and made a triumphant return to the Broadway stage this season in the musical Sondheim on Sondheim where she delivered sensational versions of In Buddy's Eyes, Not A Day Goes By, and Send In The Clowns. Although her voice has dropped a bit over the years and she no longer has her high E-flats, she will always be the singer that all other sopranos try to live up to. There is no song in the musical theatre that is more spectacular than Barbara Cook singing "Glitter & be Gay".