In 1983, when the Broadway phenomenon Annie closed after nearly six years on Broadway, a New York Times journalist wryly observed that backing the show financially in its early days was “the best investment the Kennedy Center ever made.” The Kennedy Center, it would seem, has a knack for fostering genius. And Annie is not the center’s only claim to developmental fame. Pippin also got its start at the venerable DC institution, and Les Miserables made its U.S. debut there before moving to Broadway. The Kennedy Center’s close relationship to Broadway moves in the other direction too. Over 700 Broadway shows have graced Kennedy Center stages in the past 50 years.
This weekend was all about revisiting that history with 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center, a star-studded musical retrospective featuring some of the best performers in the business singing the songs that made them stars. It was a night to send any Broadway fan into spasms of delight. Indeed, in one highpoint at Friday’s performance, the audience erupted into a spontaneous standing ovation after Norm Lewis — who made history in 2014 as the first African American to play the Phantom in The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway — sang “The Music of the Night” from that show. “Thanks for applauding him while he was standing next to me,” quipped James Monroe Inglehart, the evening’s host and emcee. “He’ll never let me live that down.”
Inglehart and Lewis were joined by Stephanie J. Block, Sierra Boggess, Gavin Creel, LaChanze, Beth Leavel, Andrea McArdle, Andrew Rannells, Frances Ruffelle, Vanessa Williams, Betsy Wolfe, and Tony Yazbeck. And if that list of names just gave you heart palpitations, you can imagine the effect that this confluence of talent had on lucky audience members. Accompanying the singers was the Kennedy Center Opera Orchestra (led by conductor and music director Rob Berman), performing from a raised dais reminiscent of old-school big bands, and ensemble dancers Michael Baerga, Sir Brock, Tony Meredith, Dave Schoonover, and Jaquez Andre Sims. Two scheduled headliners, Alfie Boe (Les Miserables) and Christopher Jackson (Hamilton), had to miss the performance for personal reasons.
It goes without saying that these Broadway headliners possess a ludicrous amount of talent. Between the lot of them, they have more Tony, Emmy, and Grammy awards than you can shake a stick at. What made this show such a treat though, was that it made clear just how varied and unique their individual talents really are. No one — not even the other stars on the stage — can dance like Tony Yazbeck, whose Gene Kelly-esque moves earned him a Tony Award for the 2014 revival of On the Town. Yazbeck’s renditions of “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” from Gershwin’s Crazy for You and “Buddy’s Blues” from Sondheim’s Follies were just the sort of old-school numbers that he is tailor-made for. And no one else on that stage can hit a high note like soprano Sierra Boggess. The original Ariel from Broadway’s The Little Mermaid and a much-lauded Christine Daae in The Phantom of the Opera, Boggess treated audiences to Phantom’s “Think of Me” and My Fair Lady’s “I Could Have Danced All Night,” two numbers that showcased her lilting ethereal mastery of the higher register of the human voice.
The concert was also a reminder of the magic that happens when a role and a performer sync up so perfectly that the role becomes forever associated with their name. Seeing one such performance is lucky enough. Seeing a string of them in succession was magic. Like LaChanze singing “Waiting for Life to Begin,” the song from Once on this Island that made her a star, or Frances Ruffelle the original, Tony Award-winning Eponine from Les Miserables, whose voice is seared into the psyche of millions. Or, my personal favorite, Andrea McArdle, Broadway’s original little orphan Annie, singing “Maybe” and “Tomorrow,” songs that I (and thousands of little girls like me) used to sing in front of the mirror, wishing her voice were our own. Getting the chance to see Andrew Rannells belt out “I Believe” from The Book of Mormon, a decade after he last played the role on Broadway, was another pinch-me moment that I will rewind in my memories over and again. No one can ham like Rannells, and Rannells hamming up the lyrics to “I Believe” has got to be one of the comedic heights to which humans can aspire.
And speaking of The Book of Mormon, another former “Elder Price” was onstage last night. Gavin Creel (who won an Olivier Award for originating the role in London that Rannells originated in NYC) energized audiences with a diverse quartet of songs that showed off his wide range of talents. Rannells and Creel teamed up for “You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels (ending the song with an onstage hug that elicited cheers from the audience). In singing “Corner of the Sky” from Stephen Schwartz’s Pippin, Creel channeled the youthful exuberance that won him a Tony for playing Cornelius Hackl in the recent revival of Hello, Dolly! In “Luck Be a Lady Tonight” (Guys and Dolls), he displayed a calculated cunning, and in “Easy Street” (Annie), Creel created comedy gold with Beth Leavel as Miss Hannigan and Betsey Wolfe as a delightfully ditzy Lily St. James. My jaw dropped at the ability of these performers to fully inhabit a variety of personas within minutes as they slipped effortlessly from song to song and character to character. Humor gave way to tenderness as Norm Lewis and LaChanze teamed up for a once-in-a-lifetime version of Ragtime’s “Wheels of a Dream.”
Multi-hyphenate Vanessa Williams seduced with Duke Ellington’s “Hit Me with a Hot Note” (from Sophisticated Ladies), Leavel shone on the brassy and belting “Some People” (Gypsy), and Wolfe wowed with “Maybe This Time” (Cabaret), a perfect eleven o’clock number where time seemed to stop and all eyes locked on Ms. Wolfe as she channeled a chanteuse from a bygone era in a blue sequined gown simmering in a sultry spotlight. (Incidentally, Betsy Wolfe wins my personal best-dressed award for her three bedazzled ensembles. Costume coordinator Alejo Vietti did right by her.)
Another personal highpoint for me was Stephanie J. Block. Down-to-earth. Effortless. Fabulous. I once got lost in a night-long Stephanie J. Block YouTube rabbit hole, and I still remember that night as a special moment in my journey as a theater lover. Block is such a good performer that even a night spent watching her on YouTube can change you. But guess what? She’s even better live. Friday night’s rendition of “Defying Gravity” was performed without the mechanics to physically elevate her, as happens in the fully staged production of Wicked, but her voice elevated the entire audience into a collective paroxysm of delight. Her rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl brought down the house.
The evening’s most tender segment was a look back at Stephen Sondheim’s close relationship with the Kennedy Center. In a series of filmed vignettes, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Christine Baranski reminisced about playing Sondheim roles at the Kennedy Center during the 2002 Kennedy Center Sondheim Festival. Sondheim himself appeared in various video clips, ruminating over the nature of songwriting and eliciting such a feeling of nostalgia from the audience that it is clear that Broadway fans are still mourning the recent passing of this unique theatrical legend.
If there were any problems with the night’s bounty of Broadway — and this might be the best problem I have ever had — it is that the show lacked the traditional narrative structure of a musical, with ebbs and flows that give you time to marinate and digest one grand moment before moving on to the next. Instead, it was a nonstop barrage of heavy hitters and showstoppers, punctuated with tidbits of Kennedy Center history supplied by Inglehart between songs. At times, there was such a surfeit of talent onstage that I worried I was becoming numb to the magnitude of talent before me. Like when you get a box of fine chocolates and rather than savoring one per day, you gobble them down all at once. Friday night was the full box of chocolates. And those of us lucky enough to be in the audience went home very satisfied.
Running Time: 50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center ran for 90 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.
50 Years of Broadway at the Kennedy Center played on February 11 and 12 at the Kennedy Center – 1600 F Street, NW, in Washington DC. For tickets to future Kennedy Center events, go online.
The complete lineup of songs was as follows:
“Overture of Overtures” – The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
“Magic to Do” from Pippin – James Monroe Iglehart and Ensemble
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
“Corner of the Sky” from Pippin – Gavin Creel
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
“Hit Me with a Hot Note” from Sophisticated Ladies – Vanessa Williams and Ensemble
Music by Duke Ellington, Lyrics by Irving Mills and Mitchell Parish
“I Could Have Danced All Night” from My Fair Lady – Sierra Boggess
Music by Frederick Loewe, Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner
“Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl – Stephanie J. Block
Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Bob Merrill
“Easy Street” from Annie – Beth Leavel, Gavin Creel, and Betsy Wolfe
Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Martin Charnin
“Maybe” and “Tomorrow” from Annie – Andrea McArdle
Music by Charles Strouse, Lyrics by Martin Charnin
“I Can’t Be Bothered Now” from Crazy for You – Tony Yazbeck
Music by George Gershwin, Lyrics by Ira Gershwin
“Waiting for Life to Begin” from Once on This Island – LaChanze
Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
“Maybe This Time” from Cabaret – Betsy Wolfe
Music by John Kander, Lyrics by Fred Ebb
“You’re Nothing Without Me” from City of Angels – Gavin Creel and Andrew Rannells
Music by Cy Coleman, Lyrics by David Zippel
“On My Own” from Les Miserables – Frances Ruffelle
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer
“Stars” from Les Miserables – Norm Lewis
Music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer
INTERMISSION
“Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera – Sierra Boggess
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe
“Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera – Norm Lewis
Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Lyrics by Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe
“Luck Be a Lady” from Guys and Dolls – Gavin Creel and Ensemble
Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
“I Believe” from The Book of Mormon – Andrew Rannells
Music and Lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone
“Defying Gravity” from Wicked – Stephanie J. Block
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz
“Suddenly, Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors – Betsy Wolfe and Andrew Rannells
Music by Alan Menken, Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Overture from Merrily We Roll Along – The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
Music by Stephen Sondheim
“Some People” from Gypsy – Beth Leavel
Music by Jule Styne, Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
“Buddy’s Blues” from Follies – Tony Yazbeck with Beth Leavel and LaChanze
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
“Losing My Mind/Not a Day Goes By” from Follies and Merrily We Roll Along (as sung in Sondheim on Sondheim) – Vanessa Williams and Sierra Boggess
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
“Move On” from Sunday in the Park with George – Stephanie J. Block and Andrew Rannells
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
“Wheels of a Dream” from Ragtime – Norm Lewis and LaChanze
Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
“Somewhere” from West Side Story – Full Company
