NEW YORK—Ah indeed, I’ve been in a perpetual state of rehearsal these past few weeks in the city, but since each of these shows that I’ve been practicing for have been so very different from one another, it’s been more fun than anything else.
“Allegiance” is all done (for now anyway … until the Broadway production starts preparations) and my “Carlyle” stint is in its second week, so I’m now able to focus on the third set of rehearsals for concerts in Japan, “4Stars: One World of Broadway Musicals.”
The concert stars four musical-theater performers: Sierra Bogess, Ramin Karimloo, Yu Shirota and yours truly, and we’ll be performing a very varied musical-theater repertoire: Rodgers and Hammerstein, Boublil and Schönberg, Kander and Ebb, Stephen Sondheim and Stephen Schwartz, as well as music by our musical director, Jason Robert Brown (Tony Award winner for “Parade”).
Much of our material comes from the musical-theater canon, which makes the learning curve somewhat less steep. However, Jason gave a brand new treatment to many of these classics—tight three- and four-part harmonies, key changes and song divisions that brought forth a new spin on old music. It certainly makes it all very interesting.
Although many of the songs now sound new, there was material left untouched, which hopefully will make our audiences in Tokyo and Osaka very happy. There are a few other treats too, which I will not reveal just yet. You’ll just have to come to Japan and watch us!
“4Stars: One World of Broadway Musicals” runs June 15-23 at Tokyo’s Aoyama Theater and June 27-30 at Osaka’s Umeda Arts Theater Main Hall. Direction is by Daniel Kutner. (Visit https://www.umegei.com/schedule/258 for more details.) The website is in Japanese, but is easy enough to navigate, especially when using Google Translate.
Old and new
We were able to take in a couple of Broadway shows in our limited free time. We were able to see “Annie” (starring Lilla Crawford in the title role, “Glee’s” Jane Lynch as Miss Hannigan and Australian musical-theater star Anthony Warlow as Oliver Warbucks) and “Book of Mormon” (starring Matt Doyle as Elder Price and Jon Bass as Elder Cunningham).
Yes, this is the “Annie” that we all know and love from being staged multiple times in Manila. It was actually the first time I saw this beloved musical on Broadway, so I was very excited (especially after having worked briefly with Lilla on the “Ragtime” concert in February).
The show was everything that I expected it to be, and more. The children playing the orphans were all incredibly talented, very grounded in their performances.
The supporting cast (J. Elaine Marcos as Lily St. Regis, Clarke Thorell as Rooster and Brynn O’Malley as Grace Farrell) was wonderful! I cheered even louder watching J. Elaine, as she and I performed in “Miss Saigon” and “Flower Drum Song” on Broadway many moons ago.
Of course my expectations were high when it came to Jane, Anthony and Lilla, and all of them were met beautifully. Lilla was a grounded and real Annie, not ever letting her line readings descend into hokey, and she made those iconic songs soar with that powerful voice. Jane’s Miss Hannigan was sufficiently mean, but not too mean that she ceased to be funny and fun to watch. As for Anthony, I’ve been a huge fan of his for such a long time, and finally getting the opportunity to see him live was an amazing experience. His voice reverberated throughout the theater, and seeing him transform from wartime curmudgeonly billionaire to charming adoptive father was a delight. I could listen to him sing the phone book and be completely happy.
“The Book of Mormon” is one of the toughest tickets to get on Broadway, but we were fortunate to be hooked up (thank you, Dave Philips, bass player!). We sat in the front row of the mezzanine, a great place with a great view. We didn’t know what to expect, except that it would be hilarious. Since the creative forces behind “South Park” (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and “Avenue Q” (Bobby Lopez) were joining forces, I had a feeling this would be one ridiculously funny show. (Because of the amount of profanity spewed in this musical, we got a babysitter to watch Nic.)
Great team
Our expectations were met (I would look at Rob as he watched the show, and he was in a constant state of laughter). Doyle and Bass were such a great team to watch. Tony winner Nikki M. James was affecting in all good ways, both vocally and emotionally. The entire company was fun to watch (I loved Matt Loehr as Elder McKinley, making that entrance and exit dragging that loud fuchsia carry-on behind him).
With its tight writing, nonstop laughs, wonderful music direction (by Tony winner Stephen Oremus) and choreography by Casey Nicholaw (who also directed the show alongside Trey Parker), it’s no wonder that “The Book of Mormon” took home the Best Musical trophy at the last Tony Awards. It does poke fun at organized religion, but that bright light of hope and faith still shone through. I do hope that we have enough of a funny bone in Manila to one day allow this show to be produced there.