NY Pops Gala

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 1:02pm

Did anyone go last night? Curious to hear what you thought and what songs they sang...

[FutureGM]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 1:43pm

I was there last night and let me just repost what I put on Facebook:

Now that I have collected myself, I will discuss the concert. Please know that this will likely be a long post, so if you wish to grab a cup of coffee, please do so now. To start, this is what I knew about the concert: The NY Pops were to celebrate the music of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, and that Aaron Tveit would be performing. Naturally, I bought a ticket. I also didn't even look at the program; I wanted to be surprised. The NY Pops, I found out, were being joined on stage by Broadway Inspirational Voices, The Ronald McDonald House-Rockin' the House Band and Singers, Kids on Stage, and a rockstar 14-year old Tuba player, who, I guess, won the opportunity to play.

So, it began with Steven Reineke (the Conductor and the MC for the evening) introducing Martin Short who sang "It Had to Be You". I did not even know he could sing, but he was great. Then there were a couple instrumental pieces; "Main Theme" (The American President) and "Stars and Stripes Forever", conducted by the woman who won the silent auction last year to do so. This was followed by a delightful performance of "A Wink and a Smile" (Sleepless in Seattle), sung by John Pizzarelli. Now, the next performance is when my brain started to fry. The Camp Broadway kids + Andrea Martin. Singing "Blame Canada" (South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut). There is no explanation necessary, I think; just let that one sink in. Ok, so next, Christian Borle came out to sing "The Mamushka" (The Addams Family) and mentioned he would be joined by a special guest. That guest happened to be Martin Short as Ed Grimsley, his character from SNL! So, next I think my brain actually stopped because Patti-freakin-LuPone came out and sang "Grin and Bare It" (The G-String Murders). She was flawless. Then, Will Chase and Jane Krakowski came out and sang a cute cover of "Here's to Love" (Down with Love). Also, somewhere in here was a song called, I think, "Drifting" and it was sung gorgeously by Matthew Morrison.It was not in the printed program; must have been a last minute thing.

With that song, we gracefully moved into their theatrical work. We began with "Good Morning, Baltimore" (Hairspray) sang by not just Marissa Jaret Winkour (original Broadway cast), not just Nikki Blonsky (movie musical), but also Ricki Lake (original film)! It was a trifecta of Tracys! if that wasn't enough, Jenifer Lewis brought the house down with her rendition of "I Know Where I've Been" (Hairspray). Before the audience could even recover from that, Aaron Tveit came out and sang "Goodbye" (Catch Me If You Can). You should know that this is my favorite song that he has ever sang and he NAILED IT. Then came Smash. I never watched Smash so I don't really know the context of the songs with the show, but Megan Hilty sang "They Just Keep Moving the Line" and Katharine McPhee sang "Don't Forget Me". This was followed by a funny song called "(Let a Big Black Lady) Stop the Show" (Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me), sang beautifully by Capathia Jenkins. Our second to last song was sang by Martin Short and it was "Simply Second Nature" (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory...the stage musical). I have not seen the show, but I feel like this would be akin to "Pure Imagination".

Then comes the finale. Oh, the finale. Naturally, it is "You Can't Stop the Beat" (Hairspray); because, of course. BUT, first Clarke Thorell (original Corny Collins) came out and Marissa came back out; this was followed by Matthew (original Link Larkin), Linda Hart (original Velma Von Tussle), Kerry Butler (original Penny Pingleton), Laura Bell Bundy (original Amber Von Tussle), Jenifer, and Corey Reynolds (original Seaweed Stubs). Most of the original choreography was there, and then the rest of the performers for the evening came out as backup singers, followed by both Marc and Scott, who sang the Edna Turnblad part of the song. After that I was basically in a giddy, theatre-infused, coma. Mind-blown.

Does that help?

[valeposh]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 2:11pm

Thank you so much for the recap! Oh, to have been there. Hairspray is THE reason why I started loving Broadway as much as I do. Weird that Harvey Fierstein wasn't there as well. Matt Morrison's song and Good Morning Baltimore have been recorded and they're online on tumblr, if anyone is interested.
Oh, and yes- Matt Morrison's participation to the show was only confirmed the evening before the gala, that's why it wasn't in the program (they printed new posters with him on).

Updated On: 4/29/14 at 02:11 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 2:33pm

Wow. Thanks for the recap.

[broadfan327]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 2:36pm

I got a scalper ticket last minute, and I agree, it was a wonderful concert. Megan and Katherine also sang together a condensed version of part of "Let Me Be Your Star."

Updated On: 4/29/14 at 02:36 PM

[valeposh]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 3:06pm

Marissa Winokur's brother just posted the video performance of "You Can't Stop The Beat": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wn61PIoG5Ns

[darreyl102]

Posted: 4/29/14 at 8:30pm

GRRRRRRR- I hate everyone in that room who got to witness this!!!! LOL. Life sucks when you don't live anywhere Near NYC. I can only imagine what that must have been like seeing basically the full OBC (Jenifer was supposed to play the role before Mary Bond Davis came into the picture). I hope a full recording of Beat pops up somewhere that is well shot- I know that's asking for the impossible, but one can dream. Hell, I will go a step further and wish for a recording of Jenifer's IKWIB. I saw this show SOO many times on Broadway and still miss seeing it.

Updated On: 4/30/14 at 08:30 PM

[darreyl102]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 12:48am

It's really awesome that 12 years later, the OBC still sounds the same!

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 8:52pm

I would've given both my arms and legs to be there. I'm just grateful for the video! He also posted "Good Morning Baltimore." So much fun to hear Ricki Lake sing the song. :)

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 9:11pm

"I would've given both my arms and legs to be there."

Do they have booster seats?

[hairspraydude1962]

Posted: 4/30/14 at 9:30pm

A couple of phonebooks would do the trick.