Barrington Stage Company Brings BSC>NYC Benefit to Chelsea Table + Stage

Donna McKechnie kicked off the event with a song dedicated to Eda and Stephen Sorokoff’s loving marriage, a touching “I Got Lost in His Arms” (Annie Get Your Gun).

Interspersed between the performances, we got to learn a bit about the Barrington Stage Company’s wonderful work developing new plays and musicals. The Happiest Man on Earth, which had its world premiere at Barrington, is currently selling out in Denver, for example. 
They presented the William Finn Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre to Michael R. Jackson (Teeth, White Girl in Danger). Joe Iconis, who presented the award, and Jackson, each gave a touching speech in William Finn’s memory. This is the first time since since Finn’s passing that the award has been presented. Finn worked a great deal with Barrington, co-founding their Musical Theatre Lab in 2006. His hit musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee had its world premiere at Barrington in 2004 before moving to Broadway.

Iconis said, “William Finn’s musicals are human,” just like Michael R. Jackson’s work. Iconis cracked up the crowd, joking, “Michael R Jackson is the best musical theatre writer working today: he’s better than me; he’s better than you; he’s better than ABBA.” When Jackson accepted the award, he spoke about the influence Finn had on him working with him on lyric writing at NYU’s graduate program. He got choked up describing a voicemail William Finn left him congratulating him on winning the Pulitzer for A Strange Loop.

After a little break for dinner, the show resumed with Storm Large singing Cole Porter’s bouncy “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” slowed down into a torturous torch song – an “honest” version of the song, as she said. Her rendition was simultaneously heartfelt, soulful and funny, living in the moment of that kind of tortured obsession while making fun of it in a very self-aware, funny way with Storm’s strong vocals. 
Norm Lewis took the stage with a lovely "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?", requested at the last minute by Stephen and Eda Sorokoff. Gamely, Lewis sang with the lyrics at the ready on a piece of paper. From his fluid performance and rich, deep voice, if not for the admission and sheet of paper, you would never have guessed it was a last-minute add.

From there he brought Chris Ward up to lead a lively auction, raising thousands of dollars for the BSC with some exciting items, including a pair of tickets to see Norm Lewis's 54 Below Christmas concert, directed by BSC>NYC director Richard Jay-Alexander, and five nights on an estate in southwest France. The crowd showed an outpouring of generosity for the theater company.

In one of the most fun moments of the auction, Norm Lewis promised that if the crowd collectively raised enough, he and Hugh Panaro would duet on “The Music of the Night” for everyone right then and there. Soon, a whopping $3,300 was pledged, and they sang an unforgettable, haunting rendition of the Andrew Lloyd Weber classic. Panaro holds the record for the longest ever run as the Phantom on Broadway, and Lewis is the first ever African American actor to play the role on Broadway. It was truly a special moment.

(Above, Barrington Stage Company Aristic Director Alan Paul and Eda Sorokof)

Finally, BSC’s Founding Artistic Director Julianne Boyd came up to talk a bit about Eda Sorokoff’s role with the organization since joining in 2004, and her work on the BSC>NYC Benefits. Her daughter Caroline spoke more about Eda’s work with Barrington, and brought Eda up to the stage to receive the award. The outpouring of love and friendship for Eda and Stephen was unbelievable. During the intermission, I overheard one person joke, “I came for Eda, not Norm Lewis.”

If you missed out on the event and still want to donate, you can do so on BSC’s website here.