Review: BROADWAY SESSIONS Celebrates 15-Year Anniversary at The Green Room 42

Broadway Sessions is fun, engaging, theatrical – and celebrating its 15th anniversary. Host and producer Ben Cameron kicked off the two-part celebration last Thursday, June 15th at the Green Room 42. (Part two will be Thursday, June 22nd at 10 pm – it’s not too late to book your tickets.)

Cameron started the night off with a “game,” or more of a challenge, maybe – he plucked three random audience members out of the crowd, one at a time, to sing anything at all in exchange for a free shot. Most of the rest of the night was a fairly traditional cabaret, but Cameron had an astonishing array of talent including F. Michael Hayne (Frozen, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), Emily Schultheis (Wicked, Almost Famous), Aaron Harrington (Little Shop of Horrors), Eric Michael Krop (Godspell), Troy Iwata (Be More Chill), Peggy Sue Johnson (The Lightning Thief), Hernando Umana (Kinky Boots, School of Rock), Kaylee MacKnight (Drunk Musicals), Richard Baskin Jr. (Freestyle Love Supreme), Darren Cementina, Rosalyn Mai, Tuan Malinowski, Izzy Cruz and Katryna Marttala. The theme of the night was for each performer to sing something that brings them joy, and that joy shone through, clearly. Evan Swanson provided lovely music direction and piano accompaniment, going with the flow of the night. When a man from the audience who seemed hesitant to sing at the beginning of the night burst into a fully-fledged “Stars” from Les Miz, he played the melody underneath without missing a beat.

Cameron has built an impressive following for Broadway Sessions over the past 15 years. It began as a bar show and then graduated to the Laurie Beechman Theatre, and it’s finally in its current home, at the Green Room 42. He got his own start on Broadway in Wicked (he voiced the line, “Glinda, is it true you were her friend?” on the cast album) but knew he wanted to create something more enduring than that. Fifteen years later, it’s clear that he has. He plucked each of the singers from the show from his roster of Rising Stars that he’s had on throughout the show’s run. Rising Stars are singers he has on who haven’t quite made it, yet, but have the promise to do so, and many of those that he had on last week have amassed an impressive array of credits since then.

The tone throughout the performance was jokey and fun. Tyler Easter, who performed after Alex Joseph Grayson (Parade) sang a knockout “Go The Distance” from Hercules, said, “I don’t know if the guy before me knows it’s Pride month, but to sing like that before me is very homophobic.” Lindsay Morgan (Siren) ended the night with a knockout “Let It Go,” which she invited the audience to sing along to “if you’ve had a bit to drink.” There were too many wonderful performers to single out – each performance was top-notch in its own way, and underscored the joy that the singer felt, and how much joy Broadway Sessions has brought to its fans, all these years.

Find great shows to see on the Green Room 42 website HERE and you can follow Broadway Sessions on social media @BwaySessions on all platforms and at www.broadwaysessionsnyc.com. Past performances can be found on Broadway Sessions' wildly popular YouTube channel. www.youtube.com/bwaysessions .

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