Review: TOM KITT & FRIENDS Electrifies in Night One of 54 Below Concert Series

Tom Kitt kicked off his sold-out residency at 54 Below on Tuesday night in Tom Kitt & FRIENDS, a four-night concert series of the Tony-, Grammy-, Emmy-, and Pulitzer Prize-winning composer’s work from Next to Normal to Almost Famous - and glimpse at what’s still to come.

In night one on April 29th, Kitt celebrated his earliest work and the community that helped create it. He was joined by long-time collaborators, friends, and family to re-examine Next To Normal (or “Feeling Electric” as it was originally known), High Fidelity, and some work written for The Tom Kitt Band in the 90s and early 2000s. With his band, Michael Aarons and Marc Malsegna on Guitar, Michael Olatuja on Bass, Damien Bassman on Drums, and Kitt on the piano, they opened with a song written for the Tom Kitt Band in the 90s: “Fly Away,” a song that actually ended up on Kitt’s studio album, Reflect in 2021. Kitt sang with Damien Bassman on some light backup vocals, and you couldn’t help but feel like you were transported back to a much larger 90s concert. With several of Kitt’s original band members taking part in the concert, the song almost seemed second-nature to all of them, the entire band was able to have fun – letting the audience have more fun, too. It was a strong opening to the concert series: a song that’s more personal to Kitt and felt like an ode to his earliest musical inspiration.

The first of Kitt’s guests was not from Broadway but closer to home - his sister, Kathryn Kitt, who gave a lovely performance of “I Dreamed a Dance” from Next to Normal. The Kitts chose the song as a tribute to their father, as it's his favorite and he was unable to attend. This sentimental moment was perfectly placed in the beginning of the night, really letting audiences know we were in for the best kind of nostalgia.

Most of the evening’s setlist sat in the Next to Normal and High Fidelity world. There’s, of course, a lot of renewed attention for Next to Normal – especially with the West End production premiering on PBS Great Performances May 9th – but High Fidelity is a hidden gem. “High Fidelity opened on December 7th, and closed on December 17th — so, it was not a great week,” Kitt said. The first song he and lyricist Amanda Green (who was also in the audience) wrote for the musical was “Desert Island Top 5 Breakups,” sung Tuesday night by the incomparable Aaron Tveit. I think Kitt and Green mastered the rock musical style in 2006 with High Fidelity, whether anyone knew it yet or not, and this song shows exactly why. It has a rock-ballad start, moving into a full-on rock-and-roll song, living in that perfect tenor range that Tveit soars through. Following Tveit was Patti Murin sharing a cut song from High Fidelity, “Getting My Sh** Together,” originally written for one of five women from the top five breakups mentioned in the song before. Murin brought an airy, relatable presence as a disappointed ex, really bringing out the comedy in Green’s lyrics and the vulnerability in Kitt’s composition.

Then, the moment we’d been waiting for: Caissie Levy came out to share some of her renowned performance as Diana Goodman in Next to Normal on the West End last summer. She started with “I Miss the Mountains,” and let me just say – I cannot wait for May 9th to experience it in the show’s context. She was immediately locked into the emotional “mountains” throughout the song – it’s a rather tender moment for Diana and Levy really lived in the complexity of Diana’s condition. In “I Miss the Mountains” and her later performance of “Didn’t I See This Movie?”  she gave us a really strong musical foundation for the character, bringing Diana to a whole other level. I heard lyrics I hadn’t really listened to or noticed before in both songs, feeling as if I were hearing them again for the first time. 

Kitt then brought Tveit back out with Carnegie Mellon musical theatre student Matty Palmer to join Levy in the “You Don’t Know/I Am the One” sequence from Next to Normal. As a real treat, though, Tveit took on the role of Dan and Palmer sang Gabe, the role Tveit originated. “I just have to forget the harmony I’ve known for 15 years,” Tveit said. He nailed it. If you know the show, you know Kitt wrote intricate and often very close harmonies throughout the musical – truly a testament to the brilliant way this musical portrayed the characters’ experiences with mental illness, but I digress – so the fact that Tveit was able to learn a different part in a complex song he’s known one way for over a decade was immediately captivating. The three of them blended together well, especially at the end of “I Am the One,” and it was a beautiful, once-in-a-lifetime experience for this theater kid.

Other highlights of the night include Tveit going back to his roots with “I’m Alive,” from Next to Normal, the before-mentioned “Didn’t I See This Movie?” from Caissie Levy, Julia Murney and Patti Murin performing the comedic Indigo Girls-inspired “Ready to Settle,” from High Fidelity, and a hysterical version of “She Goes,” another from High Fidelity, performed by Murney. Kitt shared that “She Goes” was originally written for a mom-character that was cut, but this night was the perfect time to resurrect this version – Murney’s unique and powerful tone fit this song like a glove.

At the end of the night, Kitt brought Tveit out to join him for another High Fidelity power moment in “Goodbye and Good Luck,” – “I told you guys, I saw this show and I loved it!” Tveit said as he  Throughout the song, their characters had back-and-forth moments, revealing the real-life friendship between Kitt and Tveit. At one point Tveit joined Kitt at the piano with his arm around him, singing together with a visibly true passion for the song. Incredible would be an understatement.

The next three nights of Tom Kitt & FRIENDS follow Kitt’s career chronologically, kicking off night two tonight with selections from American Idiot, Freaky Friday, If/Then, and Bring It On, featuring performers like Heidi Blickenstaff, Colin Donnell, and Mandy Gonzalez. Night three on Friday, May 2nd features songs from 2015 to present, including Flying Over Sunset, Almost Famous, and his album Reflect, with Academy Award-winner Ariana DeBose, Kate Baldwin, and Lola Tung. The last night is a look at projects in the works, with performances from DeBose, Sarah Chase, and Andrew Keenan-Bolger. 

For more on Tom Kitt, visit his website at www.tomkitt.com

While the other concerts have already sold out, you can contact 54 Below to join the waitlist. Look here for more details!