Review: HITMAKERS: WELCOME TO THE 70s at JCC Centerstage Theatre

As JCC Centerstage Producing Artistic Director Ralph Meranto stated during Saturday night's pre-show announcements, seeing original stagecraft that can't be found anywhere else is one of the most treasured aspects of live theatre, and is indeed why many of us attend the theatre so regularly in the first place. JCC's "Hitmaker" series is one of those one-of-a-kind gems, and "Welcome to the 70s" is the seventh installment in which performers intertwine musical performance with historical exploration, treating the audience to exciting renditions of their favorite tunes as well as the needed context regarding what was happening in the world of music, and the world at large, during the time it was hitting the airwaves.

The 70s were about as diverse an era for music as has ever existed, with chart-toppers that included hard rock, R&B, funk, pop, shmaltzy ballads, and everything in between. While it should be impossible to marshal a group that can do justice to such eclectic musical acts as Stevie Wonder and Alice Cooper, Elton John and Cher, Director Esther Winter has pulled it off with apparent ease, bringing together a cohort of eight performers consisting of both newcomers and JCC stalwarts, as well as a top-notch band to back them up; topping off the music with history and witticisms is the excellent writing of Danny Kincaid-Kunz.

Spotlighting favorite performances and performers from these "Hitmakers" concerts is never an easy task because, as any Rochester theatre-goer would tell you, our community is overflowing with exceptional talent. Gun to the head though? Courtney Schutt's "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon, Stampeders' "Sweet City Woman" featuring all the fellas from the cast, The Jackson 5's "ABC" in a near-perfect Michael Jackson sound-alike from Nelly Bryce, and basically everything from Jarell Green; his "I Can See Clearly Now", "What's Goin' On?", and "Superstition" all brought the house down.

Whether you're a product of the 1970s or just love the music of that storied era (as I do) "Hitmakers: Welcome to the 70's" makes for a killer fun night of music. It's playing at JCC's CenterStage Theatre until February 20th, for tickets and more information click here.