AN AMAZING NIGHT OF STARS GALORE
–AND IT’S COMING TO PBS
Filmed to be shown on PBS stations later this year, the concert cavalcade called Broadway’s Leading Ladies at The Town Hall on West 43rd Street in Manhattan on March 10 was received with some of the most ecstatic, enthusiastic, and fanatic cheering and applause any leading lady could hope to hear. There were even several mid-show standing ovations, in addition to the same leap at the end. Leading off the Leading Ladies program was an overture of classic show tunes with a beaming Luke Frazier conducting the American Pops Orchestra.
Jessie Mueller
The night was hosted by Bebe Neuwirth, who didn’t sing but shared warm comments about a legion of leading ladies, including her encounters with the late legends Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon, and Ann Reinking. (The four were the stars of the musical Chicago in its original run or revival, although the anecdotes about their professionalism covered other shows, too). Also involved as non-singing speakers, with fond memories sprinkled through the night were three of the original stars of A Chorus Line, although they didn’t dwell on that historic musical: Priscilla Lopez, Baayork Lee, and Kelly Bishop (who talked about the late Elaine Stritch).
LaChanze
The elegant, glamorous affair – that donated a portion of the proceeds to the Women’s Health Initiative at the Entertainment Community Fund, founded by cancer survivor and Fund board member Phyllis Newman — found most of the women garbed in some shade of red and/or gowned in glittery sequins. While almost everything in the repertoire was from a musical that has graced Broadway and tended to be on the serious side, there was a standalone song that provided comic relief with its winking audacious advice to “Hurt Someone’s Feelings Today” (written by Michael Devon) when Jennifer Simard playfully presented it.
Jennifer Holliday
The arrangement for Jennifer Holliday’s rendition of “Come Rain or Come Shine” from St. Louis Woman had a splashy extended ending and the first emphatic words of the second chorus, “You’re gonna love me” may have put many in mind of the thunder with which she’d wailed those same words that ended her star-making Dreamgirls showstopper back in the 1980s. Her other assignment was the title song of Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! Kate Baldwin, who co-starred in the recent production of that musical, presented another Herman item, “Time Heals Everything” from Mack and Mabel, as one of her numbers. Yet another Herman gem, “It’s Today,” from Mame was heard in a segment with shortened versions of various vivacious show tunes featuring Adrianna Hicks as well as Amber Iman, Helen J Shen, and McKenzie Kurtz.
Kate Baldwin
Jessie Mueller and Lindsay Mendez, who’d shared the stage in the 2018 production of Carousel, did so again, revisiting its timeless material. Judy Kuhn also turned to past shows from her career: She Loves Me (a revival) and the evocative “Blame It on the Summer Night” from the short-lived Rags (although her character didn’t get that number). Solea Pfeiffer (presently in Moulin Rouge), who’d sung “I’m Not Afraid of Anything” in the Encores! Songs for a New World returned to it this night and turned to “torch” territory with the lovesick ode to “My Man.” Similarly, LaChanze had the Show Boat showcase “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” and later moved on to the motivational “Be a Lion” from The Wiz.
Solea Pfeiffer
The high energy in the auditorium resembled a revival meeting and Mandy Gonzalez represented two current Broadway revivals which happen to be playing across the street from each other. One is Sunset Boulevard; she’s currently the alternate for the demanding main role and sang that character’s “As If We Never Said Goodbye.” In her other appearance in the program, she took on “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy, now enjoying its fifth Broadway return of the classic with the iconic Jule Styne/Stephen Sondheim score. Sondheim material was also in the spotlight when Lindsay Mendez charged through the challenging flurry of words of “Moments in the Woods” and the night drew to a close with the melody of the composer’s “Broadway Baby” played by the orchestra as a postscript to the special event. Fortunately, as made evident by the giant camera swirling back and forth above the heads of those of us in the orchestra section, it has been preserved for posterity and will be broadcast on PBS (2025 national air dates soon to be announced). But they may have to to edit out some of those rousing rounds of applause that, understandably, went on for a very long time.
Mandy Gonzalez
photos by Jenny Anderson
Broadway’s Leading Ladies
PBS
in partnership with No Guarantees and Nouveau Productions
The American Pops Orchestra
New York City’s Town Hall, March 10, 2025
keep tuned to PBS for air dates, 2025
