Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin- Page 4
Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
elphieisperky
Broadway Star Joined: 2/21/05
#75re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 3:39pmI haven't gotten to post about this yet, but I see a lot of you gave most of the info. Well, it was truely a night to remember, I had a blast. Bernadette was outstanding, Shoshana was perfect, Megan was hilarious, Ben and Liza...wow. They're awesome, especially Ben's Memory. I cried. And Idina made my night, it was so great to see her at the Gershwin again, and I loved her I'll Cover You. Anyway, fantastic performances, glad I went.
#76re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 5:14pmthis was such a fun time! so many wonderful performances. From going from the last performance of ASU to seeing them singing If I can dream live once again was amazing. Spelling Bee was the funniest thing i have ever seen, so good. Oh and though a huge omg Idina fan, when she started singing I'll Cover You it brought me to tears. It was perfect. Everyone was fantastic and i had a great time!
"But I relish every brillant inspired moment. This is who I'm determined to be- an actor/singer/dancer-no, I take that back, this is who I am. These people are my tribe, my destiny. I know it.
-How I Paid for College; A story of sex, theft, friendship and musical theater.
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#77re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 5:42pmMegan Hilty appears to have a very nice range. She sings the role of Glinda in the "Cheno" key. Occasionally, during "Popular," she'll pull this low alto sound out of her ass and she sounds beautiful.
WiCkEDrOcKS
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/13/04
#78re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 6:21pmI heard Spelling Bee stole the show. How was their performance???
PJ
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#79re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 6:40pmSpelling Bee's interpretative dance sequence was hilarious.
Creative Lunatic
Leading Actor Joined: 5/9/05
#80re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 7:03pm
I think what the audience appreciated was that the cast, understudies, and choreographer of Spelling Bee gave thought and time to creating something unique just for this benefit. They were so enraged by The Bush administration's initial non-reaction to Katrina that they wanted to create a forum to express those feelings. Their interpretive dance was brilliantly satirical and hysterical. I loved how they wove in snippets from It's Your Fault from Into The woods and the phone sequence from Bye Bye Birdie.
bwayfan3
Broadway Star Joined: 10/11/04
#81re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 7:20pm
I am now going to add my two cents after a really long two days. A lot of fun, but true exhaustion is setting in. I can't go by order so I'll go by performer according to the program:
All Shook Up---though their show itself was not one of my favorites, I think the cast is very talented and I thought they sounded great last night.
Altar Boyz---couldn't pick them out among all the rest of everyone
Christina Applegate---no show and disappointed
Avenue Q----they didn't seem to have much energy, imo.
Bryan Batt--I thought he did a great job with that song. And the personal stories from the N.O. natives were a nice touch
Shoshana Bean--I enjoyed it. I really want to like her more than I do, but I can't bring myself to for some reason. I thought she looked great though.
Victoria Clark and Piazza crew-- I don't think this worked outside the context of the show. I haven't seen it yet, and I plan to. I know that everyone raves, but in everything I have seen and heard so far, I'm not feeling it.
Jill Eikenberry and Michael Tucker---kind of random, i thought. i mean i know they just spoke, but it was kind of "where did they come from"
Hairspray---really great!
Shuler Hensley--Also really great. Such an amazing voice.
Megan Hilty---she's a cutie. That song seems hard to sing.
Bill Irwin---funny.
Brian D'Arcy James--really enjoyable, nice voice.
Judy Kuhn--nice
Adriane Lenox--i was kind of wishing she would have stuck to the no mic thing. She sounded really great. I thought it would have been cool.
Susan Lucci-- I never expected her to sing so low!
Mamma Mia-- I thought they were kind of corny. they remind me too much of cruise ship singers.
Rue McClanahan---she took her intro duties a little too far, i thought, Megan Hilty ended up with the like biggest introduction of the whole night. More than LIZA and Bernadette!
Idina Menzel--Always enjoyable. I thought she looked and sounded beautiful. It was kind of funny though when she walked out with her guitarist. I know a lot of people had their own accompanists but they were off to the side at the piano. It was funny how they walked out, sang, walked off.
LIZA---she can make me really nervous sometimes. Like you never know what you are going to get, She might be awesome or totally off. But she was on last night!
Julia Murney---That was the first time I ever heard her perform. I think she's great.
Bebe Neuwirth---Great. And looked great also. But I was shocked that she sang Liza's song. Shocked!
Elizabeth Parkinson and Keith Roberts-- I loved it. I think she one of the most beautiful dancers I have ever seen.
Bernadette Peters--She also looked and sounded great. Did you notice that a lot of the female singers went for a very similar dress. Solid in color, slinky, hitting below the knee. It was kind of weird.
RENT-- maybe I've been listening to the movie soundtrack too much, but I thought they were weak in comparison.
Spelling Bee--Hilarious! The best part of the show IMO.
Ben Vereen--At first when he started Memory, I was like this is a little too much, too overdramatic, but I liked it by the time he finished.
Wicked--They were good. Kind of nondescript though.
Patrick Wilson--I don't know. I thought he was totally off. And I didn't like all of that walking back and forth he did, it was like he didn't know where to go!
Broadway Inspirational Voices---lovely voices, but I thought they dragged on for a little too long!
Sorry this is a really long post, but once I got started I couldn't stop!
#82re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 7:47pm
I hate to say this, because I love Patrick, but he sounded like he hasn't sung in a while.... which I'd logically assume to be the case. He has a naturally beautiful voice, so I still was thrilled to see him perform, but he didn't sound like he used to.
lfae
Leading Actor Joined: 7/27/05
#83re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 8:26pmI found Spelling Bee's number hilarious but not being American, there was a fair amount that I didn't get, or only vaguely got...however, when they suddenly interwove the phonecall from Bye Bye Birdie? I swear I CRIED with laughter, rotfl.
Leading Actor Joined: 12/31/69
LionessInWinter
Broadway Star Joined: 8/23/05
#85re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/26/05 at 10:15pmWhen I was walking out down the stairs last night, a man behind me was saying quite loudly to his wife that he couldn't believe what a showoff Ben was and he couldn't believe how obnoxious he came off.
MJlove
Swing Joined: 9/27/05
#86re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/27/05 at 12:12amDid they use an orchestra? Or did everyone just use piano?
#87re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/27/05 at 1:52am
The piazza crew didn't sing a song from the show. According to Playbill, they sang "Migratory V," which is apparently an Adam Guettel song. Adam Guettel sang with them, I think. It was a little weird that Victoria Clark and Kelli O'Hara were the only participants in the musical numbers put on by the shows who were also named in the program. I wonder why that was done -- their names would attract ticketbuyers, but so would Dan Fogler and Cheyenne Jackson and some other people who performed with their show who didn't get singled out.
Most (but not all) soloists just used a piano accompanist of their choosing, although Idina performed with a solo guitarist. Most of the performances by the musicals had more backup than just piano. The program card lists musicians playing bass, piano, percussion, keyboard, drums, and guitar, as well as a separate listing for Liza Minnelli's band.
Yes, Ben Vereen obviously enjoys the spotlight, but what performer doesn't? He didn't bother me at all. And he signed and posed for pictures for everyone who wanted them at the stage door and didn't leave until about 12:30, so good for him.
"What was the name of that cheese that I like?"
"you can't run away forever...but there's nothing wrong with getting a good head start"
"well I hope and I pray, that maybe someday, you'll walk in the room with my heart"
#88re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/27/05 at 7:44amThe names Raul Esparza, Christina Applegate and Terrence mann attracted this ticket buyer. It was a great show, but I was disappointed that none of the three people I really wanted to see were there.... Liza/Bernadette and Spelling Bee helped make up for it though....
#89re: Katrina Benefit @ the Gershwin
Posted: 9/27/05 at 9:40amI was kind of disappointed that Terrence wasn't there -- I mean, I figured that Christina wouldn't sing, and to see her speak for ten seconds, honestly, whatever. I'm glad I found out about Raul early in the day, so the disappointment didn't smack me over the head like the proverbial ton of bricks. Whatever. I hope he feels better soon.
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