Broadway on Broadway

Husband and I spend his time off this past weekend listening and watching the best of Broadway for FREE!!! This weekend there was a FREE concert in Times Square, called “Broadway on Broadway,” featuring most of the current Broadway musicals, each performing their most popular tune. Fortunately, Husband agreed that this was an experience we shouldn’t miss (the fact that it was free probably helped him come along to my way of thinking). So with over 50,000 Broadway fans, we made out way down to Times Square (as you read this you should get the picture: we were standing in the middle of Times Square, about seventy-five feet from the stage, with over 50,000 other people crowed around us).

I spent significant time researching Broadway on Broadway, but I could not find out what time we should arrive. The show started at 11:30, but I had no idea if we should show up: should we wake up at the crack of dawn with a blanket at 4:00 am or just show up a few minutes before the performance started at 11:15 am? Husband and I decided to leave our house around 7:45 and walk over to Times Square. When we arrived, a rather long line had already formed filled with people of all ages, sizes, and races excited to see the show. The line was about a block long when we showed up. I would like to say everyone came for the magic of Broadway, but I believe there were quite a few teeny -boppers there to see this year’s host, Lance Bass, formerly of the boy-band N’Sync and now staring in Hairspray.

Not wanting to waste any time, Husband brought a stack of law review articles that he had to read with him. So, I was a little bored standing in line since Husband was pretty much ignoring me (but at least I got him there).

After waiting in line for about an hour, the NYPD began to let us into the area of the street that they had blocked off for the show. Essentially, several blocks of Broadway was closed off to traffic. It was also fenced off so people could not wander in and out. At around 9:30 or so, the NYPD opened up a gate, and allowed us onto Broadway in a single-file line (it was surprisingly organized for a free event on the street with 50,000 people in attendance).

My very wise, smart and clever husband suggested that instead of crowding as close to the stage as possible with the rest of the crowd, that perhaps we should stay on the curb of the sidewalk so we would be elevated above the crowd (we could have pushed our way about fifteen feet closer to the stage, but the extra eight inches of height was more valuable to us). I had a great view of the stage, but just in case I felt like the actors were a little too far away, the show was being shown on many of the large screens around Times Square. That was such a wise suggestion Husband had to stay on the elevated sidewalk because I am a little on the vertically challenged side of life and there were some tall people in the crowd. In fact that reminds me about one tall gentleman I saw. By the time we were able to move onto the street (for us the sidewalk) the tall gentleman was just a little in front of us by about ten feet, yet I overhead him say that he arrived at 4:30 am in order to stand in line! I am so glad that Husband and I didn’t arrive any earlier than we did because it wouldn’t have helped much, if at all (and who knows how pleasant it would have been with Husband that early in the morning waiting seven hours for a musical production to begin). In fact, I think we decided that we could have arrived about 10:30 or 11:00 and still had a pretty decent view.

At a little after 11:00, the pre-show began. All around us were television cameras, reporters, and vendors for the various shows giving away various little “gifts” (things like posters, fans, sun visors, beaded necklaces, and flyers). At exactly 11:30, the crowd was pumped, the performers were ready, and Lance Bass ran out on stage. For the next 2 ½ hours, we had constant-non stop performances of some of the best that Broadway has to offer.

Here is the song-list for the performances we saw:

"Why We Like Spelling" (from . . . Spelling Bee)
"For Now" (Avenue Q)
"When You're Good to Mama" (Chicago)
"I Can Do That" (A Chorus Line)
"Push Da Button" (The Color Purple)
"It's a Business" (Curtains)
"As We Stumble Along" (The Drowsy Chaperone)
"Summer Nights" (Grease)
"You Can't Stop the Beat" (Hairspray)
"Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" (Jersey Boys)
"Bend & Snap" (Legally Blonde)
"I Dreamed a Dream" (Les Misérables)
"One By One" (The Lion King)
"Dancing Queen" (Mamma Mia!)
"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" (Mary Poppins)
"Find Your Grail" (Monty Python's Spamalot)
"All I Ask of You" (The Phantom of the Opera)
"Out Tonight" (Rent)
"The Wizard and I" (Wicked)

For the most part I enjoyed the various numbers. I was really glad to see a part of some of these shows because I am not all that familiar with all of them. My favorite performance was probably “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Mis. Lea Salonga (some of you may know her from Miss Saigon) did an amazing job with such a powerful song. I was sad to learn that she is leaving the Broadway show in October. I haven’t been able to find out who will be replacing her, but just in case, I think I want to go see Les Mis before she leaves. I love Les Mis and that was the one show that I have been telling Husband that I want to see. “All I Ask of You” from Phantom was also done quite well. Can you tell I really like the classics?

The number from Lion King was performed well, however, since the lyrics are not in English and the performers for that song performed in jeans and matching shirts instead of their costumes, it was hard for us to truly catch the real spirit of the musical. I tried to explain to Husband how amazing the show is with the effects and costumes (that is really what makes the production), but I am not sure if Lion King is going to be one of the shows we make in the next few months.

The rest of the numbers were decent. I thought that Jersey Boys might be a fun show to go see. For those of you that are not familiar with Jersey Boys, it is a documentary-style musical based on the lives of one of the most successful 60’s rock ‘n roll groups, the Four Seasons.

Legally Blonde was definitely interesting. I have actually heard fairly good reviews about the show, but apparently it is going to be recorded and shown on MTV, so perhaps Husband and I will just watch it in the comfort of our apartment.

Another highlight of the show included Tamayra Gray, of American Idol fame, singing “Out Tonight” from Rent.

One interesting tidbit that I learned at the show is that Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George is returning to Broadway. That definitely may be a contender on my wish list (I am afraid my wish list of shows is getting too long).

The finale to Broadway on Broadway was all the performers singing together the song “New York, New York” with the crowd singing along to the words displayed on the screen while thousands of pounds of confetti fell from the sky.

Broadway on Broadway was a wonderful experience and, definitely, one that I would recommend to anyone.