Just 2 weeks ago, we were in St. Louis, MO, in the middle of America's finest park, dancing under the stars and wading through the St. Louis humidity in 3-piece suits and crinolines. Todd Buonopane, who played our Marcellus, already hit the ground running once we landed at America's worst airport, La Guardia.
When I saw Todd was performing at 54 Below (my favorite nightclub venue in NYC) I expressed my excitement and he graciously invited me to the show.
Having not read the show notes (my bad) I was expecting an evening of musical numbers by the line up Broadway actors; what I usually see when I attend 54 Below. But once Todd took the stage to introduce the evening, it quickly became apparent I was in for something completely different; aptly titled (but completely unnoticed by myself) Broadway Stories.
This evening's roster featured well-known Broadway stars:
Jay Armstrong Johnson (On the Town, Hair)
Lindsay Mendez (Dogfight, Wicked)
Lisa Gajda (Tuck Everlasting, Chaplin, Movin' Out)
Jeff Hiller (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Love's Labor Lost)
Max Crumm (Disaster!, Grease)
Stephen Oremus (Music Director, Composer)
Hosted by Todd, also having appeared on the Broadway many times himself (Spelling Bee, Cinderella) the evening's 'cast' share their more vulnerable moments that an audience doesn't see from the house.
Were you wondering if the second second revival of Grease was any good?
Or maybe the difference between American and British stage managers has been keeping you up at night.
Unraveling the mystery of 'Equity 1' and MORE. Listen to the podcast in 2 parts: Episodes 7 and 8