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by Michael Portantiere


    Welcome Back to Falsettoland

    One of the finest moments in any of Scott Siegel's Broadway Originals concerts at The Town Hall occurred on Sunday, October 18, as Siegel and company gathered the entire original cast of the beloved William Finn musical Falsettos to perform 10 extended selections from the show.

    Following a first half that was highlighted by such Broadway originals as Marc Kudisch (The Wild Party, The Apple Tree, etc.), Stephanie J. Block (9 to 5), Manu Narayan (Bombay Dreams), Celia Keenan-Bolger (The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee), and Daisy Eagan (The Secret Garden), the stage was yielded to the Falsettos folks for the entire second half. The audience was enraptured as favorite moments from the show were recreated by Michael Rupert, Stephen Bogardus, Barbara Walsh, Chip Zien, Heather MacRae, Janet Metz (who created the role of Cordelia Off-Broadway), and Jonathan Kaplan (who played bar mitzvah boy Jason on Broadway and is now 29 and about the be married).

    Also on the list of recent theater-related happenings that make you want to shout "Thank God I live in New York," the fabulous Chita Rivera gave a week's worth of performances at Birdland in conjunction with the release of her new CD, And Now I Swing. Below are some of my pics from these two amazing events.

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    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com


    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Photo by Michael Portantiere, FollowSpotPhoto.com

    Monday, October 19, 2009 at 9:14 AM | Item Link


    Michael Portantiere comes to BroadwayStars with more than 30 years' experience as an editor and writer for such media outlets as TheaterMania.com, InTHEATER magazine, and BACK STAGE. He has also contributed articles and reviews to AfterElton.com, Playbill, and Stagebill, and has written notes for several major cast albums. Additionally, Michael is a professional photographer whose pictures have been published by THE NEW YORK TIMES, the DAILY NEWS, and several notable websites. (Visit www.followspotphoto.com for more information.)
    He can be reached at [email protected]


    The last five columns written by Michael Portantiere:

    07/13/2010: Presidential Material

    07/04/2010: Hardy Boy

    06/29/2010: High School Stars

    06/21/2010: Falling in Love Again

    06/17/2010: A Meeting of the 'mos (and Their Friends)

    For a listing of all features written by Michael, click here.

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