BACKWARDS TO THE FUTURE

A way-cool gimmick is a nice place to start, but you need a lot more than that to put on a great show -- especially if you plan to do it annually. For the past two years, a concert titled Broadway Backwards has been presented as a benefit for New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center. The hook is that high-profile male stars sing musical theater songs traditionally performed by women, and vice-versa. Among the highlights of the first two concerts were "Some Enchanted Evening" as interpreted by Betty Buckley, a heart-stopping performance of "We Kiss in a Shadow" by Matt Cavenaugh and Cheyenne Jackson, and a lovely, camp-free rendition of "Bill" (from Show Boat) by Charles Busch.

This year's event, slated for Monday, February 4 at the American Airlines Theatre, boasts such heavy-hitters as Gary Beach, Len Cariou, Sandy Duncan, Nancy Dussault, Malcolm Gets, and Lainie Kazan. Among the scheduled returnees are Busch and Jackson. The Little Mermaid's Sierra Boggess and Tituss Burgess are also on the bill, and it has just been announced that "six girls from the cast of Spring Awakening will be performing a song from the Tony Award winning show while honoring and maintaining the gender-bending concept of Broadway Backwards 3." But perhaps the most newsworthy aspect of the concert is that it will feature the first-ever public vocal duet by TV star Neil Patrick Harris and his partner, actor David Burtka.

Harris is a child of television, having achieved fame at a young age in the title role of Doogie Howser, M.D. If the writers' strike ever ends, he'll return to his role of Barney Stinson on the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother. Among his film credits are the cult classics Starship Troopers and Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle. But he has a firm commitment to theater, as demonstrated by his leading performances in Cabaret, Proof, and Assassins on Broadway, tick, tick...BOOM! in London, and All My Sons at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, not to mention his appearances as Tobias in concert versions of Sweeney Todd with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony.

"I'm so deeply impressed every time I watch people performing live," says Harris. "They use their entire vessel; their body, their voice, even their strut and stance need to be specific and consistent. Theater requires such discipline. I guess I feel that in film, since you only have to really nail one take, it doesn't always demand the most talent."

Are there any theater roles that he aspires to? "I've always had a fondness for Barnum," he confesses. "I love the show and I love the man, plus I dabble in the circus arts: trapeze, tightrope, juggling, magic, etc. It has been a dream of mine to play Barnum, ideally with some wildly expensive production values. Maybe Cirque du Soleil would be involved? I'm still too young for the part, so I hope the rights are tied up for another seven or eight years." Aside from that, he says: "There are theater projects coming up for me, but I'd be remiss to talk about them right now. Announcements are forthcoming."

Burtka, for his part, is best known for having appeared buck naked Off-Broadway in Edward Albee's The Play About the Baby and fully clothed in the most recent Broadway revival of Gypsy, which starred Bernadette Peters and was directed by Sam Mendes. "Getting to work with Sam was a dream of mine," he says. "I didn't think it would be in a musical, but when he wants you to be involved, you jump. And that show required a lot of jumping!"

Harris and Burtka get a lot of points for their dignity in dealing with the press and the public as openly gay actors in a committed relationship. The way Harris sees it, "I've just gotta live my life, and not in the shadows. If someone wants to report about it, that's up to them. If there is interest, great; if not, no worries. I do make a concerted effort not to flaunt our relationship to the press. David and I both intend to be recognized for our bodies of work, not our bodies at the Ivy. It is indeed a fine line, and it's hard to please everyone. But I'm 34. Pleasing everyone had dropped down on my list of priorities."

Though they're happy to tell the world that they'll be singing a duet with each other in Broadway Backwards 3, Harris and Burtka decline to name the song, preferring to retain the element of surprise. Says Burtka, "I'm very excited that this is the first time Neil and I will have sung together. But it's also nerve-wracking, because the line-up of performers is so top-notch. It should be a great night." For more information on Broadway Backwards, click here.

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MAYE FLOWERS

Marilyn Maye holds the record for having appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson more than any other singer -- 76 times, to be precise. That was years ago, but the lady's recent string of shows at the Metropolitan Room marks a glorious renaissance that has led to her winning the 2008 Nightlife Award for Outstanding Cabaret Vocalist in a Major Engagement. The honor will be bestowed on Monday, January 28 at The Town Hall, with Maye in the company of such other winners, presenters, and guest performers as John Pizzarelli, Jessica Molaskey, Lari White, and Phoebe Snow.

"I'm very honored to receive the award," says Maye, "and I'm doubly pleased because I'm the new kid on the block. Until this past year, I hadn't worked in New York for so long. I'm grateful to the critics for their reviews, and I think it's wonderful that I have a new, young audience. It's given me a whole new life. I'm going back to the Metropolitan Room in April, around my birthday. It'll be a big party. You've gotta come!"

The level of popularity that Maye achieved in the rock-heavy 1960s is quite amazing, given her that repertoire has always consisted mostly of show music and standards from the great American songbook. "I recorded seven albums for RCA," she tells me. "One year, I was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Artist along with Herman's Hermits, The Byrds, and the pianist Horst Jankowski. It was a funny group! My timing was off. By the time I started recording, rock and roll was already pretty well entrenched. I was fortunate to have hits with 'Step to the Rear' [from How Now, Dow Jones] and 'Cabaret' at a time when that kind of music really wasn't happening."

How did the revival of her New York career come about? "I did my first Mabel Mercer Foundation concert in 2005. It was a tribute to Jerry Herman, and they invited me to perform because I've done Hello, Dolly! and Mame in various cities. I also recorded an album of songs from Dolly!, and Jerry was kind enough to write the liner notes for me. I did the Mercer Foundation concert with Billy Stritch. We first met in Texas when he was bout 19 or 20, and we've been working together a lot in the past five or six years, but mostly in the Midwest.

"We did that tribute to Jerry, and then I did another Mercer Foundation concert in 2006. By that time, the Metropolitan Room was open. In fact, Billy opened it. He suggested me to them, and I was booked there for one night. I hadn't worked in New York in 17 years, so I was afraid there would be about four people in the room. I was shocked that we were packed. The room invited me back, and Billy and I did three two-week stints there in 2007. It was great fun."

The Nightlife Awards are exceptional among such events in that the winners perform rather than give acceptance speeches. So, what will Maye be singing at The Town Hall on the 28th? "That's a good question," she replies with a laugh. "I haven't decided yet. If you've got any requests, let me know!" For more information on the awards concert, click here.

"I WAS JILTED BY A LESBIAN DWARF"

"It's got tragedy. It's got violence. There are people screaming at each other, and you can't understand what they're saying. It's perfect for opera!" So says composer Richard Thomas of The Jerry Springer Show, the trash TV program that inspired the post-modern opera he wrote in collaboration with Stewart Lee.

Upon its opening at the National Theatre in London in 2003, Jerry Springer: The Opera became such a monster hit that it soon transferred to the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. A Broadway production was announced but later canceled for a number of reasons, including fears of controversy; an organization named Christian Voice had led street protests against the 2005 BBC-TV telecast of the opera and had threatened to bring blasphemy charges against the production due to its depiction of Judeo-Christian figures.

Now, following its 2007 U.S. premiere at the Bailiwick Repertory in Chicago, Jerry Springer: The Opera is finally coming to New York. It will be performed in concert at Carnegie Hall on January 29 and 30, with Harvey Keitel set to play the title role -- the only character who doesn't sing. The cast also includes Linda Balgord, Emily Skinner, Max von Essen, and one holdover from London: David Bedella as Warm-Up Man/Satan. Jason Moore (Avenue Q, the upcoming Shrek the Musical) and Stephen Oremus (Avenue Q, Wicked, All Shook Up, High Fidelity) are respectively serving as director and musical director.

The opera achieves much of its effect through Thomas and Lee having set phrases such as "I Was Jilted by a Lesbian Dwarf," "My Mom Used to Be My Dad," and "Chick With a Dick" to music that calls to mind a Bach oratorio. "I was sort of shocked and bowled over with laughter when I saw the show in London," said Moore in a recent interview with BroadwayStars.com, "but I also appreciated the beauty of the music and the choral singing. For all of its outrageousness, it's really about a man who's having a crisis of faith. I understand that Jerry Springer was very supportive of the show in London; I think he was flattered that an opera had been written about him, and that his name was in the title.

"For our production, we're getting some actual props and T-shirts from The Jerry Springer Show," adds Moore. "Because television is so much a part of the world of Jerry Springer, we'll be using projections. We're doing it as a concert, but that doesn't mean people will be wearing tuxedos and using music stands. There'll be some tap dancing in the show, there will be a lot of costume pieces -- and, of course, there's the fighting."

Though Jerry Springer: The Opera may sound like one joke spread over two hours or more, Stephen Oremus feels it avoids that trap due to the quality of the music. "The show is only orchestrated for eight pieces, but it's quite ingenious," he remarks. "It doesn't have a bass or any live strings, but it sounds spectacular. There's a 22-voice choir, and they sometimes act as orchestration. You have a huge sound coming from this small group of musicians and this large group of singers.

"As I've been working on the piece, I've come to appreciate it more and more," says Oremus. "Some of it is shocking, some of it is hilarious, and some of it is beautiful. It's much more than a bunch of dirty words strung together. I can't wait to introduce it to New York; I think it's going to be an unforgettable evening."

Does the opera make any sort of moral judgment in regard to its (anti)hero? "I don't think so," replies Jason Moore. "It asks the question, 'Does Jerry create this kind of behavior in humans, or does he just hold up a mirror to it? What does his show say about people who behave so badly? And what does it say about those of us who don't act that way but want to watch it?"

The opera's arrival at Carnegie Hall begs the question of whether or not it would it be a hit on Broadway. Says Moore, "I find myself constantly surprised -- sometimes pleasantly, sometimes not -- by what's successful on Broadway. Whenever I make a prediction, I seem to be wrong. That even applies to my own shows. Jerry Springer makes you laugh, and the music is great. Some of the subject matter dances very close to the line of what's acceptable, but it's all a question of taste. When we did Avenue Q, I never thought Broadway audiences would react so well to puppets fucking. So I leave it to the audience."

IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN

Way back in 1970, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's Company marked the dawn of a new era in musical theater, so it's extremely gratifying that several of the show's original cast members are still performing.

Think about it: The ubiquitous, indefatigable Elaine Stritch recently began an engagement of her smash-hit show At Liberty at the Café Carlyle; Charles Kimbrough, who gained loads of TV-Q as Jim Dial on Murphy Brown, did a turn as Col. Pickering in the New York Philharmonic's 2007 concert performances of My Fair Lady; Donna McKechnie, legendary for having created the role of Cassie in A Chorus Line, works constantly; and Teri Ralson, who has appeared in or directed 11 productions of Sondheim musicals, just gave two performances of her terrific club act at the Metropolitan Room, with Company original castmate Pamela Myers as her special guest.

Back in the day, Ralston was prized for the silvery soprano she displayed not only in Company but also in Sondheim's A Little Night Music and in the Stephen Schwartz-Joseph Stein musical The Baker's Wife, which closed out of town before reaching Broadway but nevertheless yielded a gorgeous cast recording. Amazingly, her soprano register is still intact, though she can belt to high heaven when she wants to. Her program at the Met Room was highlighted by "Old Friend" (from Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking it On the Road), "Colored Lights" (from Kander and Ebb's The Rink), and a heartbreaking rendition of "In Buddy's Eyes" from Sondheim's Follies. Myers gave the crowd what they wanted, singing the hell out of "Another Hundred People" from Company, and she teamed with Ralston for a delightful "togetherness" medley. Shelly Markham was the show's A-list musical director/pianist.

I've often heard it lamented that young performers have no knowledge of theater history and little reverence for the work of the art form's veterans. Sadly, this generalization seems to be true. With people like Teri Ralston and Pam Myers still out there doing it, attention must be paid -- and there's no excuse for the young'uns to miss out, considering the Metropolitan Room's moderate cover and minimum charges. But if few folks under 40 attended Sunday night's show, Ralston's and Myers' peers were out in force, among them Stephen Schwartz, Jonathan Tunick, Donna McKechnie, Roger Rees, Andrea Marcovicci, Steve Ross, and Julie Wilson. Maybe it takes talent to know talent.

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OH, THOSE BROADWAY NIGHTS!

In a column I wrote and posted in October, I highly recommended Broadway Nights, Seth Rudetsky's sort-of-autobiographical comic novel. The book is a scream on the page, so you can only imagine how hilarious it was last evening (Monday, January 14) when Rudetsky and several of his famous showbiz pals read excerpts from it at Barnes & Noble's Lincoln Triangle store.

Rudetsky himself took the role of up-and-coming Broadway musical director Stephen Sheerin, with two-time Tony Award winner Christine Ebersole appearing as his mother; Cheyenne Jackson (Xanadu) as his best friend, Jackson; Denis O'Hare (Take Me Out, Sweet Charity) as Jackson's boyfriend, an annoying agent; and Kristine Zbornik (A Catered Affair) as young Stephen's nanny. The packed reading also featured three musical performances: Jackson did "The Proposal" from Titanic, Zbornik put over a hilarious parody of "People" from Funny Girl, and no less a personage than Andrea McArdle dropped by to sing "Maybe" from Annie.

I'm here to tell you that Barnes & Noble is definitely the place to be for the fabulous, theater-related events that are presented as part of the store's "Any Wednesday" series and on other evenings. Tonight (Tuesday, January 15), Mel Brooks is scheduled to be there signing copies of the Young Frankenstein CD. So go!

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APAP-A-LOOZA

It was quite a scene at the Hilton on Sixth Avenue this weekend, as the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) took over vast sections of the hotel for its annual convention and showcases.

The theme for this year's event was "Presenting America: New Ground," and the exhibition halls featured booths representing more than 370 artists management firms, agencies, and industry vendors. Said exhibitor Rich Aronstein, of R/J Productions, "This is my sixth year at the booth and my fifth year showcasing, which we did last night. There are more than 3,500 buyers here shopping for shows for next season.

"We've done very well," Aronstein continued. "Most of our artists are going out across the country -- people like Maureen McGovern, Sam Harris, and Jason Graae. Marilyn Maye was a huge hit last night; the room was packed. Everybody flies in to do this. It's been very successful for us. In fact, most of our bookings come out of this conference. I'm a sponsor this year, which helps also."

Dedicated to bringing artists and audiences together through presenting and touring, APAP has over 1,900 members worldwide. It has been estimated that the performing arts presenting industry in the U.S. reaches more than 300 million audience members each year and has an annual national economic impact of more than $8.5 billion. For more information, visit www.artspresenters.org.

I RESOLVE

With a new year just beginning, here are some humble suggestions of resolutions for actors, producers, directors, and other theater professionals, as well as for audience members. This may seem like a nervy thing to do -- but I'm including a resolution for critics, so I hope it's allowable. Let me know what you think!

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For actors: "I resolve not to miss performances unless I absolutely have to."
No one should ever feel obligated to perform if he or she is genuinely too ill to do so, or if there's some other good reason not to go on, such as a family emergency. But it seems that there's a much higher degree of absenteeism now than there was in the old days, and that not all of these absences are fully justified. How unfortunate, for example, that Fantasia's triumph as Celie in The Color Purple was marred by her having missed so many shows. Until someone figures out a way for Broadway to make economic sense with fewer than eight performances a week, the ability to keep to that admittedly demanding schedule is an essential requirement of an actor's job.

For producers: "I resolve to avoid using reality TV shows to cast Broadway musicals."
The consensus of opinion within the Broadway community seems to be that the two performers who were "chosen by America" to star in the current revisal of Grease during the course of an NBC-TV "reality" series are adequate at best. I'm not saying that the idea of casting a Broadway musical via a televised talent competition should be rejected outright; in fact, I think this method could work very well for a revival of West Side Story, since it might otherwise be very difficult to find performers who are both young enough and sufficiently talented to play Tony, Maria, Riff, Anita, et al. But the Grease TV show was so appalling, and the results so questionable, as to demonstrate that this is not the way to go in the vast majority of cases.

For directors: "I resolve, when directing a revival, not to play the subtext of the piece on the top and not to come up with an off-the-wall production concept just for the sake of calling attention to my work."
Some people, when they get their hands on a classic, try to "make it their own" by ramping up the sex and violence, setting the action on the planet Mars, or whatever. The irony is that more traditional productions tend to go over better with critics and audiences than the wilder, crazier efforts. This is not meant to discourage bold experiments like John Doyle's Sweeney Todd and Company, but few directors have Doyle's ability to radically reimagine a piece while staying true to its spirit, so they should proceed with care when entrusted with a well-known property.

For composers, lyricists, and book writers: "I resolve to write from the heart rather than to create a musical with the primary goal of making a financial killing."
What's the lesson to be learned from the success of Spring Awakening and the failure of Tarzan? There's little point in trying to give the public what you think they want, because chances are you'll be wrong and then you won't have anything to show for your efforts, least of all the ability to state honestly that you did your best and retained your artistic integrity. Two related suggestions: (1) Please stop rewriting classic stage musicals when reviving them, and (2) Please stop giving us ham-handed stage adaptations of beloved film musicals just to exploit the marquee value of the titles.

For sound designers: "I resolve not to set an ear-splitting volume level for musicals."
In the old days, shows used to draw people in; now, most of them are so loud that to attend is to feel like you're being aurally assaulted. Of the current crop of musicals, count Spring Awakening, Avenue Q, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee among the listenable, with The Color Purple and Legally Blonde among those that would benefit greatly from having their volume level turned way down.

For critics: "I resolve to give my completely honest reaction to the shows I review, rather than being swayed by hype or other extenuating factors."
Most critics are very good about this. But, once in a blue moon, we all bow to peer pressure, and 2007 brought us two prime examples. I'm convinced that the raves received by Tom Stoppard's The Coast of Utopia were largely due to the "event" marketing of the three-part, nine-hour marathon, not to mention the "emperor's new clothes" effect -- i.e., few reviewers had the courage to risk being perceived as stupid for failing to appreciate a trilogy that was billed as catnip for intellectuals. (Time will tell us the true quality of Stoppard's work, but please note that The Coast of Utopia was far less well received when produced in London, where snob hits are few and far between.) Of course, this works both ways: I'll bet that if Young Frankenstein had come to Broadway before The Producers, and hadn't received so much negative publicity for its $450 top ticket price and for not reporting grosses, the show's reviews would have been much better.

For publicists: "I resolve to avoid sending press releases about shows breaking box-office records."
Yes, I know that the P.R. folk are only doing what the producers want. Still, I wish that everyone concerned would realize the pointlessness of issuing releases that read, "Such-and-such show broke the house record at such-and-such theater for the third week in a row." You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the main reason why these records continue to fall like dominoes: Ticket prices have increased by hundreds of percent over the decades. I strongly suspect that, in the same way that Gone With the Wind (1939) remains the all-time domestic box-office champion among U.S. films when adjustments are made for inflation, the stats for the original productions of Oklahoma!, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, et al. would be higher than those of most current shows if calculations were based on the number of tickets sold during a particular week, rather than the amount of money taken in.

For audiences: "I resolve not to behave in any way that would infringe upon my fellow theatergoers' enjoyment of the show."
(1) Make sure your cell phone ringer is turned off, and don't send or receive text messages during the performance; the light emanating from your phone or PDA can be highly distracting to those around you, even if no sound is involved. (2) Don't switch seats just as the house lights are going down; it's likely that the people who hold tickets for those seats will show up eventually, and there'll be an annoying disruption of the performance as the ushers try to sort things out. (3) Don't arrive late to a show if you can possibly avoid it. (4) Don't leave your seat during a performance except in the case of emergency. (5) Eat before the show, not during, and don't talk or sing along!