Our Broadway Babe, Randie Levine Miller has some gems for you today. There’s a Sutton Foster concert from Lincoln Center. Sutton will be starring with Hugh Jackman in this season’s revival of “The Music Man”. There’s a video segment dedicated to Stephen Sondheim’s “Company”, and a Sondheim tribute at the Kennedy Center. And wait…there’s a fascinating “Guys and Dolls” documentary.

Sutton Foster in Concert: Live From Lincoln Center

I attended two time Tony Award winner, Sutton Foster’s Live at Lincoln Center Concert, which also aired on PBS in April, 2018… She’s totally irresistible and really delivers the goods in this concert videoed at the (then called) Appel Room at Jazz at Lincoln Center, along with special guests: Jonathan Groff, Megan McGinnis, and Darcie Roberts. Michael Rafter who musical directs did a brilliant job writing the arrangements… She has proven to be an authentic show-stopping Broadway star. For those of you who don’t know, Sutton will be starring with Hugh Jackman in this season’s revival of “The Music Man”. This video is true treat for Tomatoes!.

Sidebar: I ran into my neighbor last night who works for the Shubert Organization who shared with me that box office prices for “The Music Man” run as high as $700!!  Better start saving now!

Company portion of “Musical Comedy Tonight 1979

OMG, this is an unbelievable find of something I never knew existed –“Sylvia Fine Kaye’s Musical Comedy Tonight” aired on PBS in 1979. Sylvia Fine Kaye, the writer, composer, lyricist wife of Danny Kaye, did three incredible programs on PBS, showing the history of musical comedy theater.

This 16 minute segment dedicated to Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” has the dream cast I wish had done it together on Broadway. If there’s such a thing as a “musical orgasm”, then this is it! Sandy Duncan proves to be a powerhouse singer performing “Another Hundred People” with Richard Chamberlain showing his skills as an excellent singer and dancer, as Bobby, the protagonist of the show. Bernadette Peters has never sounded better or shown off her pure comedic talents as she does as April. She and Chamberlain perform “Barcelona”, which with their spin is a really funny showstopper, and Carol Burnett sings “The Ladies Who Lunch” and makes it all her own. She’s extraordinary. The company of this “Company” ends with “Side by Side by Side/What Would We Do Without You”. A must see for Sondheim fans!

Kennedy Center, Honors Stephen Sondheim

In 1993, The Kennedy Center Honors bestowed an award to Stephen Sondheim. The perfect host for this segment of the show was Tony Award winning star, Angela Lansbury (Who starred in several of his shows and was a Sondheim favorite) who said “Sondheim has taken all of us along on his glorious voyage to a new musical world.” Performing Sondheim songs that night were Bernadette Peters, Scott Bakula, as well as Angela. There is also an abbreviated docu- biography as part of the segment… These are some of the best events that air annually on CBS TV and is always a classy event with the President and first lady in attendance.  A first class tribute to a very classy legend.. RIP, Stephen Sondheim.

Guys and Dolls Off The Record–1992 Broadway Revival Cast Recording Session

This a great piece of musical history and is a fascinating documentary detailing all the work that goes into recording a Broadway cast album. This work by legendary and prolific songwriter, Frank Loesser, is so upbeat and delightful with so many great hummable tunes that have become “standards”. And it’s a real treat watching these great talents behind the scenes: Nathan Lane, Faith Prince, Peter Gallagher,Josie de Guzman and Walter Bobbie.  This revival was directed by multiple award winning director, Jerry Zaks.  Don’t miss this uplifting, upbeat program that aired on PBS.

Sidebar: Walter Bobbie stopped the show with his rendition of “Sit Down, You’re Rockin The Boat” which was made famous by late character actor, Stubby Kaye. He makes this all his own. Shortly after, Walter segued to directing and staged the concert production of “Chicago” at City Center Encores in 1996, which moved to Broadway with the original Encores cast.  He won the Tony Award for best direction of a musical. And the rest is history… the still-running longest running revival of a musical….ever!