FRESH AIR, TIMES. SQUARE Tina Fey as host of “One Night Only: The Best of Broadway” on NBC.
SCROLL DOWN TO READ THE REVIEW (POSTED DEC. 11, 2020)
PANDEMIC GOT YOU DOWN? You and your spouse/partner/mom/daytime-doorman/kids always go to one big show during the holidays? And this year you have to sit at home hand-laundering your new collection of cotton face masks and ordering another case of disinfectant wipes?
Tina Fey — actress, comedian, filmmaker and Broadway producer — feels your pain. So she’s arranged for you to sit back, in the home equivalent of Orchestra Row A, and enjoy two hours of Broadway performers doing great Broadway numbers. Put it on your calendar:
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“ONE NIGHT ONLY:
THE BEST OF BROADWAY”
Thursday, Dec. 10, 8 p.m., NBC.
You’ll see Broadway megastars like Nathan Lane, screen (and sometimes stage) heartthrobs like Jake Gyllenhaal and Blair Underwood, music greats like Josh Groban and Alanis Morissette and at least one Miss America — Vanessa Williams.
You’ll be treated to performances by the casts of a bevy of Broadway musicals (past, present and future). They’ll include “Chicago,” “Jersey Boys,” “Jagged Little Pill” and (of course) “Mean Girls,” Fey’s favorite (she produced it). And there’s talk of a special something with the cast of “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
’PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME, GIRL’ The Broadway cast of “Ain’t Too Proud — The Life and Times of the Temptations.”
Other stars expected to be on hand include Annaleigh Ashford, Lance Bass, Kristen Bell, Kelly Clarkson, Brett Eldredge, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Peter Gallagher, Sean Hayes, Patti LaBelle, Camryn Manheim, Jerry O’Connell, Leslie Odom Jr., Billy Porter and Aaron Tveit. It’s not absolutely clear who’s performing and who’s just “appearing.”
The broadcast is a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Because AIDS patients and H.I.V.-positive people get Covid too. And here’s the review:
THEATER REVIEW // ONE NIGHT ONLY: THE BEST OF BROADWAY // Dec. 10, 2020, 2 hours, NBC
TO BE HONEST, “One Night Only: The Best of Broadway,” NBC’s two-hour special, wasn’t like old times. But it had its moments.
The show opened with the cast of “Jersey Boys” on the streets and sidewalks of New York’s theater district, singing “Who Loves You, Pretty Baby?” — and we were off to a great start.
We had been promised numbers from productions of the past, present and future, and “Jersey Boys” was a fine choice. It Broadway run ended in January 2017, more than a decade after winning four 2006 Tony Awards, including best musical. But it had moved to New World Stages, an Off Broadway house, and when the world returns to normal, it’s expected to be there again.
The evening’s most stunning number was also a blast from the past. The cast of “Rent” did the show’s signature number, “Seasons of Love” (which many of us think of as “525,600 Minutes” — a year in the life, any life, every life), outside a Broadway theater too. For a number we first heard in the 1990s, written originally as a paean/prayer to/for people with AIDS, it feels as powerful and touching as ever. And not just because of Covid-19.
Honorable mention does have to go to Barbra Streisand (the special surprise guest (well, she was a surprise to us) doing — what else? — “People.” And to the cast of “Jagged Little Pill,” whose on-the-streets performance of “You Ought to Know” reminded us that when a so-called jukebox musical works, it/s very close to magic.
I was surprised to be a little disappointed in the numbers from “Ain’t Too Proud,” the current musical about the Temptations, performed in front of the Imperial Theater. On the other hand, it was great to hear vintage lyrics like “If good looks was a minute, you know you could have been an hour” (from “The Way You Do the Things You Do”). And when the cast began the show’s title number, I turned up the volume.
The cast of “Chicago,” doing the title number, proved just how much life is left in a show that opened when the Clintons were in the White House. “It’s just a noisy hall where there’s a nightly brawl” will always be one of my favorite lyrics. Bob Fosse’s choreography is something beyond timeless. And Lana Gordon, now playing the publicity-happy murderer Velma, looked fabulous, wearing what must have been one of Tina Turner’s wigs.
There was one holiday number. Kelly Clarkson sang “White Christmas” in a glittery cityscape setting, with a white grand piano stage right. It was lovely, but you’d never have caught Bing Crosby wearing that much pink eye shadow.
Tina Fey, as host, almost didn’t matter, but she looked good. And Nathan Lane, dropping by for a between-the-musical-numbers commentary, told her, “By the way, I loved you in ‘The Crown.’ “
There were plenty of celebrities from all sectors of the entertainment business. Antonio Banderas, for instance, talked about doing “A Chorus Line” in Spanish.
But these segments were sort of where the show went wrong. If you love live theater, you’ve seen a million of these mini-stories about life backstage and the struggles of breaking into the big time as an actor, singer, dancer, whatever.
But you know what would have been great? More, much more, about how Broadway audiences feel — used to feel — seeing a show. The special was a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and I’m personally writing a check (O.K., writing in some credit card information) to make my donation later today.
But this show was for the Broadway audiences too. As Peter Gallagher, another of the show’s celebrity talking heads, said: Yes, he looks forward to performing on Broadway again, but he also really can’t wait to see a Broadway show again. “For a moment, none of us feel alone.”
Did I mention that the night I saw “Rent,” Cher was in the audience? I sat behind Rosie O’Donnell at “The Producers.” An editor friend and I ran into Bryan Cranston at “To Kill a Mockingbird.” And I sat across the aisle from Jon Hamm at —- Funniest thing. I can’t remember what show it was.
broadwaycares.org/help2020.