Put On Your Understudy Clothes: Who Should Be Bette Midler’s Understudy for Dolly?

With the forthcoming Broadway revival of Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler breaking records at the box office, we have to take a minute to think about who is going to fill the Divine Miss M’s shoes when she is not performing. We already know they are going to need someone to cover matinees, and God forbid Ms. Midler gets sick and needs an understudy to go on her place. It’s going to require someone of either star caliber or of great talent to fill these shoes, and the producers know that audiences are not going to accept just anyone to fill her shoes. With that in mind, here is a list of people I think could pull it off nicely.

Broadway Musical Time Machine: Looking Back at Into the Woods

Coming off their Pulitzer Prize-winning artistic success of Sunday in the Park with George, composer-lyricist Stephen Sondheim and book writer/director James Lapine would turn their eyes to the world of fairy tales for their next Broadway musical. This would not be the Disney world of fairy tales with altruistic magic and happy-ever-afters giving us warm fuzzies. No, this musical would delve into the deep and dark psychologies of fairy tales, exploring the grimmest of Grimm fairy tales, violence in tact, but moral ambiguity in question. The result would be the now-classic Into the Woods.

Broadway's Glorious Choral Sequences

Today I find myself in the mood to listen to great choral numbers from Broadway musicals. These are the glorious sequences where evocative orchestrations join hands with a multitude of voices and a synergy is born that shoots a jolt of lightening through the listener. Going through my cast recordings, picking favorites is hard to do, but I have assembled some of mine here. This list is by no means complete, nor is it intentionally exclusive. What it strives to be is a compilation of the choral numbers that make my heart soar. I hope you will weigh in, maybe listen to a few, and share some of your impressions of my choices and weigh-in on your favorites.

Broadway Musical Humor: The Plot Synopses You Didn’t Know Existed

Today seems like a good day for a humor piece at "The Music That Makes Me Dance" and so I thought I'd write a little comic fluff that will hopefully make you smile. I thought it would be fun to look at some of Broadway's biggest hits over the years and try to encapsulate their plots in just a few sentences. This piece is meant to make people laugh and should in no way be misconstrued as my hating or maligning any of the titles discussed. Sit back and hopefully have a laugh or two.