Behind the Music

On Monday, September 19, 1,500 people packed The Town Hall for the Second Annual Broadway Unplugged concert. For the benefit of those of you who are interested in hearing the story behind the event, Barbara Siegel — who knows better than most what questions to ask — sat down for a Q&A with the show’s creator and host, her husband Scott.

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Barbara: I’ll start with the question that I think most people want to ask: How did you assemble such a star-studded company?

Scott: In some ways, that was the easiest part of the equation, because everyone I asked wanted to do it. After that, it was just a matter of whether or not they were to perform that night.

Barbara: The cast that you initially announced changed throughout the summer. Why?

Scott: You need some big names when you announce a show like this, so I was particularly pleased that Sutton Foster lent her name to the event virtually from the beginning — and I’m even more pleased that she was able to keep the date clear for me. The same was true for quite a few others, like Marc Kudicsh who warned me when he signed on that he wouldn’t have much time and would only be able to do one number. When I suggested that he and Sutton also do a duet, however, Marc didn’t hesitate.

Barbara: People will be talking about that duet (“Anything You Can Do” from Annie Get Your Gun) for a long time to come. It was live theater in its purest form. Talk about turning a lemon into lemonade! Did you have any idea that it would be, as you described it from the stage, “a wonderful train wreck?”

Scott: I don’t think they’d mind my saying that they didn’t get a chance to work on the song together until that afternoon, at the tech rehearsal — which does not, of course, afford the time to learn a number, stage it, and rehearse it. They told me that they were going to wing it, but not to worry. Wing it? I raised an eyebrow, but that’s all I did. Putting Sutton Foster and Marc Kudisch on the Town Hall stage together did not suggest trouble of any kind to me. I had implicit faith that, no matter what they did, they would be entertaining. And they were brilliant. Every choice they made when they started flubbing the lyrics was the right one, and the laughs just kept on building. Later, Marc told me, “You’d better keep that on the CD!”

Barbara: Who surprised you most with his or her performance in the show?

Scott: Deven May. I had been interested in pursuing him for a Broadway by the Year concert but hadn’t hooked up with him yet. Then, exactly a week before Broadway Unplugged, I saw him perform at Jim Caruso’s Cast Party at Birdland. He sang with a microphone, of course, but there was something about his free and easy vocal technique that made me think he could sing off-mike at Town Hall and really score. I went over to him afterward, asked him to be in the show, and he said yes — but It wasn’t until the night before the concert that I actually heard him sing unplugged. I couldn’t believe the way he ended “Being Alive.” The last note got big, bigger, biggest. He was amazing.

Barbara: Most people would have put B.J. Crosby singing “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” at the end of the evening or the end of the first act, instead of having her open the show with it. What was your thinking?

Scott: If this was an amplified concert, that’s probably what I would have done, but doing the entire concert without microphones changed the entire dynamic of the running order. In writing the script for the show, I came across a quote from Harold Prince that I used in the show. I’m paraphrasing now, but the gist of it is that it takes about five minutes for the audience to adjust to hearing unamplified performers. I thought I’d make that adjustment easier for the audience by giving them B.J. right then and there; I don’t think we had a louder voice in the cast. This also gave the opening a lot of energy; right at the top, it announced that we were coming after them with all our vocal guns blazing. I thought it would make an exciting opening.

Barbara: Did the audience reaction to the show catch you by surprise?

Scott: I love that audience! Not in a million years did I think they would demand, by their applause, a second bow from almost every performer. It was a loving affirmation of what the singers were doing.

Barbara: Even though last year’s concert sold out, were you concerned that maybe the novelty had passed and that, this time, you wouldn’t fill all 1,500 seats at Town Hall?

Scott: Based on the audience and critical reaction last year, I thought there was a good chance we’d sell out again, but there were a lot of things working against it. Labor Day came later this year, plus the concert was scheduled for eight days earlier in the month than last time. As a consequence, we had a much shorter time in September to sell the show. I know that a lot of people wouldn’t be paying attention to September shows until after the psychological demarcation line of Labor Day.

Barbara: Only about 25 percent of the performers in last year’s show returned for this one. Did you learn something that led you to cast differently?

Scott: That’s a good question.

Barbara: Aren’t they all good questions?

Scott: Yes, dear.

Barbara: So, answer the question.

Scott: The intention was simply to present a concert with a somewhat different sound and look. I didn’t want to give the impression that this year’s edition would, in any way, be a reprise of last year’s. That’s also why we added three group numbers — not counting the full cast finale, which we kept from last year, though we chose a different song.

Barbara: You’ve announced that these concerts are going to be an annual event. Was that a difficult decision to make?

Scott: Yes. I had to ask my wife first.

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[To contact the Siegels directly, e-mail them at siegels@theatermania.com.]