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They've got style, they've got grace and these tuxedo- and top hat-clad "Leading Men of Broadway" also have North Bethesda's Music Center at Strathmore, at least on Thursday evening. The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Jack Everly, will perform this BSO SuperPops concert with a bevy of Broadway performers and the Men's Singers from the Baltimore School for the Arts. It's a great opportunity to salute musical guys.
While fans of Broadway musical may anticipate hearing "Maria" from "West Side Story," "This is the Moment" from "Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hyde," and "Ya Got Trouble" from "The Music Man," for the five vocalists – four men and a women – it's not quite so simple. In just a few days, the race will be on to get the songs and the staging just right within a very limited amount of rehearsal time.
And so for the first time ever, 14-year-old vocalist Bradley Bowers will rehearse with the other performers on the Music Center stage on Wednesday, a single day before his first concert.
"It's very stressful," he admits, but after working on Broadway, the Baltimore eighth-grader is prepared for the challenge. He has already learned his songs and with the help of a dance trainer and a DVD from the "Leading Men," he is memorizing the staging as well as the tap and ballet steps.
Even Broadway veteran vocalist Heath Calvert finds the speeded up rehearsal process "a bit frightening," and he has been performing Pops concerts for years. His only advice to his young costar: After you've done it once, the fear factor begins to dissipate. After all, he figures no matter what happens, "the show goes on." Besides, he continues, "I love the challenge; it's never a dull moment."
Regardless of the frenetic rehearsal pace, Levy believes "Leading Men" fills a much-needed gap in the genre. Over the years, many Pops concerts have saluted Broadway's divas; he figured it was high time to highlight the songs men perform in such old favorites as "The Music Man" and "Oklahoma." The concert has been performed only once before, in 2005 with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra.
From the onset, Levy didn't want "Leading Men" to be a bunch of old men singing old songs. Instead, "We honor the youngest stars with songs [from Peter Allen's] ‘The Boy from Oz' [all the way] to the more mature cast members singing Jules Styne's ‘All I Need is a Girl.'"
Pops conductor Jack Everly even got into the act. He created an overture of melodies and a medley weaving together Broadway's catchiest solos.
While men rarely take a backseat in the entertainment business, Levy concludes that Broadway musicals have favored females for one important reason: "The women get to wear different gowns." And not just any pretty dress will do, he adds. "The gowns and the hair have to be flamboyant."
But then again, the times are changing. Levy notes that the guys do get to dress up as girls in selections from "La Cage aux Folles."
There's certainly no business like show business, especially when it comes finding a bevy of talented boys.
"The BSO SuperPops: Leading Men of Broadway" will be performed at 8 p.m. Thursday in The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For tickets, ranging from $25 to $85, call 877-BSO-1444 or visit BSOmusic.org.
