Broadway in Bryants Park : Vanities, Rock of Ages, Mary Poppins & Wicked.

I always try to make it out to Bryants park at least once a year. This year I went to see Rock of Ages and Next to Normal which was disappointing that they switched with wicked but It will give me another reason to go back and Wicked ended up being a lot of fun to watch. I got to the lawn around 10:30 and was excited to see the lawn the same as it has in the past. Stage right in front of the fountain, white background displaying Broadway in Bryants park and its sponsors with rows filled with the green wooden chairs and tables. We took a seat in the fourth row but not for long after we found our rock of age group and moved up a row. All of just chatted and listened to show tunes in till the sound check. Not knowing many people who are into theatre its a nice change being surrounded by fans. Vanities came on first. Honestly I was the show i was least looking forward to, I did not know much about this show. All i knew was it had three cheerleaders involved but it ended up being the show i left wanting to see.

Lauren Kennedy, Annelise Van Der Pol, Sarah Stiles

The Vanities girls formed three catchy and wonderful songs all of which i wanted on my ipod right after. I dont want to miss a thing  was a sweet and funny song that showed the girls before they left for college, their idea of what will happen once they are there. They all had funny and pretty good southern accents and all three of them had terrific voices. "I want to cook but never clean" " i want to make a jello mold" just to lines that make laugh a bit from I dont want to miss a thing. Lauren Kennedy performedFly into the Future another catchy song and than she was joined with her cast mates for one more song which i think is titled I cant imagine ?. I must say i was very surprised how great Annelise Voice was only knowing her from the disney channel. 

 

 Jeremy Jordan, Savannah Wise

 

James Carpinello, Katherine Tokarz

Rock of Ages was up next. I love this cast! I went mostly to see them. I have seen the show numerous times and it is always a party. The show is a different kind of experience on Broadway. Most of who was there was understudies but I guess it Bryant’s Parks so that is expected. I was excited to see Savannah Wise and Jeremy Jordan together. I have seen both of them in the show separately but have felt they would work better than savannah and Constantine or Amy and Jeremy. Coming from an Amy fan, I was glad Savannah was the one who replaced Amy, she is a wonderful Sherrie a bit different than Amy, and she is more 

Innocent where Amy had more humor, Savannah more natural and she can belt, I find my self-missing her solo in the Heaven Medley. The only thing that throws me off is she looks a lot younger than Constantine. I think her and Jeremy seem around the same age and Jeremy is a great Drew. I would love to see them both together in the show. They both belted out High Enough and than James Carpinello took the stage to sing Dead or Alive with his ladies backing him up. I can watch him perform this many more times and it will still be great! He is always into and seems to love playing Stacee and the fans love him as someone in the audience screamed " I love you Stacee" Next up was Dont Stop believing where James got the crowd going and told everyone to sing along. I must say it was odd not seeing them dance and I looked like they wanted to. The fans and the cast would do bit of dancing during dont stop believing. It just happens, its catchy and fun! It was also great seeing Katherine Tokar sing Reginas Parts. I would love to see her in this role after seeing her in A chorus line. This is why I love Bryant’s Park it gives you a chance to see the understudies! 

Mary Poppins Cast

Mary Poppins was up next. I dont have much to comment on them. It not my kind of show or maybe it just works on stage with costumes and props but on a stage with just show tee shirts it made me wanting another show to come on. They all had good vocals, the kids were adorable,the choreography made me dizzy and confused.

  

Dee Roscioli, Kevin Kern

  Laura Woyasz

Wicked was the last to take the stage with the announcer stating it’s her favorite show on Broadway yet she miss pronounced not only the performers names but the characters also. It was a funny mistake. I love Wicked because even though I thought I grew out of this show when ever I hear or see any song from this song I feel like a little giddy twelve year old. This musical will never change for me. I love it. It was my second show I ever got into but I think probably any young girl that was into theatre fell in love with it. I was expecting to hear, Popular, which we did, Wizard and I and Defy Gravity but was surprise when they did As long as you’re mine. I have not see the show in year and haven’t been following since Eden Espinosa was on Broadway and knew nothing of who was currently in the cast. Laura Woyasz was a joy to watch she was a terrific Galinda! She had me and my friend singing along laughing and getting excited over little lines in song where we could act like galinda! She was wonderful and made me want to take a trip to the Gershwin! Dee Roscioli was elphaba for the concert. I will admit im the hardest on who ever is in this role. I am biased because after seeing Idina in the role for me its hard to imagine anyone else. I know I know it’s been years since she played the green girl and I should just see the show for what is now and I am. I thought Dee was pretty good better in the actual concert than the sound check. Her Wizard and I was good, her acting was what I like out of her performance. Kevin Kern was Fiyero was nice seeing him since his Wedding Singer days. As Long as your mine was sweet and they seem to have good chemistry together. Seeing Wicked again made me feel like I was listening to songs from my childhood. I know it hasn’t been that long but When I was into I didn’t know many shows and now if feel like the start of my Broadway interest. It was just good fun knowing all the words and small choreography and singing with my friend just brought me back. It was the nicest surprise of the day finding something from my past, which I still love.