Broadway Café: Curtains Up edition
Saturday Sept. 8, 2018
The Studio
Segal Centre
If you weren’t part of the capacity crowd you missed out on a terrific evening of music. Hosted by Tranna Wintour and the pride of Halifax Nova Scotia, Ellie MacDonald the entertainment was continuous with one artist performing while another waited in the “on deck” circle and the hosts exchanged banter in between.
With the accompaniment of Chris Barillaro on the grand piano, one by one the vocalists belted out songs from Broadway musicals. The opening number, Bring Him Home, from Les Miserables set the bar pretty high for the rest of the evening, but undaunted each consecutive artist delivered their finest. Taking a break of 15 minutes after about an hour of continuous entertainment the audience agreed that breaks were not necessary and the music never stopped. There were songs from musicals that were classics and some that were from lesser known productions. One of the highlight performances of the evening for me, was from a non Broadway show. The song was beautifully performed by a lady who was a first time visitor to the Broadway Café and who had recently mourned the loss of her Mother. It was from the 1936 movie, Modern Times with Charlie Chaplain. Chaplain had written the music inspired by Puccini’s Tosca. In 1954 John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics and gave the song a title; Smile. It was recorded that year by Nat King Cole.
At 11:30, three and a half hours after it started, it did not appear as if the end was coming soon and sadly we had to leave. I look forward to the next Broadway Café October 6. I hope to see you there.
