It’s Broadway in Brooklyn!
A star-studded show designed for those dreaming of the Great White Way will dance into center stage this weekend. The creator of “Broadway Backstage,” playing at On Stage at Kingsborough on April 1, says that he wanted to make something for Broadway buffs and broads that was more than just another musical theatre revue, and all that jazz!
“As a Broadway veteran I would get asked to do a lot of pop orchestra and symphony gigs,” said Daniel Levine, who also performs in the show. “Audiences just seem to love a great show tune, so I decided to take it to a different level — let’s give them a backstage pass! What are the rehearsals like? What happens when stuff goes wrong, when the sound fails, when stage management stops the show?”
In addition to Levine, the show’s Broadway babies include “Wicked” star Donna Vivino, who defied gravity as Elphaba, and Michael Seelbach busting out a tune from “Jesus Christ Superstar.” Add in Sarah Litzsinger (Broadway’s longest-running Belle in “Beauty and the Beast”), Elena Shaddow (from “Fiddler On The Roof”), and Burke Moses (“Guys and Dolls”) and we have ourselves a loverly evening for sure.
But if for you just any dream won’t do, rest assured that the show is not simply a collection of solos. The backstage gossip is as much a part of the experience as the ballads, said Levine — and he has one saucy story about his own wardrobe malfunction, while he was playing Mary Sunshine in “Chicago.”
“Not many people know coming in to see the show that Mary is actually a dude in drag — you don’t find out until Billy Flynn rips off her dress in act two,” he said. “At intermission I met my dresser and he put male clothes underneath my dress, to get ready for the big reveal and preserve modesty once the dress is torn off. Well, one night I forgot to meet the dresser…”
The full story will be revealed — so to speak — during the show, but the audience that night got a bigger surprise than usual.
And of course, the night also has some those big, beloved show-stoppers, he said.
“My favorite song from the show is an arrangement from ‘Les Mis,’ ” said Levine. “There are only six people on stage, but it sounds like 60!”
“Broadway Backstage” at On Stage at Kingsborough [2001 Oriental Blvd. at Oxford street in Manhattan Beach, (718) 368–5596, www.onsta
