By Maryann Lopinto***Young Charles Kirsch saw his first Broadway Show, On The Town, at 7 years old and it inspired his love for theatre; now, not quite 16, his knowledge of the theatre is amazing. It was during the pandemic in 2020, when he was stuck at home that he decided to create a podcast that he called Backstage Babble. He was able to do over 150 interviews with performers 
and professionals in show business. Name them and he probably interviewed them. I even found an interview with Carol Burnett.
Last year, Backstage Babble live debuted at 54 Below and at this second show, another group of entertainers performed and told their stories. Appearing were Loni Ackerman (Evita, Cats) Tony® Award nominee Christine Andreas (Oklahoma, On Your Toes), D’Jamin Bartlett (A Little Night Music, Boccaccio), Jim Brochu (Brigadoon, Camelot), Lori Tan Chinn (M. Butterfly, Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen), Tony® Award nominee Josie De Guzman (Guys and Dolls, West Side Story), Ken Jennings (Sweeney Todd), Tony® Award winner Judy Kaye (On the Twentieth Century, The Phantom of the Opera), Karen Mason (Sunset Boulevard, Torch Song Trilogy), Michele McConnell (The Phantom of the Opera), Teri Ralston (Company, A Little Night Music), Thom Sesma (Man of La Mancha, La Cage Aux Folles) and Steven Skybell. Here are some highlights:
Karen Mason was asked to be a standby for Glen Close in Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles; when the show closed prematurely and opened on Broadway, Mason stayed with the show; she performed 275 performances over a more than two and a half years, covering for Close as well as Betty Buckley and Elaine Paige. She performed “As if We Never Said Goodbye” and made us feel as if we were on a soundstage in Hollywood.
Following the success of Man of La Mancha, Mitch Leigh, Jim Haines and Jack Wohl wrote Chu Chem, about the “lost tribe” of the Chinese Jews in Israel. The production never made it to Broadway and closed out of town. Twenty three years later, the show was revived by the Jewish Repertory Theatre and starred Thom Sesma. He sang a medley from the show with vocal backup from music director Michael Lavine.
Another show that never made it to Broadway was The Baker’s Wife, which spent months on the road. Teri Ralson sang “Chanson,” written by Stephen Schwartz for her. This show needs to be brought to Broadway.
In 2009, Josi De Guzman was hired for the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls as a standby for the role of Sarah Brown. While the show was in previews, during the second week, she replaced the original Sarah Brown who didn’t work out; she basically had four or five rehearsals before going on and managed to pull it off. And after singing “If I Were a Bell” over 600 time her mind suddenly went blank. She remembered the words at 54 Below.
Loni Ackerman was in So Long 174th Street, the musicalization of Enter Laughing. She was joined by Kirsch to sing “Being With You.” with her. While auditioning she had many callbacks; finally, Robert Morse who played the lead, said: “she’s the one,” and she got the part. But show ran for only 16 performances.
Lori Tan Chinn admitted to being in a Broadway show she did not care for and so would avoid the stage door to get home unaccosted. One day she arrived at the theatre and was told that a gentleman was waiting for her the night before. It was Marvin Hamlish. Most recently, Chinn was cast in High Time at the Papermill Playhouse from which she performed “The Water Rose.” This was the last show that Marvin Hamlisch worked on.
Christine Andreas was known of being the revival queen after playing Laurie in revivals of Oklahoma! and Liza Doolittle in My Fair Lady. She had turned down being a replacement in On Your Toes, but wound up replacing the ingenue, who had an accident and was out of the show. This happened while she was visiting her friend Dina Merrill backstage during previews. Andreas performed a medley of “It’s Got to be Love” and “Glad to Be Unhappy.”
Tony winner Judy Kaye starred in many hit shows on Broadway and was cast in Oh Brother! based on The Comedy of Errors, set in the Middle East. On opening night pre-Broadway at the Kennedy Center, Anwar Sadat had just been assassinated. When the show moved to New York it closed after three performances. It had a fantastic poster as she described it, then sang “A Loud and Funny Song.”
Ken Jennings was 30 years old when cast to play the role of a 15-year-old Tobias in the original Sweeney Todd on Broadway. About two years later after the show had closed, he was on vacation with his parents and was asked to sing his signature song, “Not While I’m Around.” He started and forgot a lot of the lyrics; he made up ridiculous lyrics on the spot, to which his mother said: “that was just the way you sang it on Broadway.” He sang it perfectly at 54 Below.
With four days notice, D’Jamin Bartlett went into the original A Little Night Music on Broadway. She went on Saturday and Sunday and on Monday Hal Prince walked her through the show before its Tuesday opening. Her song was “The Miller’s Son.” Bartlett toured with the show after it closed and one night at the Westbury Music Fair, an audience member loudly blurted out: “oh that’s the girl who did it on Broadway.” Bartlett was thrown off, and she garbled some words and made some up to hear the same audience member shout, “now she’s singing it in Swedish.”
Closing the show, Jim Brochu was on the road with Something Afoot, which closed before coming to Broadway. One night in Atlanta one of the writers of the show announced they’d written a song for him, “I’ve Got a Tiny Little Dingy,” which Brochu announced, “I’m not going to sing that song tonight!” Instead, he performed a song from one of his mentors, George S. Irving, “The Butler’s Song” from So Long 174th Street.
The next episode of Backstage Babble at 54 Below is on Monday, August 28th at 7:00 PM
Photos by Maryann Lopinto
