By Bart Greenberg***Broadway Abroad is a series of shows conceived, produced and directed by Lucie Tassel, based on a very clever premise: the French-born singer gathered together a group of her friends, all of whom come from countries other than the U.S., to sing (mostly) Broadway tunes in their native languages. With a great assist from music director 
Kent Dennis, the fourth edition of the revue took place at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Languages heard from the stage included French, Hebrew, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Japanese—and occasionally English (the titles of each selection were consistently rendered in English). The cast were attractive, young and talented, and the evening moved quickly and smoothly—impressive for so many people coming on and off-stage.
Kick-off was the full company singing “Kaleidoscope” (Alicia Keys, Kristoffer Diaz), a highly appropriate selection given the number of languages being shared. This tune 
was followed by a well-executed “Old Friends” (Stephen Sondheim), delivered by Tassel, Chani Bentabou and Liana Kurogi, performed in Hebrew, French and Japanese, respectively; this multi-language approach added depth to the argument part of the lyric, with no one really communicating with each other. The song was also the first chance to enjoy Kurogi, who was indeed the bright light of the evening, singing, acting and even tap dancing a bit during “Forget About the Boy” (Anne L. Nathan).
Tassel scored big with an on-target flighty and sexy “Don’t Tell Mama” (John Kander, Fred Ebb). Another clever moment was a mash up of “Money, Money, Money” (Benny Anderson, Bjorn Ulvaeus) and “If I Were a Rich Man” (Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick), which blended well and gave a nice showcase for Tal Marcello Zamir, the only male member of the company, sadly somewhat under-utilized during the evening. He did get to take 
part in a very funny “What I know Now” (Eddie Perfect), a double duet pairing him with Bentabou, and with Solene Nyembo and Celeste Meola as the other partners.
The one hiccup in the evening was in what the performers wore. There was a clear lack of coordination, so the singers were clad in everything from theatrical flair to dressy casual to “I just stopped on my way to go bowling.” A bit more unification would have helped make the show feel more assembled. This issue of attire didn’t take away from the engaging individual performers, who also included Sasha Kisselgoff and Leanna Finol: all added to the pleasures of the evening.
Photos by Bart Greenberg
