By Bart Greenberg***The third show in a series at 54 Below hosted by a woman of many talents, Christine Pedi, The Wicked Stage: Songs About Show Business was a fantastic evening of star turns by an impressive assemblage. A mix of standards and lesser-known gems, the songs were all 
well-chosen and appropriate to the theme of the evening, and also allowed for a variety of moods and styles that kept things interesting. At the piano, music director Michael Lavine demonstrated great flexibility adapting to the various styles of the singers of the evening.
Kicking off the show with incredible energy was the buoyant actress-puppeteer Stephanie D’Abruzzo. A great medley of opening night numbers (“This Is It” (Mack David, Jerry Livingston), “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” (Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim), “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (Irving Berlin), “Another Op’nin’, Another Show” (Cole Porter) and “The Muppet Show Theme” (Jim Henson, Sam Pottle)) certainly set the mood for the night. Later in the evening, the Avenue Q star returned for a starkly unexpected interpretation of “Fame” (Steve Margoshes, Jacques 
Levy), filled with angst and frustration as she pleaded with the unseen forces to “remember my name.” There could easily be a “Norma Desmond” in her future.
Javier Munoz, late of Hamilton and In the Heights, shared interesting tales about the development of both shows before giving out the lesser known John Kander and Lin-Manuel Miranda “Cheering for Me Now” with overwhelming energy, as well as a truly electric recreation of “My Shot” (Miranda), filled with passion and fine acting. Jasmine Amy Rogers spoke with Pedi about both her creation of her “Betty Boop” role and the upcoming The 25th anniversary of Putnam County Spelling Bee, before dazzling the audience with an inventive and clarion “Diva’s Lament” (John Du Prez, Eric Idle). Lavine offered up a delightful medley of more than a dozen songs about Broadway including the well-known “Broadway Baby” (Stephen Sondheim)) and among rarities “So Long 174th St.” (Stan Daniels).
Hostess Pedi delivered two perfect comedy numbers: one of the best “Johnny One Note” (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart) turns ever heard, not only with vocal power but 
hitting every joke in the lyrics clearly and with the right expression; she also delivered the rarest of things, an actually funny parody in “Trouble” (Meredith Willson, Joe Keenan special lyrics) about the woes of parents whose children go into classical theater (“and that rhymes with P, which stands for poor”).
But ultimately, the star of the evening was Mark Nadler. Early on, after announcing that he was the only person to “sleep his way to middle,” proved himself wrong by giving an absolutely delightful “The Ugly Duckling” (Frank Loesser and famously sung by Danny Kaye) complete with quotes from Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake and appropriate ballet arm movements. The highlight of the program was his performance of the title song from Ragtime (Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens). Nadler’s vocal was effective, but his piano playing was thrilling, highly emotional and musically expansive as if he was involved with multiple instruments as if conducting a full orchestra.
An unfortunate note: all of the performers had to compete with an unruly audience: more than a third of who arrived together as some sort of tour group. They entered just ten minutes before the start time; spent a great chunk of time ordering, and then discussing the food, treating a thrilling show as if it was merely background music. Their loss—because The Wicked Stage was truly something special.
Photos by Bart Greenberg
