By Bart Greenberg***Pianist-host Ricky Ritzel returned to Don’t Tell Mama for a 10th anniversary celebration of his series Ricky Ritzel’s Broadway, which offers up numbers from mostly forgotten musicals. With the host on the piano and actor-playwright Michael Dale as his jovial sidekick, six individual shows were highlighted, 
making it a fun but somewhat overstuffed evening.
The first show of the evening was The Prom with a score by Matthew Sklar and Chad Begueln. The most recent of the shows, and well-known from its television adaptation, it was a good place to start. Both numbers were offered with great theatricality and no amplification. Brian Kalinowski made a full meal out of the wonderful combination of humorous but somewhat 
bittersweet “Barry Is Going to Prom,” while Tara Martinez devoured an anthem to egotism, “It’s Not About Me.”
Next came the biggest miscalculation of the evening: 1933’s Let ‘Em Eat Cake by the Gershwins, one of a long line of failed sequels (Of Thee I Sing) on Broadway. What can be enjoyed from the score relies on the luxuries of full orchestrations and big choruses, obviously lacking in this presentation. Considering the length of the evening, it might easily have been omitted. This lack was especially evident in “Down With Everyone Who’s Up” though Jon Satrom did what he could without the back up of a chorus to play off of. “Climb Up the Social Ladder” was surprisingly relevant thanks to the lyrics, but was still rather thin gruel despite Eadie Scott’s hard work.
Next came the strangest show of the evening: 
Prettybelle, which dealt with murder, suicide, rape, racism and various psychoses written by the jovial team of Bob Merrill and Jule Styne. Designed as a vehicle for the wonderful Angela Lansbury, Mardie Millit proved more than capable of following her while spreading joy with two solos, “When I’m Drunk I’m Beautiful” and “Manic Depressives,” each with a copious number of lyrics she expertly delivered.
Noel Coward’s The Girl Who Came to Supper gave Ritzel the opportunity to unearth a long-lost song, the original opening number, “Long Live the King If He Can,” quickly deleted from the show after the Kennedy assassination. Sadly it was revealed to not be a lost treasure despite Aaron Morishita’s best efforts. Much happier was the turn of the comic crown prince of New York cabaret, 
Sidney Myer, who had great fun with the medley of pub songs introduced by Tessie O’Shea: “London Is a Little Bit of All Right,” “What Ho, Mrs. Brisket” and “Saturday Night at the Rose and Crown.”
Dale detailed the torturous journey of Legs Diamond through one of the longest preview periods in Broadway history: the show closed after 64 performances and 72 previews), and was basically a vanity project for Peter Allen who wrote the score and played the title role. Jon Satrom brought a big theater voice to an excellent “I want” type of song, “Sure Thing Baby.” Marcia Roney followed with a master class in torching a ballad with, “The Music Went Out of My Life.”
The evening came to a close with the revue A Day In Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine, concentrating on the first act material. Jerry Herman supplemented the score for the New 
York production, and his were three of the four presented. “The Best in the World,” a complete story in itself, was well-delivered by Mary Ellen Ryan. Meg Flather and Warren Shein had fun with the verbally complicated “Just Go to the Movies.” Ryan returned to do what she could with the badly-dated “Nelson.” And then the trio joined forces with a tap dancing Morishita for Dick Vosburgh and Frank Lazarus’ delightful “Production Code.”
This 10th anniversary edition of the show was a charming and varied evening; if only Ritzel would obey the old axiom that less is more.
