Review
If It Only Even Runs A Minute
BOTTOM LINE: A musical theatre lover’s dream, If It Only Even Runs A Minute is one of the only places to hear songs from shows (many unrecorded) that ran for “a minute” on Broadway.
Are you dying to hear songs from The Little Prince and the Aviator, Onward Victoria, and Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don’t You Ever Forget It)? Granted, you may not know how to answer that question; unless you’ve eaten at Joe Allen and memorized the wall of flop shows, these titles might mean nothing to you. So for those who haven’t read Ken Mandelbaum’s Not Since Carrie, these shows are “famous” for running a nanosecond on Broadway, perhaps closing on opening night, or even closing during previews. In the parlance of commercial theatre, these are famous flops--the supreme failures that went unrecorded, unpublished, and almost unremembered.
The tough thing about musical theatre, as opposed to straight plays, is that musicals really only come alive when you can hear the music. A show without a cast album is essentially a show that doesn’t exist. And this is where Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Kevin Michael Murphy come in. In their ongoing concert series If It Only Even Runs a Minute, Tepper and Murphy, with the help of a bevy of musical theatre performers, prove over and over that even the floppiest flop has something to offer. Or rather than flop, Tepper and Murphy prefer the term “underappreciated”, observing that “rather than good musicals and bad musicals, there are musicals you love, and musicals someone else loves.” This beautiful sentiment is a guide to the warmth and fun fostered throughout the evening.
Tepper and Murphy sit to the side of the stage for the entire performance, serving both as emcees for the concert and a key source of information about each of the shows. Between each song, the two provide a tightly curated collection of facts about the show’s production, snippets from reviews, and random trivia that only the most obsessive of musical theatre nerds would know. If it sounds a bit dry, it isn’t at all. Tepper and Murphy have a terrific sense of what will be interesting for a general audience. What you don’t know, they tell you, making sure you remember it with their uplifting banter and improvised jokes (I will now never forget who Lenny Wolpe is!) And most importantly, their love for these forgotten shows is infectious; with the help of their homemade slide show, you can’t help but become immediate fans of these lesser-known musicals.
As you might expect, the songs are the focal point of the evening, although each one is a surprise (the program only lists the performers and featured shows). Some are sung by up and coming musical theatre performers. The most recent edition began with “He Didn’t Leave It Here,” (from the musical Brownstone) sassily sung by Alexis Field and Megan Kane. And Lauren Marcus’s unforgettable interpretation of “If You Hadn’t, But You Did,” from the musical Two On the Aisle (a lesser known work by Jule Styne, Betty Comden, and Adolph Green) was truly one of the evening’s highlights. Also on hand is an impressive list of established Broadway musical performers; the recent concert had Anthony Rapp singing from his lead role in…no, not Rent…The Little Prince and the Aviator. You know, that show from 30 years ago (well before even Adventures in Babysitting!) that never officially opened. Following Rapp was another Broadway stalwart digging back into her past; Mary Testa’s rousing rendition of “Set Those Sails,” from the William Finn musical In Trousers, was a perfect end to the night.
But If It Only Even Runs A Minute is about more than just songs you haven’t heard before. The concert truly becomes a one-night only event because many of the performers share a story (or more) about their experiences in these troubled shows. Before singing two songs from Smile, Anne Bobby talked about her experiences as a 17 year-old star in the show, including how, on closing night, they started loading out the set during the performance. And Debbi Shapiro Gravitte’s hilarious lead-in to “Life Is” from Zorba revealed some juicy tidbits about Anthony Quinn’s penchant for, um, creative storytelling. And even when original performers aren’t available, Tepper and Murphy are around to provide fascinating anecdotes, like how Rachael Lily Rosenbloom (And Don’t You Ever Forget It!) (oh bless) might be said to have partly led to the creation of…A Chorus Line.
The concert also serves as a powerful reminder of the ephemeral nature of theatre. Indeed, as the title says--theatre only lasts a minute. In a previous incarnation, Frank Vlastnik gave an unforgettable performance of material from the musical Big, going through the four songs that were tried out as closers for the first act. While the final version of Big has been recorded, Vlastnik gave the audience material that only exists in the minds and private collections of those involved in this show, not to mention a peek into the exhausting development process that is necessary in musical theatre. And unless Tepper and Murphy decide to do a “Best of” night, it is likely this material will never be heard again. The date/time/location of their next concert hasn’t been determined yet, but whenever it is, it will definitely be a memorable evening, yet one that only happens once.
(If It Only Even Runs A Minute 6 played on March 28, 2011, at Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker Street. Tickets were $15, with a food/drink minimum as well. Version #7 should be some time in June, possibly at Le Poisson Rouge; expect a similar ticket price.)