Lia Chang: BD Wong in All-Star Lineup at Symphony Space for Wall to Wall Broadway
BD Wong at AALDEF's 35th Anniversary Celebration at PIER SIXTY, Chelsea Piers, in New York City on Thursday, March 26, 2009. Photo by Lia Chang
BD Wong and Wayne Barker will be performing a selection from Noel Coward’s The Coconut Girl, in Symphony Space’s Wall-to-Wall Broadway, a twelve hour marathon of performances celebrating a century of musicals, on Saturday, May 16 at 9pm. From 8pm-11pm, Tony and Emmy Award winner Paul Gemignani will conduct a full orchestra playing Broadway musical classics featuring performances by Michael Cerveris, Alexander Gemignani, George S. Irving, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Raúl Esparza, Martha Plimpton, Loni Ackerman, Terrence Mann, Randy Graff, Kate Baldwin, Leenya Rideout, Gregg Edelman, Julie Wilson, Debbie Gravitte, Ivy Austin, Isaiah Sheffer, Melissa Errico, James Naughton, Lisa Flanagan, Kathryn Markey, Amy Vice, Jonathan Hadary, Jeffrey Schecter, Liz Callaway, D’Ambrose Boyd, Chip Zien, and Donna Murphy.
The marathon of performances begins at 11am. Admission is free and seating is on a first come, first serve basis. Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway @ 95th St in New York.
Performance Schedule:
11 am Performances by the casts of The Lion King, Mary Poppins, The Little Mermaid, Wicked, and Shrek
11:45 am Excerpts from Adelphi University’s production of Rent
12 pm Great songs that never made it to the Broadway stage, featuring performances by Kevin Burdette, Loni Ackerman, Leenya Rideout, Amy Vice, Marion Cowings, and more
2 pm Robert MacNeil and Frank Rich discuss the musicals that changed their lives, with performances by Jonathan Hadary, Kevin Burdette, Loni Ackerman, and Lisa Flanagan
2:30 pm Composers Jeanine Tesori, Jo DiPietro, and William Finn pay tribute to works that inspired them, accompanied by Theodore Chapin
3 pm Successful songs from shows that flopped, featuring performances by Mary Cleere Haran, Martin Vidnovic, D’Ambrose Boyd, Loni Ackerman, and Lisa Flanagan
3:50 pm Harold Prince in a one-on-one discussion with Rob Marx about the making of musicals
5 pm A pre-centennial salute to Frank Loesser, with performances by Emily Loesser, Jo Sullivan Loesser, Debbie Gravitte, and Gregg Edelman
5:30 pm Songs from new musicals in the works: Ever After and Dear Edwina by composer Zina Goldrich and lyricist Marcy Heisler; and The Kid by composer Andy Monroe and lyricist Jack Lethner
6pm Performances from the current and recent shows South Pacific, Girl Crazy, The Who’s Tommy, In the Heights, Avenue Q, and Next to Normal performed by Andrew Samonsky, Rebecca Luker, Michael Cerveris, Carrie Anderson, and others
6:25 pm A sampling of side-splitting songs from Broadway reviews, featuring performances by Loni Ackerman, Kevin Burdette, Mary Brienza, Kathryn Markey, D’Ambrose Boyd, Leenya Rideout, Ivy Austin, Sidney J. Burgoyne, and more
7pm Lyricist Sheldon Harnick in discussion with composer and lyricist Lin-Manuel Miranda
8pm See first paragraph for lineup
Directions: Take the subway #1, 2,3,9 to the 96th St Station and walk one block south on Broadway
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