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Katie McCreary and Karen Errington encourage Tim Scott to fall in love in the anthem "Being Alive" from Company, the 1971 Tony Award^® winner for Best Musical.

The Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, or the "Tony" Awards, are held each year to recognize Broadway's best and brightest. Although often criticized as a ticket-selling gimmick by the Broadway elite, it is hard to deny that the Tony Awards have a rich history of recognizing excellence. Quality Hill Playhouse continued their season with Broadway's Best, a revue featuring some of the most memorable Tony Award-winning musicals

The show began with a mash-up from Kiss Me Kate, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter. Although the Tonys began in 1947, the musical theatre category was not added until 1949 when Kiss Me Kate received the very first Best Musical Tony.

Director, pianist and emcee, J. Kent Barnhart had much say about the pieces, and about the source material behind some of the famous Tony Award musicals. Interestingly, many of the composers who won Tonys only wrote one show. For example, Meredith Wilson's The Music Man or Roger Miller's Big River were all one-hit-wonders.

Broadway's Best takes you through the decades. Some of the shows highlighted include:

• Guys and Dolls for winning Best Musical in 1951, along with Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Choreography.
• The Sound of Music, in an unusual event, tied for Best Musical with Fiorello! in 1960, and won 4 other categories.
• Stephen Sondheim's Company, which won in 1971. Sondheim has won more Tonys than any other composer, with a total of eight.
• The Phantom of the Opera, which would become one of the longest running shows on Broadway, won Best Musical in 1988. Michael Crawford, who played the title role, also won a Tony for his performance.
• Thoroughly Modern Millie won for Best Musical in 2002, beating out Urinetown and Mamma Mia. This show was based on a 1967 film of the same name.

Full of fun historical facts and wonderful tunes, Broadway's Best is not without its problems. The singers had a low-energy during the first act, with the exception of brassy Karen Errington. Her first solo number, "One Hundred Easy Ways" from Wonderful Town was humorous and dazzling, and she continued to glimmer and shine in each of her numbers. She did fade somewhat into the background during ensemble numbers, which was little disappointing. Perhaps that was intentional - but disappointing, nonetheless.

Katie McCreary has a beautiful operatic voice. She seemed less powerful in her middle range, however, and it took her some time to warm to the audience. In the end, she brought down the house with the Big River gospel number, so all was forgiven.

Tim Scott, or as it says in his bio, "the guy from the Royals games" struggled with his high range, and finally came out of his shell for the La Cage aux Folles number. He did seem more comfortable with silly songs like Spamalot's "Song that Goes Like This" than with serious music.

J. Kent Barnhart, as always, holds the show together with his dry humor and interesting information. As a pianist, he is top-notch, not accounting for the enthusiasm which inspires him to pound a little too hard sometimes. After reviewing most of this season's offerings, I cannot imagine a Quality Hill show without him.

Go for the award-winning music, but don't expect the glitz and glamour of Broadway.

REVIEW
Quality Hill Playhouse
Broadway's Best
Runs March 5 through April 3
10^th and Broadway, Kansas City MO
For tickets call 816-421-1700 or online at www.qualityhillplayhouse.com

Top photo: Katie McCreary and Karen Errington encourage Tim Scott to fall in love in the anthem "Being Alive" from Company, the 1971 Tony Award winner for Best Musical.

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