Happy Birthday to performer Judi Dench, born Dec. 9, 1934, in Heworth, England. Though primarily known for her dramatic work, Dench has appeared in several high-profile musical productions. She made her professional debut in 1957 as Ophelia at the Old Vic, with whom she made her Broadway debut in 1958. Three years later, she left the Old Vic and joined the RSC. She made her TV debut in 1959 with the series Hilda Lessways and her film debut in The Third Secret (1964). She then won BAFTA awards for the film Four in the Morning (1965) and the TV series Talking to a Stranger (1968).
She made her musical debut as Sally Bowles in the London premiere of Cabaret (1968). Critic Sheridan Morley later wrote, “At first she thought they were joking. She had never done a musical, and she has an unusual croaky voice which sounds as if she has a permanent cold.” Her performance was well-received, but after a long run in the musical, she rejoined the RSC and spent the next decade primarily working in classical rep. Below is Dench and the Cabaret company rehearsing and performing “Don’t Tell Mama.”
The next phase of her career began with her TV work in On Giant’s Shoulders (1980) and A Fine Romance (1981-84), which earned her the first of three more BAFTA TV awards. Her film career took off with Wetherby (1985) and A Room with a View (1986), which earned her the first of five more BAFTA film awards. In the 1990s, she returned to the musical stage, earning Olivier nominations for her direction of The Boys from Syracuse at Regent’s Park (1991) and the prize for her performance in A Little Night Music at the National (1995).
She rose to international fame as M in GoldenEye (1995), a role she played in the Bond series until Skyfall (2012), subsequently earning her first Oscar nomination for Mrs Brown (1997) and the prize for Shakespeare in Love (1998). She returned to Broadway in the play Amy’s View (1999), which earned her a Tony, and then as the recorded voice of The Giant in the 2002 Broadway revival of Into the Woods. Her most recent musical work has been in the films Nine (2009) and Cats (2019). Below is Dench performing “Folies Bergère” in Nine.
Last night, The Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon premiered the musical parody 2020: The Musical, co-starring Tony nominee Andrew Rannells. The score reworks some dozen Broadway hits in a recap of the past year. The pandemic features prominently in “Suddenly COVID” (from “Suddenly Seymour,” Little Shop of Horrors), “It’s Day 16 Going on 17” (from “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” The Sound of Music), and “Losing My Sanity” (from “Defying Gravity,” Wicked), while the vaccine is the theme of “Moderna” (from “Maria,” West Side Story) and “My Shot” (from, of course, “My Shot,” Hamilton). The presidential election gets a shout out too in “You Can’t Stop the Count” (from “You Can’t Stop the Beat,” Hairspray), with additional songs from Cats, Dreamgirls, A Chorus Line, and The Book of Mormon, ending with Rannells in a show-stopping version of “I Believe.”
Happy birthday to choreographer-director Graciela Daniele, born Dec. 8, 1939, in Buenos Aires. She began dance training at age 7 in Argentina, then continued her studies in Paris and New York City, where she took classes with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham. She made her Broadway debut as Rio Rita in What Makes Sammy Run? (1964), followed by roles in Promises, Promises (1968) and Coco (1969). In the 1970s, she added to her chorus work, also serving as assistant to Michael Bennett and then as dance captain in, respectively, Follies (1971) and Chicago (1975). Below is Jerry Orbach and the Chicago chorus in “All I Care About” at the 1976 Tony Awards.
After contributing additional lyrics to the 1978 revue Working, she ended the decade with her first Broadway musical staging credit for A History of the American Film (1978) and choreography credit for the 1979 revival of The Most Happy Fella. She began the 1980s with her Off-Broadway debut in The Pirates of Penzance, which moved to Broadway and earned Daniele her first Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Below is Tony Azito and the Off-Broadway Pirates cast in “A Policeman’s Lot Is Not a Happy One.”
She earned further Tony noms for her choreography of The Rink (1984), The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1986), and Dangerous Games (1990), which she also wrote and directed. In the 1990s, she received subsequent Tony noms for her staging of Once on This Island (1991), The Goodbye Girl (1993), Chronicle of a Death Foretold (1996, which she also wrote), and Ragtime (1998). Her Off-Broadway work in the 1990s earned her additional Drama Desk noms for her staging of Hello Again (1994) and A New Brain (1999). Below is the Once on This Island Broadway ensemble at the 1991 Tony Awards.
At the start of the millennium, she staged revues for Elaine Stritch (2002), Barbara Cook (2004), and Chita Rivera (2005) and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame (2005). She returned Off-Broadway to stage the musicals Bernard Alba (2006) and The Glorious Ones (2007). Her most recent Broadway credit was best musical nominee The Visit (2015). Below is Chita Rivera and The Visit cast at the 2015 Tony Awards.
In this unusual year, there wasn’t the usual amount of musical offerings. Broadway stages, movie houses, and TV productions all shut down in March. But some shows did premiere before the lockdown, some series did restart production (with health precautions in place), and some films did debut on streaming services instead of cinema screens. Plus, there was a steep rise in digital entertainment on older platforms like Twitter and newer ones like TikTok. So, all in all, there were plenty of outstanding musical moments in 2020 that deserve your attention. Here are my choices for ten of the most interesting.
1. Cambodian Rock Band (Feb. 24). Lauren Yee’s play with music follows a Khmer Rouge survivor returning to Cambodia, as his daughter prepares to prosecute one of the country’s most infamous war criminals. Backed by a live band, the show features contemporary Dengue Fever hits and classic Cambodian songs. The production received an Outer Critics Circle Award for best Off-Broadway play and nominations from the Drama Desk and Drama League.
2. The Unsinkable Molly Brown (Feb. 26). Dick Scanlan judiciously revised the 1960 musical comedy by Richard Morris and Meredith Willson. This new version of Molly Brown’s rags-to-riches story, culminating in her fateful trip on the Titanic, marked the show’s first appearance in New York since its Broadway premiere. The production received an Outer Critics Circle Award for best musical revival and a Drama Desk nomination.
3. Katy Keene: Kiss of the Spider-Woman (March 19). Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa penned this episode of Katy Keene, the seventh in the show’s first season. It centers around the Kander & Ebb musical Kiss of the Spider Woman. It is the only musical episode of the series so far. Below, Jorge (Jonny Beauchamp) makes his debut as a drag artist, performing the show’s title song at The Pepper Plant with Josie (Ashleigh Murray).
4. @mneelzy (March 31): During the lockdown, actress Mary Neely began posting Twitter videos. She said, “Since I’m single in the quarantine, I’ve decided to reenact moments from my favorite musicals, so it feels like I’m in love.” She fashioned makeshift wigs and outfits, then used her iPhone to record herself lip-syncing both parts of famous love duets from Broadway shows like Les Misérables and Beauty and the Beast, her “magnum opus.”
5. Riverdale: Wicked Little Town (April 15). In Chapter 74 of Riverdale, Kevin wants to perform Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the variety show, but Principal Honey says no. When every student comes to school dressed as Hedwig, Honey cancels the show, so Veronica hosts it at Le Bonne Nuit. It’s the show’s third musical episode, after takes on Carrie (Chap. 31)and Heathers (Chap. 51). Below, Kevin (Casey Cott) sings the musical’s opener, “Tear Me Down.”
6. Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration (April 26). This streaming concert, hosted by Raúl Esparza, featured a galaxy of stars. Among the highlights: “Someone in a Tree” (Pacific Overtures) with Ann Harada, Austin Ku, Kelvin Moon Loh, and Thom Sesma; “The Ladies Who Lunch” (Company) with Christine Baranski, Audra McDonald, and Meryl Streep; and the finale, “No One Is Alone” (Into the Woods), with Bernadette Peters.
7. Hamilton (July 3). This film of the 2015 Broadway musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda is edited from three live performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, combined with a few judicious setup shots recorded without an audience by a Steadicam on a crane and dolly. Acclaimed for its performances (including all the original principal Broadway cast) and direction, the digital release on Disney+ is the most-streamed film of the year.
8. Songs from an Unmade Bed (Aug. 10). In the early days of their self-isolation, BD Wong and husband Richert Schnorr began filming a series of music videos based on Mark Campbell’s song cycle Songs from an Unmade Bed (2005). Wong is joined in the 18 vignettes by special guests Telly Leung, Jose Llana, and more. The complete project streamed for four days this summer as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
9. Thanksgiving: The Musical (Nov. 24). Composer Dan Mertzlufft had a very productive quarantine, writing and arranging TikTok songs for Grocery Store: The Musical and Ratatouille: The Musical. But he received his largest audience for Thanksgiving: The Musical, which he wrote for Late Late Show host James Corden, who surprised Mertzlufft by adding roles for Kristin Chenoweth, Josh Gad, Patti LuPone, Josh Groban, and Audra McDonald.
10. Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Nov. 25). August Wilson’s Broadway debut has been brilliantly adapted for the screen by Ruben Santiago-Hudson. The story recounts the tensions mounting during the course of an afternoon recording session in 1927 Chicago as a blues band awaits singer Ma Rainey. Viola Davis shines in the title role, lending her own vocals to “Those Dogs of Mine,” but singer Maxayn Lewis dubs the lion’s share of the powerful score.
Billboard magazine has released its year-end charts. For 2020, the magazine teamed up with Google to debut a new chart that tracked the most popular songs searched for in Google’s“Hum to Search” feature on its new app. Among the 100 entries making the list of the Top Hummed Songs in the U.S. in 2020 were three from musical shows. Ranking at #28 was “Let It Go” from the animated Disney film Frozen (2013) sung by Idina Menzel as Elsa, #60 was “Someone Gets Hurt” from the Broadway musical Mean Girls (2018) sung by Taylor Louderman as Regina, and #91 was “Kion’s Lament” from the animated Disney TV series The Lion Guard (2015) sung by Max Charles as Kion.
Topping the Cast Albums chart once again this year is Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton (2015), which peaked at #2 this July on the Top 200 album chart. That cast album is followed by Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked (which peaked at #66 on the Top 200 in 2003), Pasek & Paul’s Dear Evan Hansen (#8, 2017), Anaïs Mitchell’s Hadestown (#49, 2019), Eddie Perfect’s Beetlejuice (2019), David Byrne’s American Utopia (2019), Six by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss (2018 studio cast), Moulin Rouge! (#115, 2019), Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera (1987 London cast), and Come from Away by Irene Sankoff and David Hein (#82, 2017).
The Billboard year-end list of Soundtracks is topped by Disney’s Frozen II (2019), which spent one week atop the Top 200 album chart. That soundtrack is followed by Pasek & Paul’s The Greatest Showman (which peaked at #3 on the Top 200 in 2017), Disney’s Moana (#2, 2016), A Star Is Born (4 weeks at #1 in 2018), Kanye West’s Jesus Is King (one week at #1 in 2019), Disney’s Frozen (13 weeks at #1 in 2013), Trolls World Tour (#15, 2020), K-12 by Melanie Martinez (#3, 2019), Purple Rain by Prince (24 weeks at #1 in 1984), and Bohemian Rhapsody (#2, 2018).
The Tony-winning Dear Evan Hansen opened Dec. 4, 2016, at the Music Box Theatre and has run for 1,363 performances so far. Its road to Broadway began with three readings in May to September 2014, then a full workshop in March 2015. The musical had its world premiere at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., on July 9, 2015, then opened Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre on Mar. 26, 2016, before transferring to Broadway late in 2016.
The creative team included Steven Levenson (book), Benj Pasek (score), Justin Paul (score, vocal arrangements), Alex Lacamoire (orchestrations), Ben Cohn (music direction), Michael Greif (direction), Danny Mefford (choreography), David Korins (sets), Emily Rebholz (costumes), Japhy Weideman (lights), Nevin Steinberg (sound), Peter Nigrini (projections), and David Brian Brown (hair). (You can read my interview with Pasek and Paul at Dramatics.org.)
The original Broadway cast included Ben Platt (Evan), Laura Dreyfuss (Zoe), Mike Faist (Connor), Rachel Bay Jones (Heidi Hansen), Kristolyn Lloyd (Alana), Michael Park (Larry Murphy), Will Roland (Jared), and Jennifer Laura Thompson (Cynthia). Platt, Jones, and Thompson were with the show since its first reading in May 2014.
It was nominated for nine Tonys, winning six, including musical, score (Pasek & Paul), actor (Platt), and featured actress (Jones). Below is Platt and the Dear Evan Hansen Broadway cast singing “Waving Through a Window” at the 2017 Tonys.
https://youtu.be/h9rf5wFq3zk
“Waving Through a Window” also spent 14 weeks on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, peaking at No. 1 in December 2017, the second theater show to do so, after Stomp hit the top spot on that chart with its title song in October 1996. You can listen to the Lodato & Joseph Duveen remix below and the other official remixes by Tony Moran and DJ Lynwood as well as further versions of the song at the Atlantic Records YouTube channel.
Due to the pandemic, the Hollywood Bowl canceled its 2020 season, a first in the venue’s 98-year history. To continue the music though, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association will offer In Concert at the Hollywood Bowl, a weekly music series to air Fridays at 9 p.m. on PBS, pbssocal.org/bowl, and on the free PBS app. The series, which aired in California this summer, features moments from the archives at the Hollywood Bowl, featuring the best performances from the past 10 years, hosted by the LA Phil Music & Artistic Director Gustavo Dudamel.
The six-episode series begins its national broadcast January 15 with Musicals and the Movies, featuring classic songs performed by some of Broadway’s brightest stars, including Sutton Foster and Brian Stokes Mitchell singing selections from On the Town, Kristin Chenoweth singing “Somewhere over the Rainbow” from The Wizard of Oz, and Audra McDonald performing “When Did I Fall In Love” from Fiorello!, “Make Someone Happy” from Do Re Mi, and “Moon River” from Breakfast at Tiffany’s.
Inspired by the classic holiday TV specials of the 1960s, Christopher Rice has released the 2020 edition of his Tappy Christmas Special, a collection of five holiday songs with a healthy accompaniment of tap dancing. Rice is joined by fellow Broadway stars Jessica Vosk, Ali Ewoldt, Jelani Remy, Aisha Jackson, and Nick Rashad Burroughs, who are backed up by an ensemble of Broadway hoofers including Keely Beirne, Matthew Borchers, Audra Bryant, Liz Byrne, Stephen Carrasco, Jovan Dansberry, Lili Froehlich, Rachel Hanson, Katie Hardin, Jessica Ice, Graham Keen, Kolby Kindle, Michal Kolaczkowski, Emily Kroft, Daniel Maldonado, Jerome Manning, Brian Martin, Stephanie Park, Ashley Peter, Brandi Porter, Hillary Porter, Julio Rey, Abbie Ruff, Jamard Richardson, John Tupy, Clay Thomson, and Shelly Walsh. Musical direction is provided by Carl Culley and cinematography by Tim Grady.
When President-elect Joe Biden announced Janet Yellen as his choice for Treasury Secretary, he suggested that her historic nomination deserved the Hamilton treatment. “You might have to ask Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote the musical about the first Secretary of the Treasury, Hamilton, to write another musical about the first woman Secretary of the Treasury, Yellen,” Biden said. “That’s what I’m working on.” Well, Miranda took on Biden’s challenge and released an adaptation of the song “Alexander Hamilton” on the December 2 broadcast of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Earlier this year, Laura Benanti created the social media hashtag #SunshineSongs to invite students across the country to share videos of the musical performances they weren’t able to give because of the pandemic. When the campaign went viral, Benanti and her friend Kate Detier-Maradei teamed up to bring the student videos to audiences who weren’t likely active on social media but who still were in need of some sunshine, such as children’s hospitals, senior centers, and more. You can share the concerts, join the livestream, or just enjoy the music at sunshinesongs.com. Below is the first of the Sunshine Concerts from May 2.
Inspired by Benanti’s social media campaign, HBO Max has produced the documentary Homeschool Musical: Class of 2020, which will begin streaming December 17 on the service. The documentary centers on the struggles and triumphs of seven theater kids from the class of 2020 as they face the cancellations of their school musicals due to the pandemic, giving them an opportunity to tell their stories and bring their talents to a larger audience.
“Our school shows are more than just entertainment. At the very least, they bring our communities together to revel in the talent of our young artists. At their best, they are a life changing experience that these kids will bring with them into the rest of their lives,” said Benanti. “I am thrilled that the #SunshineSongs initiative has put the spotlight on so many incredible young performers.”
Happy Birthday to performer Judi Dench, born Dec. 9, 1934, in Heworth, England. Though primarily known for her dramatic work, Dench has appeared in several high-profile musical productions. She made her professional debut in 1957 as Ophelia at the Old Vic, with whom she made her Broadway debut in 1958. Three years later, she left the Old Vic and joined the RSC. She made her TV debut in 1959 with the series Hilda Lessways and her film debut in The Third Secret (1964). She then won BAFTA awards for the film Four in the Morning (1965) and the TV series Talking to a Stranger (1968). 
