According to press notes, "The show features performances and stories from original cast members and writers of several of the featured shows. This is an essential concert for musical theatre nerds!"
The 9:30 PM concert will feature performances from Seth Eliser, Ben Fankhauser, Sheldon Harnick, Margery Gray Harnick, Leah Hocking, Rachel MacKenzie, Teri Ralston, Ryann Redmond, Zak Resnick, Brian Charles Rooney, Jake Satterfield, Margo Seibert, Elena Shaddow, Emily Skinner, Kaitlyn Swygard, Allie Trimm, Maksim Tokarev, Jessica Vosk, Lauren Worsham and more.
The concert will feature songs from and stories about 13 Days To Broadway, Actor Lawyer Indian Chief, Blood Red Roses, Elegies For Angels Punks and Raging Queens, Home Again Home Again, The Lieutenant, Myths and Hymns, A Reel American Hero, Saturn Returns, Skyscraper, Tenderloin, The Thing About Men, The Woman In White, Your Own Thing and more.
If It Only Even Runs A Minute is created and hosted by 54 Below director of programming Jennifer Ashley Tepper and Book of Mormon's Kevin Michael Murphy, with musical direction by Joshua Zecher-Ross.
Previous editions of Runs A Minute have played at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, Caroline's on Broadway, The Laurie Beechman Theatre, Joe's Pub and (le) Poisson Rouge. Thus far, the series has included over 250 performers and over 150 featured musicals as well as many songs that have never before been recorded.
54 Below is located at 254 West 54th Street. Tickets start at $25. For more information, visit IfItOnlyEvenRunsAMinute.com. For tickets, call (866) 468-7619 or visit 54Below.com.
Zak Resnick: "Falling Into You" (The Bridges of Madison County by Jason Robert Brown). Because, Bridges forever.
Ben Fankhauser: "I Won't Send Roses" (Mack and Mabel). You can't go wrong with Jerry Herman. This is one of my favorites from the short-lived Mack And Mabel. I love the range in the melody; it's so vast and sweeping. This arrangement and orchestration are great, too!
Brian Charles Rooney: "A Woman Wouldn't Be A Woman" (by Joe Darion and George Kleinsinger from the musical Shinbone Alley). It was made famous by the late, great Eartha Kitt, both in the musical and as a pop single. I love the song because it's fun and because it was performed by such a wonderfully exciting singing actress. It's funky, in an old-fashioned way. I love that. The Broadway production of Shinbone Alley opened on April 13, 1957, at The Broadway Theatre and closed on May 25, 1957, after 49 performances. It starred Eddie Bracken, Eartha Kitt and George S. Irving; and featured Jacques d'Amboise and Chita Rivera, who was Kitt's standby. Though short-lived, it was one of the first Broadway shows to feature a fully integrated cast.
Ryann Redmond: "Screw Loose" (from Cry-Baby). I love this song because it is so HILARIOUS! It was my favorite moment of the show when I saw it because Alli Mauzy completely embodied this CRAZY character. Not to mention, she nailed it vocally. Yay, funny ladies!
Joshua Zecher-Ross: "Is Anybody Listening" (from Ten Commandments: The Musical). Huge drums, anachronistic riffs and pre-"American Idol" Adam Lambert get me every time in this song, and not only because Adam Lambert is playing the pivotal Biblical character of Joshua. This musical is incredibly underappreciated, and I don't get it! And, yes, that is Val Kilmer.
Leah Hocking: "Let Yourself Go" (All Shook Up). I have been in MANY short-lived musicals. But my favorite number was "Let Yourself Go" from All Shook Up. It was a great company and so much fun to scream Es in a blonde wig and a tight sweater. Alas, it went away fast. As did The Wild Party, The Thing About Men, Dance of The Vampires and, most recently and egregiously, The Last Ship. One never knows…
Kevin Michael Murphy: "Cross the Line" (Big). I discovered Big: The Musical when I found the vocal selections at my local library as a teen. I secretly hoped my high school would do this show, but we ended up doing Brigadoon instead. I love Frank Vlastnik's performance and story about how this number came to be. It is an incredible example of how musicals are created and really embodies what "If It Only Even Runs a Minute" is all about!
Elena Shaddow: "At The Fountain" (Sweet Smell of Success). As a young ensemble member of Sweet Smell of Success, I was lucky enough to stand in the wings every night watching Brian perform this song. I believe this song is musical theatre perfection. It combines character development and discovery, incredibly specific lyrics and a thrilling melody and therefore, beautifully brings the audience along on the ride to this character's inevitable hubristic downfall. Brian's interpretation of this song simply cannot be topped.
Jennifer Ashley Tepper: Did you know that you can watch almost every performance from the last five years of "If It Only Even Runs A Minute" on YouTube — on one playlist?
One of the most special things to me about our series is that we try to do at least one song in each edition of the concert that has NEVER been recorded. We want to share rare and underappreciated musicals that even the biggest nerds don't know! Often, there is no existing sheet music either, so we have the song transcribed from a bootleg. This has led to some hilarious experiences — for example, crowding around a computer speaker with Anthony Rapp as we listen to a bootleg of him at age ten singing in The Little Prince and the Aviator (which closed during Broadway previews), trying to decipher the lyrics together. Here are the amazing Alex Ellis, Hayley Podschun and Lindsay Nicole Chambers singing "Still Single" from the un-recorded Maltby and Shire musical How Do You Do I Love You… It closed out of town and was a witty, effervescent, modern 1960s show that I am just obsessed with!
