I’m a history buff and lover of musical theater so an evening at 54 Below celebrating Broadway’s St. James Theatre with The Ensemblist and The Bowery Boys, two of NYC’s top podcasts, was a perfect pairing.  The two podcast duos, Tom Meyers and Greg Young of The Bowery Boys and Mo Brady and Nikka Graff Lanzarone of The Ensemblist, took us on a rich musical journey through the incredible history of the 44th Street theater.  The Bowery Boys have been delving into and delivering the fascinating history of New York for the past eight years while The Ensemblist, started in 2013, gives listeners a behind the scenes look at the lives of Broadway musical theater performers, especially those who make up the chorus or ensemble of a show.  To enhance the stories and facts being told about New York’s theatrical world, The Ensemblist also brought in a great group of singers, all of whom have trod the boards of the St. James, plus a century's worth of wonderful projections of New York, production photos and Playbills.  Musically weaving the evening together was musical director and arranger Jasper Grant at the piano.  As the audience time traveled from the days of Tin Pan Alley musical comedies to the groundbreaking production of Oklahoma! to rock musicals like Tommy, Mr. Grant’s musical underscoring gave a rich musical context to the fascinating facts.

The evening began with the glorious voice of Grasan Kingsberry singing an acapella “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” from Oklahoma!, which opened at the St. James in 1943 and changed musical theater history.  The Bowery Boys like to say “Broadway grew up” with that show; top ticket prices were $7.20.  Then Mr. Meyers and Mr. Young took us back to the Golden Age when theaters were much further downtown (the Great White Way went from Herald Square to 42^nd Street) and musical comedies barely had a plot, just a string of songs and an abundance of girls!  The St. James was built “uptown, above 42^nd Street” in 1927 on the site of the original Sardi’s restaurant.  A fun medley of songs from that era was sung by Mr. Brady and Ms. Lanzarone, who also sang a medley from the musical flops at the St. James which included B’way Opry ’79; they whooped and hollered on the Conway Twitty/Loretta Lynn song “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly” with some kickin’ country piano licks by Mr. Grant.

Ukulele playing, whistling Lauren Elder sang “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” from Pal Joey, Krystina Alabado rocked out on American Idiot’s “Letterbomb” and a delectable Angie Schworer, who is currently in Something Rotten at the St. James, shared her story of being the second swing for Ula in The Producers singing with Swedish sass, “When You Got It, Flaunt It”.  Mr. Kingsberry and Jason Gotay, both incredibly charismatic performers, also shared heartfelt backstage stories.  Mr. Kingsberry’s unique rendition of “On a Clear Day” was mesmerizing.  The charming Mr. Gotay, who knows how to tell a story in song, took us to the world of Tommy with “Sensation” and closed the evening with “Enjoy The Trip” from Bring It On, the lyrics a fitting reminder to all as we ended our history lesson: Time rushes by at a clip… we might as well enjoy the trip!