The New York Pops took the stage of Carnegie Hall on March 11, 2016, to put on what might very well be the best of their shows this reviewer has seen. A spectacular celebration of Broadway since the 1970s called 42nd on 57th: Broadway Today. The orchestra was at its finest, as is usually the case, but the perfection of this evening came in the shape of one of their Guest Artists: Miss Betsy Wolfe. If one didn’t know better, one would have guessed the night was a celebration of Ms. Wolfe’s incomparable talent. The night began with the other Guest Artist, Darren Criss, singing “I Love Betsy” from the criminally underseen Honeymoon in Vegas, which was followed by an appearance from the song’s namesake who joined Darren to sing “Getting Married Today” from Company.
Before diving into a rapturous “Unusual Way” (there’s your Claudia if you want to do a revival of Nine) the performer had already established wonderful rapport with Criss, conductor Steven Reineke, the orchestra and of course the audience. Joking about her engagement, she brought such easy joy to Sondheim and Yeston, that one could have thought the songs were written for her. If anything, the night served as a call to action for great musical theatre writers out there looking for a muse to write something for. Ms. Wolfe is obviously adored by the people she’s worked with, she brought out Jason Robert Browne to accompany her in the piano to do a number from The Last Five Years, and was later joined by Criss to sing “Before and After You”/”One Second and a Million Miles” from The Bridges of Madison County. To say the performance was electrifying would be an understatement.
Perhaps aware of how hearts had been excited just then, the show was halted for a brief intermission, after which Ms. Wolfe returned bringing Robert Lopez to the stage who accompanied her in “Let It Go” (there’s your Elsa for when Frozen comes to Broadway!), the following numbers just got better and better, as she was once more joined by Criss to do “Suddenly Seymour”, and “Falling Slowly” from Once, which had never sounded as achingly lush as it did when performed by the Pops. Ms. Wolfe then closed the show with “Maybe This Time” from Cabaret, her performances were so astonishing, it would be easy to forget adding that she had at least five dress changes during the night (she joked about being the performer with most dresses in Carnegie Hall history, she might’ve been right…). After this night it was obvious that the world of Broadway is there for Ms. Wolfe to take, and how lucky we are to be there to see her.
