| Cabaret Beat with Scott Siegel |
| Written by Leslie (Hoban) Blake | |||
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Scott Siegel, Town Hall's producer extraordinaire and TimesSquare.com's Leslie (Hoban) Blake.
Barbara and Scott Siegel continue to put together numerous amazing theater productions every year
 When Siegel sat down to chat with me at Trattoria Dopo Teatro, one of his favorite Broadway area restaurants, we talked about the many balls, ie…projects, that he’s simultaneously keeping in the air these days. He’s not only the creator/producer of Town Hall’s musical series, “Broadway by the Year,” the “Broadway Cabaret Festival,” and “Broadway Unplugged,” but also the “Annual Nightlife Awards.” Siegel is absolutely the ‘go-to guy’ for anything Broadway or Cabaret at Town Hall these days. His decade-long association with that venerable New York institution, began with his ongoing Film Seminar Series, a job for which he was well qualified, thanks to many years of film reviewing and in producing the two film books—“The Encyclopedia of Hollywood” and “American Film Comedy”—among the 47 tomes co-written by Scott and his wife/writing partner, Barbara. So how did he wind up producing, writing, and hosting, not one, not two, but four of New York’s most successful musical series? “Initially, it began when I realized that there was an untapped audience for the American Songbook, which until recently, came straight from the Broadway stage. So I got the idea of a reasonably priced evening of top Broadway and Cabaret performers singing the songs from just one year at a time—both the hits and the-near hits and the flops. And then Town Hall asked me to produce it! At that time [eight years ago] I had never even produced a puppet show in my back yard. "But because Barbara and I write about both Broadway and Cabaret [for Theatermania.com and Talkingbroadway.com], it seemed possible that I could approach talent from both arenas and while it wasn’t easy at first, it turned out to be do-able.” That talent so far has included the likes of Brent Barrett, Bryan Batt,* Liz Callaway, Heather MacRae, Davis Gaines, Marc Kudish,* Sally Mayes, Sharon McNight, Alice Ripley* and Chip Zien (those with the asterix have also directed for the series). “Everybody loves doing it and they come back again and again. Did I think we’d still be going, stronger than ever eight years later? I’m not sure,” says the ever-modest impresario. There are only two shows left as the “Broadway by the Year” season winds down: April 30th is “The Broadway Musicals of 1959,” including “Gypsy,” “Fiorello,” “Take Me Along” and “The Sound of Music” and June 18th “…1964,” features such shows as “Hello Dolly,” “Funny Girl,” “High Spirits” and “Fiddler on the Roof. “ Afterwards, Siegel will be gearing up for the Fall with a new evening of “Broadway Unplugged,” featuring the Broadway and cabaret community’s top artists performing un-miked, followed by the third edition of the Broadway Cabaret Festival—a week-end long event that salutes a famous composer one night and showcases younger talents the next. It culminates in a Sunday gala evening of “Broadway Originals,” with Broadway stars singing the show tunes they themselves made famous. Previous stars have included Karen Akers (“Nine”), Austin Pendleton (“Fiddler on the Roof”), Joanna Gleason and Chip Zien (“Into the Woods’) and Christiane Noll (“Jekyll and Hyde”). Somehow, Scott (and often Barbara) still finds time to personally hand out flyers for his various projects, so don’t be surprised to see him with leaflets in hand the next time you exit a Broadway show—and be kind—as he says, “This is still a grass-roots movement and I’m just one blade of grass!" {mos_ri}
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