ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — If you’re feeling like you’ve missed out on live performances over the past two years due to the pandemic, the JCC is giving you an opportunity to catch up on all you have missed! “Something Musical…Broadway in Concert” is a production bringing 30 Broadway tunes to the stage celebrating 90 years of the craft.
JCC’s artistic director Ralph Mertano is directing the show and explains the show was put together to match the talents of the singers to the interest of the community.
“We did some show songs from shows we’ve done and some songs from shows we will never do. We tried to match things to the talents so that we could really wow the audience with an incredible lineup of songs,” Mertanto said.
Alvis Green Jr. is performing in the production for a second time and says being part of a show like this gives him more freedom as an artist.
“Ralph tells us ‘These songs that everybody knows, so do your own interpretations of these songs make it more personal to you.’ And I like that setting. Specifically, it’s nice to have a prompt. It’s nice to have a prompt for a specific show of like a certain character. But with this, it gives the actors more freedom to do what they want with their songs and make it more personal for them,” Green Jr. said.
Meranto said this type of performance is perfect for the holidays to keep things light, fun, and entertaining.
“With everything that’s been going on, theaters being shut down for a long time, audiences are just starting to come back,” Meranto said. “We’ve got some songs from some classic musicals like ‘The Sound of Music’ and ‘Westside Story’ and ‘Anything Goes.’ And then we’ve got some incredible new songs from ‘Hamilton’ and ‘Dear Evan Hanson’ and stuff like that. So really, there’s something for everybody. Whatever age you are, whatever you’re interested in. If you don’t like this song, well just sit for two minutes. There’s another one coming up that you’re gonna love even more.”
“Something Musical…Broadway in Concert” is showing several times throughout December as follows:
- Saturday, December 3, 8 p.m.
- Sunday, December 4, 2 p.m.
- Thursday, December 8, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 10, 8 p.m.
- Sunday, December 11, 2 p.m. — Live Open Captioned performance
- Thursday, December 15, 7 p.m.
- Saturday, December 17, 8 p.m.
- Sunday, December 18, 2 p.m.
Tickets are available at the door or you can visit www.jcccenterstage.org.