"100 Years of Broadway"

I hear this show was wonderful at the Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center yesterday (sadly, I was out of town).

Here's the story by my pal Jean Tarbett Hardiman:

The Keith-Albee Performing Arts Center was alive with the sounds of music and history on Sunday afternoon as theater fans gathered for Neil Berg's 100 Years of Broadway, brought to Huntington as part of the Marshall Artists Series.

The show featured some recent Broadway hits from Movin' Out and Jersey Boys and beloved favorites from shows such as Phantom of the Opera and Funny Girl.

The word "awesome" is overused, said nurse Gigi Gerlach of Huntington, who attended on Sunday. But that's exactly what the show was, she said.

"To have this caliber of talent here in the Keith-Albee on a Sunday afternoon in Huntington, we are blessed," she said. "I love (the Marshall Artists Series). We're really blessed to see shows in this setting. It just takes you back to another place in time."

Helping the audience do that today were pianist composer Neil Berg and Broadway performers Carter Calvert, Danny Zolli, Sandra Joseph, Chuck Wagner and an actor with some ties to Huntington, Ivan Rutherford.

Rutherford told the audience Sunday afternoon that he was born here and lived here until he was 4 years old. He said his parents went to Marshall, and that he had spent the day checking out his and his parents' old stomping grounds, including his house in Altizer and Marshall University's campus.

He also ate at Frost Top, which he said looks the same as he remembers and where, he now suspects, his family might have lifted a few of the old glass mugs once used there. He remembers using the mugs at home growing up, and when he asked about them Sunday, the server told him that they're not used anymore because people kept stealing them, he said with a guilty smile.

It was an enchanting day, he said, segueing into "Some Enchanted Evening." He followed with others such as "Bring Him Home," which he performed as Jean Valjean in "Les Miserables" on Broadway - the same role once played by fellow Huntington native and Broadway performer Mark McVey.

Other songs performed by the group were "Memory" from "Cats," "If I Can't Love Her" from "Beauty and the Beast," "Gethsemane" from "Jesus Christ Superstar," "Cell Block Tango" from "Chicago," "Seasons of Love" from "Rent," a Rodgers & Hammerstein medley and many others.

The show was "fantastic," said attorney Larry Tweel, who attended with his wife, Cheryl.

"It's what my generation and the younger generation clamor for," he said. "The Artists Series needs to have shows that appeal to all ages, and this show truly appeals to all ages."

Jane Hustead, a Cabell circuit judge who attended, said she just wishes the theater had been filled to capacity.

"We have season tickets," she said. "We're so proud of how they've redone the theater and all the work they put into it. A landmark like this should be preserved, and they're doing a wonderful job of it."