Do you like showtunes? Better yet, do you like women singing showtunes? Or, even better yet, do you like DIVAS singing showtunes? This televised concert manages to string together a fantastic cast of fantastic women singing fantastic songs. While the "Lloyd Webber Love Trio" is trite and could have been left out, there is a plethora of excellent material here, much of it under-performed. Highlights include Karen Ziemba's "I Wanna Be a Rockette," complete with the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes right behind her, Audra McDonald's hilarious turn with "Down With Love," and Liza Minnelli singing the [expletive deleted] out of "Some People."
I can see that some of you are still shaking your heads -- but this show has not one, not two, but three "must-see" performances that absolutely stopped the show cold. The first is Linda Eder ("Jekyll and Hyde") brilliantly singing "Man of La Mancha." The second appears shortly thereafter -- Jennifer Holliday's heartbreaking ballad "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." But the third, the concert's last solo, is Elaine Stritch singing Stephen Sondheim's witty (and bitchy!) diatribe against "The Ladies Who Lunch." This great actress, singing this great song, is alone worth the purchase price of this concert.
I can see that some of you are still shaking your heads -- but this show has not one, not two, but three "must-see" performances that absolutely stopped the show cold. The first is Linda Eder ("Jekyll and Hyde") brilliantly singing "Man of La Mancha." The second appears shortly thereafter -- Jennifer Holliday's heartbreaking ballad "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going." But the third, the concert's last solo, is Elaine Stritch singing Stephen Sondheim's witty (and bitchy!) diatribe against "The Ladies Who Lunch." This great actress, singing this great song, is alone worth the purchase price of this concert.