Singer Brandon Cutrell’s Monday night Broadway at the Beach event opened, for its 10th season at the Ice Palace, on Memorial Day, May 25, with familiar friends and one newcomer, and songs from Broadway musicals dominated the evening. Brandon James Gwinn was the pianist and DJ Chuck McTague was responsible for sound and lights.
Pianist Brandon opened by playing and singing an original number, “The Mean Truth,” snappy and witty, inspired by and dedicated to our host, about “honesty that kills” (“I’ll only tell you the whole damn truth”). Later he offered “By the Sea,” from “Sweeney Todd,” and enlisted Daniel Torres as guardian of the percussion—the shakers.
“Hairspray” veteran Michelle Dowdy, who participated in the first show 10 years ago, when this event was called Mostly Sondheim, made a welcome return to belt out a sizzling “I Can Cook, Too,” from “On the Town,” and proved that she can dance in high heels; lament sweetly and soulfully, “What Did I Have [that] I Don’t Have?,” from “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever;” revel in disclosing “A Corset Can Do a lot for a Lady,” Carol Channing’s song from the film “The First Traveling Saleslady;” and dabble on the Sapphic side with an uninhibited “I Kissed a Girl, I Liked It,” ending with a split.
“(I’m) Big, Bald, and Beautiful,” Kenny Holcomb declared definitively, in his take on “Big, Blonde, and Beautiful,” from “Hairspray.” He began “Climb Ev’ry Mountain,” from “The Sound of Music,” sensitively and brought it to a formidable, unamplified climax. He sang “That’s Life” with more determination than resignation and concluded with a fierce and fiery “Don’t Cry out Loud.”
Michael Longoria, of the Midtown Men, and the original cast of “Jersey Boys,” takes songs that defeat many who attempt them and makes them securely his own. His selections were a fervent “Corner of the Sky,” from “Pippin,” with some ornamentation and a striking final high note in head tone; an impassioned “I Chose Right,” from “Baby,” capped with a soft high note; a caressing “Maria,” from “West Side Story,” with which he romanced us all; and an emotional “Out There,” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.”
Making her Fire Island debut, Jenna Miller dazzled with a no-holds-barred “Saving All My Love for You;” yearned for “A New Life,” from “Jekyll and Hyde;” sang “I Love You, I Do,” from “Dreamgirls,” from the heart; and vented a wealth of pent up emotion in “Always Starting Over,” Idina Menzel’s song from “If/Then.”
Rounding out this opening night was this writer and bass-baritone’s “This Nearly Was Mine,” from “South Pacific.”