By Andy Propst

     One of the most often repeated anecdotes about shows that opened on Broadway during 1962 concerns A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. When this musical take on Plautus’ comedies wasn’t working during its out-of-town tryouts, Jerome Robbins was called in to help "fix" the show. Robbins told the creative team that the opening of the show was all wrong that it didn’t set the stage for the low comedy that was to follow. In response, Stephen Sondheim wrote "Comedy Tonight" over a weekend in Washington. This replacement song did the trick and "Funny Thing" went on to be a hit.

     Ross Patterson, musical director for the Broadway by the Year series at Town Hall, took a cue from this lesson, and for Monday night’s "The Broadway Musicals of 1962" created an overture in which the audience heard such standards as "The Sweetest Sounds" from No Strings and "What Kind of Fool Am I" interspersed with the familiar upbeat bum-bum-ba-dum-ba of "Comedy Tonight." Indeed, comedy would be the prevailing mood for this concert celebrating the songs heard on Broadway in 1962.

     Before the evening got underway in earnest (although the comedic "What a Country" from All American had been performed by the company), the audience at Town Hall was treated to an appearance by Robert Goulet, who though not creating a role on Broadway in the year in question, was indeed continuing in the role of Lancelot in Camelot, which he created some two years prior. Goulet reminisced about his time with the show (and went a bit further afield raising some eyebrows), and then treated the audience to a rendition of a holdover in ’62, "If Ever I Could Leave You." The performer’s voice, unamplified, caressed Loewe’s luxurious melody and even before the evening had truly started, one knew one had experienced one of its highlights.

     After Goulet’s appearance, Danny Gurwin was discovered sitting on the edge of the stage, smiling broadly as he launched into the giddy "Love, I Hear" from "Funny Thing". Gurwin practically oozed (with charm and immense appeal) adolescent stupidity to this paean to the feelings that come with infatuation. He would later prove to be quite moving in his rendition of "Once Upon a Time", the best known song from Lee Adams and Charles Strouse’s All American.

     As if Gurwin’s antics in love were not enough, Felicia Finley and Christine Pedi cut-up as presidential daughters bemoaning their constant "shadows" in "Secret Service", a tune from Irving Berlin’s last musical, Mr. President. Finley, a convincing teen here, would later prove that she was equally adept at being a vamp in the little known "In the Morning" from the New Faces of 1962, sporting a skin-tight strapless floral dress and lounging provocatively on top of Patterson’s piano. Pedi induced much merriment with her "last minute" take on "I’m Calm" from "Forum". (Siegel and she had worked out a bit where he insisted that she perform the song, saying that she was the "fastest study off-Broadway.")

     For some of the evening’s more somber and emotional moments, Liz Callaway was on hand and delivered "The Other Side of the Tracks" from Cy Coleman’s Little Me in a rendition where the characters’ hopefulness for something better seemed to burn in her vocalizations. Callaway also brought true poignancy to another tune from this show, "Poor Little Hollywood Star", in which the heroine discovers that her aspirations from the first song are not everything for which she might have hoped.

     Scott Coulter’s suave presence and silky tones gave a jazzy rendition of "I’ve Got Your Number" also from Little Me true sizzle, and he proved that he could find the right sizzle in comedy too with "Mamie in the Afternoon" a song cut from 1962’s A Family Affair that later surfaced, with minor revisions, as "Arthur in the Afternoon" in Kander and Ebb’s The Act. Late in the evening, Coulter made the standard "What Kind of Fool Am I" from Stop the World, I Want to Get Off sound almost newly minted in a stirring rendering.

     Brad Oscar, known for his work in multiple roles in The Producers, got laughs from the vaguely Oedipal ode to a guy’s mother, "Mamma Mamma" from I Can Get It For You Wholesale, and with Gurwin and Coulter, cavorted with Will Taylor and Eric Stretch (two of the Cagelles from "La Cage") in Everybody Ought to Have a Maid.

      The evening ended with a gorgeous six-part harmony rendition of "The Sweetest Sounds" that often was performed a cappella. During bows, the company delivered a rousing "Comedy Tonight", a fitting combination of vocals for this tribute to 1962’s musicals.

-- Andy Propst