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Director(s): David Horn, Eve Adair | Label: Image Entertainment

Subtitles: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Danish, Netherlands, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Genre: Musical

Have you ever listened to a tune and suddenly an entire story emerges in your memory? Love songs are often synonymous with eminent emotional moments and memories in our lives. The same can be said of Broadway show tunes. And "My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs" offers remembrances on a number of levels. Each song, in the hands of this powerful and accomplished cast, is a reflecting pool of memories. It's almost like watching nearly 30 Broadway musicals in one night. Song after song, we are reminded of the lives of the characters, the plot of each musical, and just why these performers are some of Broadway's best.

What makes the evening such an effective stroll down memory lane is the connection these serenading voices have to the tunes they sing. From long-time Broadway legend Chita Rivera to new sensation Adam Pascal, these stars are inextricably linked to the evening's selections. As a result, for the Broadway aficionado and the theater novice, something is revealed with each new song. The stars wink at us with history, talent, and narrative.

Chita Rivera's career is one of the most awe-inspiring on Broadway. For half a century, Rivera has been entertaining audiences with the youthful vigor of a teenager and the control and discipline of a seasoned triple threat (actor, singer, and dancer). She made her Broadway debut in 1952 as a chorus girl in "Call Me Madam." Five years later, she originated the role of Anita in "West Side Story," and in 1960, the Broadway scene was again altered by Rivera's talent as the first Rosie in one of the quintessential American musicals of the century, Charles Strouse and Lee Adams' "Bye Bye Birdie." Singing and dancing "Rosie" with Brent Spiner of Broadway and STAR TREK fame, Rivera is a lifeline to the history and artists of today's Broadway. It's hard to believe it was April 14, 1960 that Rivera first sang this same tune on the stage of the Martin Beck Theatre to an audience that would watch her blossom over the next 40 years.

Thirty-two years later, to the day, that same stage ushered in one of the greatest revivals in Broadway history and thrust Nathan Lane into the hearts of theater lovers. On April 14, 1992, Frank Loesser's "Guys and Dolls" opened, starring Lane as the hapless romantic Nathan Detroit. Lane's performance proved one of the most important in his career, garnering him the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards as well as a Tony nomination. That performance also earned him deserved career-altering critical acclaim. In a review that appeared the day after the show opened, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES wrote, "the role goes winsome with the extravagantly endearing Nathan Lane." And THE WASHINGTON POST said, "Mr. Lane pounces on each vaudeville exchange with the broad delivery, but impeccable timing of a top banana." To see Lane revisit his award-winning performance with "Sue Me" is a rare opportunity.

"My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs" also offers the audience a glimpse into theater history in the making with some of today's freshest Broadway talent. Almost five years ago, Adam Pascal began his Broadway career with a role that would win him immediate success. The rock-and-roll singer turned musical-theater luminary emerged on the scene with his performance as the songwriter Roger in Jonathan Larson's Pulitzer prize-winning play, "Rent." Pascal's success on the stage was foreseen by the NEW YORK TIMES in its review of the show's opening in 1996: "Adam Pascal ... has an enhanced effortless-seeming radiance that should quickly turn him into a matinee idol for a new generation." With "Rent" as his fuel, Pascal's career was launched; he went from a member of what U.S.A. TODAY referred to as "a passionate cast of unknowns" to the leading man in one of the most highly anticipated Broadway productions in years. Pascal stars opposite Tony Award-winner Heather Headley in Tim Rice and Elton John's "Aïda." As Pascal moves from "Seasons of Love," with the Broadway Inspirational Voices, into the passionate and inspired "Aïda" love duet "Elaborate Lives," with Headley, his career path is laid before us and it becomes easy to see what led some critics to foresee such grand things in his future.

Another performer who also seems destined for continued success on the Great White Way is Pascal's "Aïda" co-star, Heather Headley. Winner of the 2000 Tony, Drama Desk, and Drama League awards for her portrayal of Aïda, Headley's performance propelled her into the spotlight. First appearing on Broadway as Nala in "The Lion King," Headley was asked to audition for the newest Disney venture, "Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aïda," and she was offered the title role in February of 1998. The life of the play "Aïda" began in Atlanta, eventually moving to Chicago, where the title was simplified; it premiered on Broadway on March 23, 2000.

For "My Favorite Broadway: The Love Songs," Headley performs both a duet with Pascal and a solo piece, "He Touched Me," from the lesser-known musical "Drat! The Cat!" Her performance is a gentle combination of commanding eloquence and sheer vocal power. Her compelling and entrancing manner makes it clear we will have the privilege of watching her on the Broadway stage for years to come.

A few blocks away from the "Aïda" stage, Rebecca Luker can be found singing in the Broadway revival of Meredith Willson's "The Music Man." For her portrayal of Marion Paroo, Luker has received nominations for the Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk awards. And it's no surprise. With a Broadway resume that also includes Maria in "The Sound of Music" (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Magnolia in "Show Boat" (Tony nomination), Lily in "The Secret Garden" (Drama Desk nomination), and Christine in "The Phantom of the Opera," it would seem she has forever lived and breathed musicals, but that's not so. "I didn't know too much about musical theater growing up," said Luker in a recent interview.

Luker performs Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane's "Too Late Now" from "Royal Wedding" and "Till There was You" from "The Music Man." In reviewing the show's cast recording, THE HOUSTON CHRONICLE wrote: "Luker has one of the finest voices on Broadway, and she uses it to splendid effect in her big solos ... peaking in a glorious 'Till There Was You.'" To hear Luker perform this gem from her extensive resume is quite a treat. It is a tune that will likely remain closely affiliated with her for years to come.

Few roles have stayed quite as close to their originator as Michael Crawford's Phantom. Crawford's 1988 Tony award-winning portrayal of the title role in the Andrew Lloyd Webber muscial "The Phantom of the Opera" has inspired countless fans, international acclaim, and even a fan-led movement to cast Crawford in the planned film version of the story. THE LOS ANGELES TIMES wrote that Crawford's performance "combines size and intimacy in a way that only a very experienced musical theater performer could achieve. He comes close to us, and yet he brings off the grand gesture ... he makes us believe." As Crawford asks us to "listen to the music of the night" with a voice that's sensuous and enticing, there is no point in trying to resist. In addition to the performance of what many consider his signature song, Crawford appears again for the show's finale, one that defines "Broadway legend" and illustrates how great performers lay claim to the songs they give voice to.

Throughout the evening, Julie Andrews gives the audience snippets of career tales and influential moments, from her audition for the role that would change her professional life, Eliza Doolittle, in Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's "My Fair Lady" to the stuff that makes an unforgettable show tune. But nothing quite compares to a glimpse of the performer at work. In the last minutes of the evening, Andrews, enticed by Crawford, treats us to the sounds of Eliza with a few lines from "The Rain in Spain." And with that, we are reminded of the story of the budding flower girl, the career of this seasoned actress, and the first time we heard a Broadway show tune.

Songs: Love Is Sweeping the Country/ Till There Was You/ Lover/ So in Love (Adam Pascal, Brent Spiner, Rebecca Luker, Peter Gallagher & Marin Mazzie), Lullaby of Broadway (Tom Wopat & Dancers), Sue Me (Nathan Lane & Doo Wop Trio), He Touched Me (Heather Headley), Operatic Intro/ Standing on the Corner/ Let the Good Times Roll (Three Mo' Tenors), Gigi (Ron Raines), Smoke Gets in Your Eyes (Jeffrey Denman & Joan Hess), When I Fall in Love (Marin Mazzie), English Teacher/ Rosie (Chita Rivera & Brent Spiner), If Ever I Would Leave You (Robert Goulet), Come Rain or Come Shine/ I Don't Know How to Love Him/ What Kind of Fool Am I? (Linda Eder), Music of the Night (Michael Crawford), Seasons of Love (Adam Pascal & Broadway Inspirational Voices), Elaborate Lives (Adam Pascal & Heather Headley), Every Single Day (Barry Manilow), Not a Day Goes By/ Too Late Now/ Sometimes a Day Goes By (Rebecca Luker, Peter Gallagher & Marin Mazzie), I'm a Brass Band (Bebe Neuwirth), This Nearly Was Mine (Robert Goulet), Brush Up Your Shakespeare (Michael McCormick & Michael Mulheren), How Lucky Can You Get (Chita Rivera), I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face/ The Rain in Spain (Michael Crawford & Julie Andrews).

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