Broadway's Eva Noblezada, Jonathan Groff, Jeremy Jordan, Ben Platt and Kelli O'Hara star on album
Lea Salonga stepped onto a Manhattan stage last spring and sang something unusual for her — 'Edelweiss' from the musical 'The Sound of Music,' a song usually performed by the paternal Captain von Trapp.
It was part of MCC Theater's annual 'Miscast' gala that's celebrating 25 years with an album of top musical theater stars performing songs from roles in which they would not traditionally be cast. It drops March 28.
In addition to Salonga, the album has performances by an A-list of Broadway: Eva Noblezada, Jonathan Groff, Jeremy Jordan, Ben Platt, Kelli O'Hara, Katrina Lenk, Stephanie J. Block, Rachel Zegler, Raúl Esparza, Heather Headley, Aaron Tveit and Gavin Creel.
Zegler channeled her inner green ogre for 'Who I'd Be' from 'Shrek,' and Lenk borrowed Tevye's 'If I Were a Rich Man' from "Fiddler on the Roof." Headley, who originated the role of Nala in 'The Lion King,' instead sang Simba's moving ballad 'Endless Night.'
'We have some that are just funny and silly. We have some that actually change the meaning of a song when someone sings them. We have some that's just a phenomenal person singing a phenomenal song and that's enough,' says Scott Galina, manager of musical programming and development at MCC. 'So it really feels like it captures the breadth of the way a 'Miscast' performance can land.'
Other highlights include a live version of 'Take Me or Leave Me' from 'Rent' by Tveit and Creel, a capture made more special because of the death of Creel last year. And Groff and Jordan sing the two divas' anthem 'Let Me Be Your Star' from 'Smash.'
Noblezada gets muscular singing 'Go the Distance' from 'Hercules,' and Platt gets in a green mood to sing Elphaba's 'The Wizard and I' from 'Wicked.' O'Hara submits a tender 'Beautiful City' from 'Godspell,' while married couple Leslie Odom Jr. and Nicolette Robinson sing 'The Human Heart' from "Once on This Island."
'There's not a track on the album that you get to and you're like, 'Oh, this is a skip,'" says Will Van Dyke, musical director for 'Miscast" for the past six years. 'That's like my goal in everything — you never want to have a skip track on there.'
MCC Theater is a nonprofit, off-Broadway company that delights with its spring gala 'Miscast' surprises, which started in 2001 and went online for a few years during the pandemic. To make the new album, the performers were asked to recreate their live songs in the studio, giving engineers a cleaner sound.
Whittling down the various performances over the decades to fit on a 12-album collection — called 'MCC Theater's Miscast: The Studio Sessions' — wasn't easy but some songs popped out for having made a lasting impact.
'Katrina Lenk is still hearing about people who talk about her singing 'If I Were a Rich Man,'' says Galina. 'These are moments that have become bigger for these people than we certainly ever could have intended.'
MCC Theater will celebrate its 25th anniversary on April 7 with a 'Miscast' gala at the Hammerstein Ballroom. It will honor Sheryl Lee Ralph and MCC Youth Company alum and artist Travis Raeburn.
The 'Miscast25' lineup will feature performances by Tituss Burgess, Cole Escola, Jordan Fisher, Steven Pasquale, Nicole Scherzinger, Britton Smith, Phillipa Soo, Ephraim Sykes, Jordan Tyson, Michael Urie and Tveit. Funds raised by the gala and the album go back to MCC Theater.
Over the years, 'Miscast' has seen the landscape of Broadway change with more unconventional choices in race, gender and age. Galina points to a recent gender-swapped version of Stephen Sondheim 's 'Company' that transformed the male lead Bobbie into a woman.
'A lot of years before my time at 'Miscast,' you would have women singing 'Being Alive' from 'Company' or 'Mary Me a Little' from 'Company,'' he says. 'And now there's been a production on Broadway with a woman playing Bobbie. So, there are no rules around that anymore, which is amazing.'
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Telegraph
2 days ago
- Telegraph
The curious crusade to explain The Sound of Music to baffled Austrian locals
To celebrate the 60 th anniversary of The Sound of Music movie earlier this year, Peter Husty, Chief Curator of the Salzburg Museum, decided to mark it – appropriately enough – with a tune. The carillon of bells on the top of the museum can play most anything, as Maria sings in the film. Husty decided to play 'Edelweiss', and outside passing Americans gazed up in wonder. The locals, though, were bemused. What on earth, they asked, is that? It seems a matter of equal bewilderment to the rest of us that the top-grossing musical film of all time is unknown in the city where it is so memorably set. There's the abbey where Maria is a postulant; the Mirabell Gardens with the Pegasus fountain (now commonly known as the Do-Re-Mi fountain); the beautiful Leopoldskron Schloss where Maria and the children fall in the lake; the Felsenreitschule theatre where the family gives a concert before their escape; the catacombs of St Peter's cemetery where they hide from the Nazis. Sound of Music fans want to see them all, so there are always packed bus and walking tours, and even one with von Trapp-style bikes with baskets on the handlebars. When you're in Salzburg, the film's fans are everywhere. It's just that they're not Austrian. For much of the rest of the world, though, the only thing they know about Salzburg is the film. When President Reagan greeted the Austrian head of state, he was disappointed to discover that 'Edelweiss' is not, in fact, the Austrian national anthem (but a song, of course, by Rodgers and Hammerstein). When a business delegation visited China, one Chinese fellow-delegate rose to his feet and sang the song. Five hundred of his countrymen joined in. The Austrians didn't know the words (or so I'm told by my tour guide on the Sound of Music bus). An Austrian competitor on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? was asked to name a song with a flower in its name from the film. She didn't know. She phoned a friend. She didn't know either. She lost, they say, quite a lot of money. Austrian indifference to the movie, especially in Salzburg, is legendary. Peter Husty and the Salzburg Museum are hoping to change all that in this anniversary year, and to persuade their fellow countrymen to embrace the film. To this end, Husty has opened a pop-up exhibition in Schloss Leopoldskron for the entire year and, next year, will open a permanent and much larger version at Schloss Hellbrunn. This Schloss is already a mainstay of the Sound of Music tour as it's one of the two palaces used to represent the von Trapp home (the front) and is also where the gazebo was relocated. Originally, that was at Leopoldskron (the back of the von Trapp home in the film) but people were forever climbing over the wall to sing, dance and wake up the owners. Sadly, it is no longer possible to go inside the gazebo for reasons of health and safety. One 82-year-old American lady was so overcome at being in the Sixteen, Going on Seventeen location she decided to recreate the scene, including the leaps from bench to bench. Sadly, she broke an ankle… I started my own straw poll in the taxi from Salzburg Airport. Had she ever seen the film, I asked my driver? No, she said, she didn't know anyone in Salzburg who had. I did eventually find two locals who admitted to having watched it. One, Elisabeth, who took me on a walking tour, had watched it, 'but only since I became a guide'. The other, Cornelia, had seen it some years ago because her music teacher at school had been Julie Andrews' voice coach. So how do the locals explain their reluctance? The main reason appears to be that, as far as Austrians are concerned, this was just a remake. The von Trapp story had been told ten years before the Sound of Music in a German film – they even made a follow-up, tracing the continuing von Trapp saga in America. These films had proper Austrian folk songs (as sung by the von Trapps) and real dirndls. Why would anyone want to see the American version that got all of this – and much of the real von Trapp story – wrong? Not forgetting that the Austrians might have had quite enough of the Americans who had occupied Salzburg for 10 years after the Second World War, adapting a story that wasn't theirs to take, and showing some rather distasteful scenes featuring swastikas in the process. There can be little doubt, though, that the film has served the city well, bringing millions of tourists to visit. The locals are bemused but tolerant – all the sing-a-longs and frolics round the Mirabell Gardens are regarded as harmless eccentricity. Peter Husty and others have, though, launched something of a crusade to persuade the Salzburgers to take a look for themselves. As well as the exhibition, there are numerous showings of the film, a Sound of Music gala in October, and performances of the musical at both the Landestheater and Marionette Theatres, not to mention guided hikes and picnics in the mountains (you don't have to go all the way to Switzerland). At the delightful Hyperion Hotel next door to the Mirabell Gardens, even a Salzburg Sound Menu that features a deconstructed apfelstrudel and a delicious veal dish (though not, as Christian Rothbauer, the hotel manager, pointed out, quite like the one in the song. 'Austrians would never have schnitzel with noodles.'). This is, after all, a rather conservative town and they do things properly here. Even if the locals get to see the film, they aren't really the sing-a-long type. And you certainly won't find anyone to hire you out a dirndl for your Julie Andrews impersonation. Nevertheless, Salzburg cannot escape the von Trapp story and, in an age of film tourism, this beautiful Austrian city is still surely the grandaddy of all movie destinations. And although Salzburg's greatest and proudest draw remains the Salzburg classical music festival, and Wolfgang Mozart its most famous son – you might nevertheless posit Julie Andrews as its most famous daughter. I just wouldn't do it out loud, if I were you. Essentials The HYPERION Hotel Salzburg has rooms from £219 per night, including breakfast. Ryanair flies from London to Salzburg from £43 return. For more information, visit and
The Herald Scotland
31-05-2025
- The Herald Scotland
Liam Naylor on turning down Bruce Springsteen to answer Scotland call
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Metro
28-05-2025
- Metro
EastEnders star Kara Tointon, 41, undergoes double mastectomy
Former EastEnders star Kara Tointon has revealed she has undergone a double mastectomy. The actress found fame as Dawn Swann on the BBC soap, a role she played for four years between 2005 and 2009. Introduced alongside the wider Miller family, Dawn conned her neighbours out of money and being kidnapped by twisted Dr May Wright (Amanda Drew). Her exit story saw her sailing into the sunset (quite literally) with Gary Hobbs (Ricky Groves). After leaving Albert Square, Kara went on to win Strictly Come Dancing, and appear in ITV dramas The Bill and Mr Selfridge. She's also had a number of theatre roles, including a live version of The Sound of Music which was transmitted on television in 2015. Taking to Instagram today, she revealed that she's chosen to reduce her risk of cancer after discovering she's a carrier of the BRCA1 gene, which increases the chances of being diagnosed. Speaking in a video to her 151,000 followers, Kara explained that her mum passed away from ovarian cancer seven years ago. The star has has now undergone a double mastectomy and had her fallopian tubes removed. 'This is personal, but important,' she wrote alongside the clip. 'I am sharing with you my journey with the BRCA1 gene. It's about understanding, choices, and taking control. Hope this helps someone out there.' She goes on to explain: 'You may have heard of the BRCA genes type 1 and 2 and as a carrier it means that I am at a greater risk of both breast and ovarian cancer. 'Back in 2018 when my mum was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, I was asked to take a genetics test. 'There is a history of both cancers in my family but for various reasons including generational trauma of which I'll talk more about another time, we hadn't looked into it until that point.' Kara continued: 'But it was put to us, we took the test and it was confirmed that my mum and I both carried the gene. 'I was pregnant with my first child at the time, knew I wanted more children if possible so over the next couple of years I was invited to various meetings by the NHS to really become informed and to understand all my options. Want to be the first to hear shocking EastEnders spoilers? Who's leaving Coronation Street? The latest gossip from Emmerdale? Join 10,000 soaps fans on Metro's WhatsApp Soaps community and get access to spoiler galleries, must-watch videos, and exclusive interviews. Simply click on this link, select 'Join Chat' and you're in! Don't forget to turn on notifications so you can see when we've just dropped the latest spoilers! 'Last year having had my second son in 2021 and deciding that our family was complete, I underwent two preventative surgeries. The first a double mastectomy and the second a two part protector study, a trial. 'They believe that ovarian cancer begins in the Fallopian tubes so by removing them first checking out you can remove the ovaries later.' More Trending Concluding her video, she added: 'I wasn't an easy decision, but one I am very glad that I made. I can now with hindsight talk about it properly. 'I wanted to talk about it because hearing other people's experience, helped so much and knowledge is power, communication is key, getting to know our bodies, our cycles is only a good thing, but I'll be talking about this a lot more.' Kara's EastEnders alter ego Dawn was referenced in the serial last year, when her on-screen brother Mickey (Joe Swash) made a surprise return. View More » Having separated from Garry, she was now operating an eco-friendly B&B business in the Cotswolds with her family. If you've got a soap or TV story, video or pictures get in touch by emailing us soaps@ – we'd love to hear from you. Join the community by leaving a comment below and stay updated on all things soaps on our homepage. MORE: Hollyoaks star Paul Danan's death at 46 ruled misadventure MORE: Coronation Street fans convinced major star is returning MORE: Colson Smith lands 'exciting' new job after Coronation Street exit
