Broadway’s Leading Ladies? Yes, yes they are.
Another Fringe concert offering, this tour de force gives their target audience just what they want: show tunes performed with presence and panache.
Shelbi Berry, Rayanna Bibbs, and Virginia Vasquez infuse their songs with passion and vocal dedication — and even sometimes with humor. From their opening, “The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton, you are pulled farther in with each note, each number, all the way to the end.
The show combines the well-known (“Defying Gravity”) with lesser-known selections (“Gimmie Gimmie”) for an eclectic showcase of musical soundtracks. The tenor of each song is taken into account and performed accordingly, from the powerfully emoted “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls by Bibbs to the playful “What Is this Feeling” from Wicked by Berry and Vasquez. The show closes with a beautiful melding of the trio’s voices in “Climb Every Mountain” from The Sound of Music. And each song is pitch-perfect — as is the sound system (kudos to the tech team for pulling that off, especially with the inclusion of live musicians).
Other standouts are Berry on “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl; “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” from Showboat and “Daddy’s Son” from Ragtime by Bibbs; “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods and “Gimmie Gimmie” from Thoroughly Modern Millie by Vasquez; and the duet “In His Eyes” from Jekyll and Hyde by Berry and Vasquez.
Austin Schlenz gets some giggles as the placard changer. He struts on stage in a gold outfit reminiscent of Rocky in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (Strangely, that is the second time I have referenced Rocky Horror in a Fringe review this year …)
This is the second concert I have seen at Fringe (the other being Queen Day) that has blown me away with the talent on stage. Proof positive that the Indianapolis area has some top-quality singers in our midst.
Yup, this is another one you must see.
Song list:
- “The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton
- “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl
- “Someone to Watch Over Me” from Oh, Kay!
- “Anything Goes” from Anything Goes
- “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” from Showboat
- “At the Ballet” from A Chorus Line
- “I Have Dreamed” from The King and I
- “No One Is Alone” from Into the Woods
- “Daddy’s Son” from Ragtime
- “Gimmie Gimmie” from Thoroughly Modern Millie
- “In His Eyes” from Jekyll and Hyde
- “What Is this Feeling” and “Defying Gravity” from Wicked
- “And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls
- “Climb Every Mountain” from The Sound of Music
Produced by Magic Thread Cabaret
Check out their “The Schuyler Sisters” from Hamilton:
https://www.facebook.com/MagicThreadCabaret/videos/705594489795642/
- Sunday, Aug. 19, 4:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Aug. 22, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Aug. 25, 1:30 p.m.; Sunday, Aug. 26, 6 p.m.
- Firefighters Union Hall
- $15
- http://www.indyfringe.org/theatre-show/broadway%E2%80%99s-leading-ladies-tribute
Indianapolis Theater Reviews 
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