Composer, pianist and producer Neil Berg (second from left) brings his latest edition of the all-singing revue 100 YEARS OF BROADWAY back to the stage of the Count Basie Theatre this Sunday, January 18. (Photos by Ron Elkman)
His many collaborators have included song-and-dance dynamos Bernadette Peters and Rita Moreno, plus phave Phantom Michael Crawford — in addition to longtime MAD Magazine editor Nick Meglin, and Dan Spitz from thrash-metal band Anthrax. But when he’s not composing musical adaptations of beloved literary works, scoring film projects or playing alongside friend and Jersey music guy Joe D’Urso, Neil Berg can most often be found out on the road with his long-running showcase of showtunes, known these days as 100 Years of Broadway.
A dependable crowd-pleasing attraction at the Count Basie Theatre and other central Jersey stages, the revue returns to Red Bank this Sunday, January 18, for a matinee about which the onstage bandleader and impresario humbly observes, “For a Broadway fan, this is as good as it gets.”
Scheduled for 3 pm, this is the final chance for area audiences to catch Berg and his cast of Broadway-seasoned vocalists before the touring company heads to warmer climes in Florida and Arizona for the rest of the winter. Continuing the successful format in which “five stars recreate the roles they made famous,” 100 Years of Broadway (the title had been updating to 101 Years, 102 Years etc. before resetting back its apparently permanent brand last year) assembles a bandstand of singers whose collected credits include the Broadway engagements and national tours of such blockbuster shows as Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Les Miserables and Jekyll & Hyde. Showstopper standards from each of these modern mega-hits are a sure bet for Sunday afternoon’s program — as are highlights that range from perennials like Jesus Christ Superstar and Fiddler on the Roof, to Tin Pan Alley evergreens of generations past. Tickets ($30 – $65) can be reserved right here.
