What a fabulous day I had last Sunday. My husband and I were guests of Nederlander Theatres (thank you Susan!) for the official launch of Audience Rewards at Broadway on Broadway.

This meant we had tickets for the bleachers, which is the ONLY place to watch this fabulous outdoor concert, dahling. Well, the other 50,000 people standing in Times Square might disagree (especially the ones who had arrived at 4am to get standing room near the stage) but trust me, the bleachers totally rock! We had great seats close to the stage and right in front of the jumbotron, free bottled water, and free New York Times Arts & Leisure sections to read while we waited for the concert to begin!

At 11:30am Jay Johnson whose JAY JOHNSON: THE TWO AND ONLY is opening Sept 19 warmed-up the crowd. I still remember watching him on Soap! He's a very funny guy and the act he did with his monkey puppet later in the show was hilarious. Then they had the B on B orchestra play the GYPSY overture which was breathtaking -- there ain't nothing like live music, especially live trumpets! Martin Short hosted the show and was his wonderful, hilarious pseudo-egotistical self. The concert featured performances from the following shows:

AVENUE Q; BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (Sarah Uriarte Berry rocks!); THE COLOR PURPLE (LaChanze has an amazing voice); THE DROWSY CHAPERONE (Beth Leavel is a frikkin' national treasure -- what a voice and man, is she ever funny singing "As We Stumble (Plumble!) Along"); GREY GARDENS (love Christine Ebersole, this is a must see for me); HAIRSPRAY (I was happily impressed with Haylie Duff); HIGH FIDELITY (all is forgiven Will); JAY JOHNSON: THE TWO AND ONLY (his monkey singing "Send in the Clowns" was unforgettable!); JERSEY BOYS; LES MISERABLES (I always get chills when Javert sings Stars...); THE LION KING; MAMMA MIA! (were the music tracks absolutely necessary?); MARTIN SHORT: FAME BECOMES ME; SPAMALOT; THE PRODUCERS (great performance by Hunter Foster and John Tracy Egan); RENT; TARZAN; THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGIN' (I loved this performance of "Blowin' In the Wind"); THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE; THE WEDDING SINGER; and WICKED (Kate Reindeer and Eden Espinosa rocked!). If I've forgotten any shows, my apologies! Here's a good wrap-up from Broadwayworld.com.

Donny Osmond (yes, I'm a fan...someone help me, help me, help me, help me please) made a special appearance since he is joining BEAUTY AND THE BEAST as Gaston soon. Then at the finale (around 1:30pm), everyone came on and sang "New York, New York", and they released tons and tons (I mean tons!) of colored tissue paper confetti shapes from the rooftops of surrounding buildings! It was so thrilling and so special!

What was really touching was to see the performers on stage at the end of the concert snapping pics of each other against the backdrop of the crowds! Look ma, I'm on Broadway!

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