Broadway Boys Take a Branford Bow

The Broadway Boys traded their usual neon lights for a set of incandescent ones at Seaview Productions’ third annual ​“pay what you can” Broadway in Branford event, hosted outside at the Owenego Inn on a recent Sunday.

“It’s like Woodstock meets Tanglewood meets Broadway in Branford,” observed Branford native Greg Nobile, looking out over an audience of what he estimates was about 700 people.

The concert was preceded by a picnic dinner catered by Assaggio’s in Branford. Attendees who purchased a VIP ticket were also treated with a pre-show cocktail reception, a meet and greet with The Broadway Boys, and an exclusive pre-show performance. Proceeds went towards the restoration of the Legacy Theater, a project run by Nobile and his business partners Colin Sheehan and Jana Shea at Seaview Productions.

An Epic Mash-Up of Sorts

As Nobile’s comment highlighted, the event was an epic mash-up of aesthetic and musical styles. The band, which incorporated elements of pop, funk, gospel, jazz, and folk into its set list of well-known show tunes and pop songs, also peppered its show with short biographical vignettes designed to introduce the audience to the men behind the microphones.

Shaun Myklas, known for his most recent role as Curtis in ArtCentric’s production of Dreamgirls, recalled the humble beginnings of his now illustrious singing career, which he began at the age of 7 at the Mount Pleasant Baptist church in Albany, New York. 

“The story goes that when I was first supposed to sing a solo, I got up, walked out of the choir stand, looked up at the congregation, turned around, and got back to my seat,” he recalled, smiling.

At this point, the crowd was so large that it had spilled out of the neatly arranged matrix of white fold-up chairs nestled under the canopy and had come to rest in a haphazard collage of colored lawn chairs and blankets around the tent’s perimeters.

Donald Webber Jr.’s story began even earlier. ​“I knew I wanted to do theater after I saw Sesame Street Live, when I was 2, maybe 3- years- old,” he said, the band suspended in a soft piano interlude behind him. Once his piece was over, he led the group in singing ​“Home,” from the Broadway hit The Wiz.

In the middle of the performance, Nobile introduced a guest singer from the Make A Wish Foundation: Kayla Pellegrini, whose wish had been to sing the song ​“Popular” on the Broadway stage. After her solo performance of the song that night, Kayla was presented with a free trip to Hawaii, another one of her wishes, as well as a lei from each of the performers

Webber and his bandmates — Nick Cartell, Brent DiRoma, Matt DeAngelis, Shaun Mykals, and John Krause — are no strangers to the spotlight. But due to the nature of Broadway theater, they typically meet their audiences as the characters they portray, not as themselves.

“You go see a movie with Tom Cruise in it and everyone knows about Tom Cruise from reading about him in the papers all the time,” observed DeAngelis. ​“We enjoy a little more anonymity than that when we’re performing a Broadway show”

Performing with the Broadway Boys gives the band members an opportunity to introduce themselves to their fans. ​“It’s nice to remember where you come from and it’s nice to share those stories with the people that come to see the shows,” added Krause.

Work and Play

In total, the Broadway Boys roster is comprised of about 20 different performers from the Broadway scene. The lineup will vary according to the availability of its stars, whose foremost priority is to be in a Broadway show.

“It’s kind of a rotating group. It’s whoever’s not working,” explained DeAngelis, who elaborated: ​“I did my first Broadway show about two years ago, and I spent about two and a half years on the road with the show, and as soon as I was home they were like ​‘oh, I’ve got a gig for you.’“

But though their time together may be more fleeting than most successful bands, the current group of Broadway Boys had no shortage of cohesion. Everything about them was in sync, from their coordinated moves to their coordinated outfits: a mix of black and grey ensembles featuring a golden ratio of vests, hats, and ties. 

It was these outfits — which promised to be ruthlessly insulating in the night’s 95 degree heat — that the band was discussing on the upper deck of the Owenego as they prepared to take the stage that night.

“We’re going to sweat a lot. We’ve got towels up there,” remarked DiRoma.

“I wish I brought my bathing suit,” Krause chimed in. ​“I would’ve jumped in after the show like ​‘good night!’” he said, waving as he mimed his watery exit.

DeAngelis, who would later express his regret on stage that the band’s performance of ​“Age of Aquarius” from the musical Hair would not be accompanied by its customary amount of stripping, proposed that the group end the night by skinny dipping.

“Make sure you print that,” he said, grinning.

Krause, still laughing, added in assent: ​“If I get the Branford Eagle and there’s nothing about skinny dipping in it, I’m going to be upset.”

Consider it done, friends of Branford. 

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