Valeries Gallery
Valerie Smaldone
Media Personality, Actress, Producer, Writer
Valerie Smaldone, a 5 time Billboard Magazine Award winner, is perhaps best known for her unprecedented success holding the #1 position in the New York radio market as the midday host of New York’s 106.7 FM. She ended her on air run with the station at the end of 2007. In addition, she was the co-creator, writer, producer and host of 'Spotlight On,' a nationally syndicated program that featured in-depth interviews with top recording artists such as Paul McCartney, Elton John, Sting and Celine Dion, to name a few.
Presently, Valerie can be heard on NBC Network News promos and specialty shows and as the announcer for The Boomer Esiason Show on MSG. She writes a weekly nightlife column for TheThreeTomatoes.com, writes a theater column for Examiner.com, and has an interview program on the Italian American Network. She is an interviewer and feature reporter on Broadway for TonyAwards.com and hosts and produces celebrity portrait unveilings for Broadway stars at famed theater district eatery, Tony’s.
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2009 Review Highlights
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A three-fer!
You can't get any more variety in theatrical musicals than the three I saw last week:La Cage aux Folles, American Idiot and Sondheim on Sondheim.
The first one, La Cage, unfolds like a traditional musical with a book (story) music, lyrics and dancing.
The second, American Idiot, is sort of like a rock opera (a la Tommy)
The third, Sondheim on Sondheim is more like a musical revue and a tribute piece to an American musical theatre icon.
So which did I enjoy the most? They all have their moment (s) in the sun, but the one that really spoke to me the most...drum roll......(what will she say???) was Sondheim on Sondheim.
Perhaps it was the lovely glass of sangria and satisfying savory and sweet appetizers that my date for the evening (an old high school/college/adult friend who plays for the other team but couldn't be a more attentive escort!) and I enjoyed, or maybe it was being in the old nostalgic Studio 54 that made me feel especially mellow, or better still the 5th row seats that coerced my good mood. Still, hearing the body of music that this master of the great American art form, musical theater, has been able to accomplish, was very moving.
Even more moving was his back story, his dysfunctional and downright mean mother, his distant father, and happily, the amazing nurturing relationship from Oscar Hammerstein and his family that served to inspire and ultimately save this only child from certain oblivion.
Stars Tom Wopat, Vanessa Williams and Barbara Cook. along with other equally talented performers, including my personal favorite. Euan Morton, brought the music, the stories and the man to life.
It was an inspired evening, albeit a tad long...(one or two fewer songs would have been a good choice to leave the audience wanting for more in my book) www.roundabouttheatre.org
Barbara Cook and Vanessa Williams in Sondheim on Sondheim
Photo credit: Richard Termine
Compare this evening to a night spent with the head banging music and choreography of American Idiot. Now, I am a big Green Day fan, as well as that of John Gallagher, who plays the central character, but I felt that the show became one long whine, and one long song. Maybe I need to see it again in order for it to resonate. I ran into a neighbor of mine who is a contemporary in age, and had liked it so much, not even knowing one Green Day song, that he went to see it again. Maybe that's what I need to do. www.americanidiotonbroadway.com
Now on to La Cage. Yes, there are wonderful numbers, including, "The Best of Times" (an anthem for good food, wine, drink and experiences) and the defiant and fabulous, "I Am What I Am." There are wonderful performances by Kelsey Grammer and Douglas Hodge, as well as a fantastic supporting cast. I do love the themes of being authentic and living your truth. But, it just seemed, well, dated. We can no longer be shocked by beautiful women who are really men, or men who perform in drag. Happily, the world has changed for the better since this musical first came to Broadway. The main theme in La Cage is the same as the theme in another show currently running on Broadway, The Addams Family. That is that families who live on the fringe of society are being forced to conform to "normalcy" when their child is becoming betrothed to an individual whose parents seemingly follow the straight and narrow. The truth is, we've all been around long enough to know, that really, darling, there is no such thing. www.lacage.com
Whew, what a week..And more to come next time!
