To listen to the actress Sierra Boggess Say it, Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman’s Broadway musical “Harmony“It couldn’t have a more appropriate title.
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“They sing in harmony throughout the show,” said Boggess (“The Little Mermaid,” “Love Never Dies”), in conversation with the director and choreographer of “Harmony.” Warren Carlyle in the new episode of “Stagecraft” Varieties theater podcast. “There’s no sound like it on Broadway right now.”
Carlyle (“After Midnight,” “The Music Man”) described the sound of “Harmony,” about a real-life singing group called the Comedian Harmonists, as “a cross between Manhattan Transfer and the Marx Brothers.”
He went on to reveal his thoughts on how hit duo Manilow and Sussman work together. “Barry is very emotional,” Carlyle said. “He writes these beautiful, emotional melodies, and Bruce is like a scalpel. He is so sharp, so concise and so focused on the story. He is like the marriage of this very, very intelligent writing and this very emotional music.”
Boggess plays a woman who marries one of the Jewish harmonists just as the Nazis begin their rise to power in Germany. She said she particularly enjoys the song she sings with her co-star Julie Benko: “It’s a duet for a soprano and a singer. We have very few of those. There are so many women in our industry and we are always looking for things to sing together. I honestly think this song will become one that people sing a lot.”
Also on the new episode of Stagecraft, Boggess talks about working with Broadway veteran Chip Zien and Carlyle talks about creating comedic choreography. The two also mentioned a show they hope to bring to New York one day: a revival of “The Secret Garden,” which the actor-director previously worked on earlier this year at Center Theater Group in Los Angeles.
“That’s been a passion project for the last few years and I’m still working on it,” Carlyle said. “That’s something I’m doing for Sierra and I hope sooner rather than later it will be in New York.”
To hear the full conversation, listen at the link above or download and subscribe to “Stagecraft” on podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify and the Broadway Podcast Network. New episodes of “Stagecraft” are released every two weeks.
