If you haven’t seen Harmony, the Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical about the Comedian Harmonists — a Weimar-into-Nazi era comic singing group that was a rage throughout Europe and appeared once at Carnegie Hall — take advantage of wide discount offers (see below).
Given this is the slow time of year for Broadway, and Harmony was already having a tough time filling seats, go while you can, and support what isn’t a perfect show (the first act especially needs more space for story- and character-development) but it is an important one. For a show in the works literally for decades, Harmony has a strong relevant contemporary message and a particularly heart-wrenching (and oft-times comic) performance by Chip Zien.
When we saw Harmony the other night we ran into our friend Christine Lavin, who has attended multiple times both when Harmony had its initial NYC run at the Museum of Jewish Heritage and since its transition to Broadway. We bemoaned the number of empty seats and batted around ideas about how Manilow might be able to boost sales by appearing for a week or two. Conductor? (Seen only briefly from the back, but that could be adjusted.) Join the curtain call and sing with the
cast? Take the role of the pianist, leaving the existing pianist to sing for those performances? Talkbacks/Q&A sessions at the end? There is ample precedent for such booster efforts – think Carole King and Beautiful — where the celebrity doesn’t have to overshadow the existing cast but can add an extra enticement for ticket-buying fence-sitters.
In addition to the Ethel Barrymore Theatre box office (243 W. 47th St.), as this is written, TDF has seats for tomorrow 1/6 and most performances 1/13-1/20; it’s been consistently available at the TKTS booths; and there are $18 day-of rush tickets.
nightmayer 