Saturday Special - MasterVoices Presentation of Babes in Toyland

I was given a ticket to Babes in Toyland for free for review purposes. Any and all opinions expressed here are my own.

What: Babes in Toyland

Where: Carnegie Hall
             881 7th Ave.
             New York, New York

When: April 27, 2017

On April 27, 2017, MasterVoices formerly known as The Collegiate Chorale presented a one night performance of Babes in Toyland at Carnegie Hall. MasterVoices is a musical group whose goal is to bring great stories to life through music. The group has been around for 75 years and features a 130 member choir and also works with an impressive array of guest soloists. Past guest soloists have included Eric Idle, Victoria Clark and Deborah Voigt.

For Babes in Toyland guest soloists included  a host of  past award winners and nominees including:



Tony Winner, Kelly O'Hara



Tony Winner, Bill Irwin

Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winner and Tony nominee, Christopher Fitzgerald

The show was wonderful. The cast was incredibly talented from the amazing guest soloists right down through all of the voices in the choir. The beautiful music that accompanied the singing voices was played by the Orchestra of St Luke's. This accomplished orchestra often accompanies MasterVoices. The staging (what there was of it since the show was presented as concert ) was perfect. Most of all, they managed to bring a very dated show with some incredibly bizarre turns of plot into a hilariously entertaining show for a modern audience. The addition of a narrator played by Blair Brown not only to explain what was going on but to provide historical background really helped bridge the gap between when the show was originally presented around 1903 and today and make it enjoyable for a modern audience. All in all, it the show was delightful, and while it is my understanding that this performance and an additional performance of the show which was presented at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in Brookville, New York on April 29 mark the end of MasterVoices current season, I look forward to seeing what they come up with for next season.

And that's Mom's view. Tune in tomorrow for this week's Sunday Scoop.
Photo credits: Kelly O'Hara headshot by Laura Marie Duncan
                       Christopher Fitzgerald headshot by Tina Tyrell
                       Babes in Toyland production photos by Erin Baiano