Beechman Follies at the Laurie Beechman Theater

Last night my husband got us tickets to the Beechman Follies. He was excited because Joe Iconis (one of our favorite up-and-coming Broadway stars) was slated to perform with his crew. I had never been to the Laurie Beechman Theater before, but it reminded me very much of what I thought old-school New York theater was like.

To get to the theater you had to go into a restaurant (the West Bank Cafe) through the restaurant and downstairs into a basement. Once in the space there are tables set up and a full bar. You could also order from the menu of the West Bank Cafe. My husband reserved early, so we were front and center at the event (one of my favorite places to be).

The show was a celebration of the current staff having run the theater for three years. They brought back acts from the past to perform songs for the audience. The performers included Joe Iconis and his crew of merrymakers, Mary Testa (from Xanadu and other shows) and Annie Golden. My favorite number was by Molly Pope, who I had never heard of before, but now I am going to start following her more closely. There were about 20 performers total and everyone sang just one song. It was a great assortment of cabaret and Broadway.

As a side note, I asked my husband how he found out about the event, because I had failed to read about it in any of my New York magazines. He said that he set up an RSS feed that alerts him when Joe Iconis is mentioned in a press release or the news. Apparently there was a press release and Google alerted him… aah the power of the internet!

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