Michael Cerveris, et al. @Bowery Ballroom, Aug. 21st

Monday night, joined my fellow theater geek Wheatie for a fundraiser by the members of the cast of Sweeney Todd and friends, including Duncan Sheik and Nellie McKay. If you recall, Wheatie and I enjoyed seeing the amazing Broadway show in January. Tonight, a bunch of these amazingly talented people got together at my favorite venue to raise money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

The first portion of the evening featured a number of the actors from the show, including Johanna and Tobias:

They did not play Sweeney songs, but played a number of crazy covers and original pieces. (No, they did not cover "Crazy.")

Then, Nellie McKay, after joining in on some songs, played a short 3 song solo set -- pretty nutty and delightful, as usual:


It was during her set we spotted Patti Lupone, or I should say, Mrs. Lovett, seated in the balcony.

The next portion of the evening had Duncan Sheik play stripped down versions of some songs from his upcoming musical, Spring Awakening:


Finally, for the last part of the evening, we got to experience Mr. Sweeney Todd himself, Michael Cerveris, and his band rock out. One song, Powerlines, reminded me a lot of Bob Mould and Husker Du. His rock voice was surprisingly different from his stage voice -- more subtle and higher than his baritone that I was used to. Happily, he didn't spit a single drop, as he infamously does during Sweeney Todd. Julie1 told me that she saw Michael Cerveris as Hedwig years ago. I couldn't picture it till I heard him sing last night.



To close out the evening, Michael and his band were joined by Duncan and Nellie and Co.



So awesome, all of it!