The Phoenix Theatre Company's AN EVENING WITH FRIENDS featured Broadway and National Tour performers

by Gil Benbook

As stages in theatre companies across the country are dark, many have turned their focus to presenting online interviews, cabaret concerts, readings and recordings of their past productions to help brings arts to people who have been stuck in their homes. The Phoenix Theatre Company recently pulled together five theatre performers who appeared in dozens of shows on their stages and who have all gone on to appear in Broadway and National Tours of hit musicals for their "An Evening with Friends" virtual event.

This virtual interview and performance featured 16 songs plus in-depth, personal interviews with each of the performers led by Phoenix Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Michael Barnard. The five individuals included Nick Cartell, Kathy Fitzgerald, James Gish, Brittney Mack and Sam Primack. Mack, Gish and Cartell all earned their Actors' Equity cards from their work at Phoenix Theatre.

Sam Primack was just 9 years old when he played Young Guido in Nine at Phoenix Theatre and he later went on to star as Ralphie in A Christmas Story and was also in Gypsy and Newsies. In addition to appearing in those shows at Phoenix Theatre, he's appeared in dozens of shows in the Valley and made his Broadway debut as the understudy for numerous roles in Dear Evan Hansen. Primack, who was a 2017 Jimmy Award finalist, was appearing as the alternate Evan Hansen in the touring production of that show when theatres across the company went dark. For this special virtual event, he sang a gorgeous version of "For Forever" from Dear Evan Hansen and the simple and beautiful but also moving song "Just One Person" which is from the musical Snoopy and has also been performed by the Muppets on "The Muppet Show."

Britney Mack has appeared in numerous Phoenix Theatre productions, including Ain't Misbehavin, Avenue Q (which she appeared in two separate productions), Memphis, All Night Strut, Beehive, and Little Shop of Horrors.  She said she is currently on a "slight pause" from co-starring in the new musical Six on Broadway, where she made her Broadway debut. That show was set to open on the night that Broadway shut down. She sang a fun and upbeat take on "Keeping Out of Mischief" from Ain't Misbehavin, and thanked her ability to have the stamina to do Six from her experience working on Beehive at Phoenix Theatre. Her performance of "River Deep, Mountain High" from that show was full of fire. 

James D. Gish has been in ten shows at Phoenix Theatre, including appearing in ensemble roles in several shows as well as lead roles in Newsies, Jersey Boys, and West Side Story. His performance of "Something's Coming" from that hit show was powerful and moving. He made his national touring debut in the ensemble of the recent tour of Les Misérables, and was appearing as Gerry Goffin in the national tour of Beautiful, the Carole King Musical when COVID shut shows across the country down. He delivered a fun take on the comical song that he said was his "ode to the coronavirus" - "Kick Your Ass" from The Toxic Avenger, which was his first show at Phoenix Theatre where he understudied the lead role.

Gish said that Barnard coached him through scenes for his audition for Beautiful and Gish told a story about his audition when he left right after a show at Phoenix Theatre, flew out that night on the red eye from Phoenix for New York City, had his audition the morning he arrived in New York City, then got on a plane from JFK to Phoenix and arrived in time to do the show the next night. 

Nick Cartell's first show at Phoenix Theatre was in the 2000 production of Man of La Mancha, and he has gone on to appear in Something's Afoot and The Light in the Piazza and play Jack in Into the Woods, and Marius in Les Misérables, and even worked in the Phoenix Theatre box office and house managed. He made his Broadway debut as a swing in the 2011 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar where he had to learn over a dozen different roles and during the interview portion, he spoke about how he made his Broadway debut in the role of Judas. He sang soaring and stirring renditions of both "Out There" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and "Bring Him Home" from Les Misérables, which he said is "an exercise in selfless love." Cartell mentioned that his mother had passed away from ovarian cancer shortly before his final callback for Jean Valjean and that now that he's a father whenever he sings "Bring Him Home" it has a whole new meaning to him. 

Michael Barnard said that he's known Kathy Fitzgerald for many years. She appeared in Chapter Two at Phoenix Theatre in the 1990s, and was in Marvin's Room, and played Mama Rose in Gypsy (with Sam Primack as one of the newsboys) Fitzgerald was back at Phoenix Theatre earlier this year where she was making her directorial debut with Something Rotten, which ran for one performance before everything shut down. Fitzgerald has appeared in numerous Broadway shows, including The Producers, and her performance of "That Old Black Magic"- the song she sang at her audition for Mel Brooks for that show, was comic gold. She also delivered a fun and upbeat take on "Little Girls" from Annie, a show and role she's played in the past.

The last portion of the show featured songs that each performer chose as one they believe speaks to them specifically for the events of today, including Primack's "Let it Be," Mack's "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)," Gish's "Roads," Fitzgerald's "And the World Goes Round" and "Cartell's "This is the Moment." The final song was an updated take from Barnard of "I'm Still There" from Follies, that focuses on the 100th anniversary of Phoenix Theatre and that ended this special concert and interview event on a high note with Fitzgerald adding, "we have to stay strong. The world needs us. The world needs art and the world needs laughter."