Few people are as enthusiastic about the future of musical theater as Brian Stokes Mitchell. The Tony Award-winning actor, who was last seen on the Great White Way in the musical adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar’s “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown” in 2010, says today’s Broadway is part of a natural and “wonderful” evolution of a uniquely American art form.
“Everything evolves, and theater is the same way,” Mitchell told The Huffington Post in an interview. “It’s about new inspirations, new talent and new ways of looking at things. Musical theater is not what it was 50 years ago or 100 years ago, it’s turned into something new, so let’s stay on that horse, keep riding it and see what comes next.”
Still, Mitchell — who belongs to that unique group of Broadway performers who inspire excitement simply by having their name attached to a marquee — will turn back the clock a bit for his July 8 performance at New York’s Town Hall. The 55-year-old baritone is the inaugural performer of Town Hall’s 2013 “Starry Summer Nights” series, which will also include “The Hit Men” featuring the former stars of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons (July 18) and Linda Eder (July 22). The basis for Mitchell’s forthcoming show is his 2012 album, “Simply Broadway,” which includes songs from “Porgy and Bess,” “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Les Miserables” among other smash shows, and features accompaniment from longtime pianist and arranger Ted Firth.
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