By Gabriel Galindez
On Wednesday, November 7, Feinstein’s 54 Below brought the geeks to Broadway with a live performance of the cult-classic episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer “Once More With Feeling” and of course: it slayed.
For the uninitiated potential slayers out there, in the season six episode of Buffy the town of Sunnydale was “possessed” into living their lives in musical form due to the summoning of a rather delicious demon named Sweet. The audience was treated to key plot points being sung and performed by main characters as well as mundane tracks about dry cleaning and parking tickets.
Wednesday’s performance had some of Broadway’s best elevating the soundtrack along with a four-piece band. Taking on the role of Buffy, Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels) lead the cast and charismatically killed songs “Going Through the Motions” and “Something to Sing About.” Emily Borromeo (School House Rock) sang the sarcastically comedic yet sweet songs of Anya including “Bunnies,” “Mrs.,” and the duet “I’ll Never Tell” with Sam Underwood (Fear the Walking Dead).
Other performances included Autumn Hurlbert (Legally Blonde) and Jenny Pinzari (Pop Filter) enchanting us with “Under Your Spell”; bad boy Spike’s stand out number “Rest In Peace” by equally smoldering Kyle Matthew Hamilton (SpongeBob SquarePants); and Dennis Stowe (Aladdin) as delectable demon Sweet on “What You Feel.” Rounding out the cast were Martin Solá (On Your Feet) as Giles, Lauren Nicole Chapman (Frozen) as Dawn, and the ensemble: Nathan Richardson (Freaky Friday), Darius Wright (Pretty Woman), and Lilian Andrea De Leon (Lés Miserables at Dallas Theater Center). The show was briskly paced with comedic transitions by narrator Louis Peitzman (Buzzfeed).
The performance was directed by Tyler Spicer with music direction by Drew Wutke and produced by Shoshana Feinstein.
Upcoming film-inspired shows at Feinstein’s 54 Below include:
Uta Lemper: Rendezvous with Marlene
November 27, 28
The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Concert
December 13
54 Sings Flashdance
February 13
