For much of the year, the world sort of forgets about Broadway. Then comes a two-month surge.
In New York, that means a fresh world of dancing cats, rocking vampires and an entire village consumed by show tunes.
And for the rest of us. watching on TV sets? First, PBS delivers a four-Friday stretch of music, old (“Top Hat” is shown here) and fairly new. Then CBS has the Tony Awards.
Broadway actually continues all year, of course. “Hamilton” has been there for 11 years, “Wicked” for 23, “Chicago” for 30. But then come key times:
— New shows arrive, just in time for Tony nominations. There were six new musicals this season — four opening during a two-week stretch before the April 26 deadline. Of the nine new plays, four came in a four-week stretch.
— Then the Tony nominations, which were announced Tuesday. This year’s leaders, with 12 nominations apiece, are adapted from the young-vampire movie “The Lost Boys” and the brilliant streaming series “Schmigadoon.”
— The Tonys, June 7 on CBS. We can expect lots of music — from Pink (the host), from the four nominated new musicals — including “Titanique,” a “Titanic” spoof — and maybe from the nominated revivals, with fresh versions of “Ragtime,” “Cats” and “Rocky Horror.”
— And in-between those two? We can see the original “Brigadoon” — the first season was the best — on Apple+ and catch a PBS surge.
Each year, PBS cobbles together a Broadway-style month, including full-scale musicals (sometimes filmed in England), concerts and documentaries. This time, it starts with opposite musicals — one topical, the other silly fun.
The shows — 9 p.m. on Fridays — are:
MAY 8: “Suffs.”
Looking back more than a century, this sees the drive to get women the vote.
We could gripe that too much of the time is spent on the in-fighting, the push between organizations and between generations of women. But at the right moments — especially the start of the second act, with “The Young Are at the Gates” — “Suffs” ripples with energy and idealism.
It’s also an impressive feat for Shaina Taub. Now 37, she had been part of the New York theater scene ever since college, but had never reached Broadway. She won two Tonys for writing the dialog and songs to “Suffs” and also starred as Alice Paul, an unrelenting hero.
MAY 15: “Top Hat.” Here’s an opposite experience: No drama, no trauma, no bursts of idealism. Just silly comedy, flashy dancing and great songs.
This was originally a 1935 Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers movie, filled with Irving Berlin tunes. In 2013, it became a British musical, adding more Berlin songs to the eight in the movie.
Last year, a theater festival in England revived that, with Kathleen Marshall — an American who has won three choreography Tonys — directing. The result — like Marshall’s previous “Anything Goes” on PBS — is a delight.
Yes, the meager plot tries to go way too far with a mistaken identity. Also, some of the side characters overdo their buffoonery.
But the stars (shown here) are terrific, the dancing is dazzling and the score soars with “Cheek to Cheek,” “Let’s Play the Music and Dance,” “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” and “Top Hat, White Tie and Tails.”
MAY 22: Nicole Scherzinger in concert.
This one is sort of Broadway-ish.
Scherzinger does start with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” and she includes a couple “Sunset Boulevard” songs — performed in the same spot (Royal Albert Hall) where she received an Olivier Award for starring in the show.
But she quickly switches to a song from her Pussycat Dolls and solo days, a remake of the rock classic “I Put a Spell On You.” And she booms through music genres.
Let’s give her an A-plus for singing and a D (maybe D-minus) for stage presence. Scherzinger is way too repetitive, cooing about what a big deal it is to be there and how she loves everyone. At one point, the audience must keep repeating a chorus while she does a costume change.
Then again, the costumes are worth it. The opener is dazzling (think of a zebra at the Met Gala) and the final one fits the closing number.
That’s when Scherzinger convincingly re-asks the musical question from her Dolls days: “Don’t you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”
She sings it — and everything else — beautifully. But some PBS viewers may be longing for the days when people simply danced cheek to cheek.
MAY 29: “Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.”
This documentary offers a delightful journey through Broadway history, offering some of the top stars and most of the best songwriters.
We go from the Gershwins to Richard Rodgers — first with Lorenz Hart, then with Oscar Hammerstein — and on to Bernstein and Sondheim and more. As the film puts it, the Jewish legacy involves everyone except Cole Porter.
Given a history of suffering, the Jewish songwriters offered endless optimism. Charles Strouse had one chap sing “Put On a Happy Face” and Annie chirp that the sun will come up tomorrow.
Familiar with bias, they wrote about it. Jerome Kern did that in “Showboat,” Hammerstein (raised Protestant, but with a prominent Jewish father and grandfather) did in “South Pacific.” Then Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock found a universal audience for “Fiddler on the Roof.”
This adds up to be a grand journey … and an entertaining way to wrap up PBS’ Broadway month.