Nostalgia for Broadway’s golden age is proving to be a potent societal anesthetic. The great shows of yesterday offer a vision of a kinder, gentler America, where the angels of our better nature aren’t considered chumps and the dream of a better tomorrow hasn’t been destroyed by zero-sum thinking.
The hunger for this sentiment — let’s call it basic goodness — is real. Sensitive to the public’s jangled mood, the Hollywood Bowl kicked off its 2026 season on Saturday with “The Best of Broadway,” a lavish, celebratory, unapologetically heartfelt concert headlined by Tony winners Lea Salonga, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Darren Criss and Renée Elise Goldsberry.
Also on hand was Halle Bailey, a Grammy-nominated R&B artist, who’s on the rise. She may not have any Broadway stage credits, but she’s become a musical theater talent to watch after her performance as Ariel in Disney’s live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid.”
As host, Billy Crystal brought his impeccable comic timing and easy affability to the stage, making the grand gala feel as cozy as a backyard barbecue. He joked about the traffic — relieving everyone’s driving and parking stress. He repeatedly plugged his new autobiographical show “860” that’s headed to Broadway in the fall. And he had us all in stitches when, after a burst of applause, he remarked that he hadn’t heard such a rousing ovation since they took Trump’s name off the Kennedy Center.
The night raised $2.3 million for the L.A. Philharmonic’s learning and community programs, including Youth Orchestra Los Angeles, the signature program launched during music director Gustavo Dudamel’s tenure to bring rigorous music education to underserved youth across Los Angeles County. Members of YOLA joined the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, expertly conducted by Thomas Wilkins, for a portion of the concert’s second half.
The program, a selection of Broadway tunes old and new, ushered in the summer season in breezy style. The wine-buoyed audience, eager to show its appreciation, was on hair-trigger alert for standing ovations. Leonard Bernstein’s Overture to “Candide” made the traditional fireworks display all the more magical.
I had a lovely time, but I can’t say the concert lived up to its title. Not that impressive virtuosity wasn’t on display, but Broadway is truly at its best when musical numbers are embedded in a story, allowing the performers to feed off each other and reach heights that they might not be able to reach on their own.
Too much of the bill required the actors to stand and deliver, “American Idol”-style. It was a little unfair to place such a heavy burden on them. Salonga is vocally built for this setup, and she was able to shine, just as she did in “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” displaying her incredible versatility in numbers as disparate as “Send in the Clowns,” “I’d Give My Life for You” and “Defying Gravity.”
Responsible for much of the night’s heavy lifting, Salonga even performed a medley of ABBA favorites from “Mamma Mia!” It was a crowd-pleasing moment, to be sure, but more in keeping with the bygone era of TV variety shows than with prime Broadway.
Goldsberry thrilled the audience when she performed “Satisfied,” the song she put her stamp on in her Tony-winning performance as Angelica Schuyler in “Hamilton.” Her singing and rapping were as sharp as ever, but the effect wasn’t quite the same without Angelica’s sisters in the background.
The exquisite lighting, shifting with pastel shades of Spielbergian wonder, lent a cinematic quality that felt appropriate to a stage named in honor of composer and conductor John Williams. A fleet company of dancers, choreographed and costumed by Spencer Liff, added to the dreamlike effect of a concert book-ended by numbers from “A Chorus Line.”
When Mitchell sang “There’s No Business Like Show Business,” he seemed to be floating on a Busby Berkeley cloud. One of Broadway’s indisputable heavyweights, Mitchell leaned a little more heavily than usual on his charisma, though perhaps he was saving his vocal prowess for “The Impossible Dream” and “Wheels of a Dream,” two powerhouse numbers from his Broadway past.
Criss was electric in “Something’s Coming” from “West Side Story,” gliding across the stage as though in a full-scale production. And it was delightful to see him exchange quirky misfit sparks with Salonga during their duet of “Suddenly Seymour,” one of the rare moments when the singers were allowed to join forces.
The highlight of the evening, a true ensemble moment, was the first act finale. An elegant rendition of “Put on Your Sunday Clothes” from “Hello, Dolly!” united the performers in an exuberant group number. The dancers, costumed in their Saturday evening black-and-white vintage best, added to the parading splendor.
There should have been more opportunities for this kind of synergy. To ask a singer to walk on and bring the house down with “You’ll Never Walk Alone” might be asking a bit too much. Goldsberry smartly went in a more modest folk-gospel direction for this operatic showstopper from “Carousel.”
Bailey, dressed as a fairy princess when singing “Part of Your World” from “The Little Mermaid,” was somewhat incongruously glammed up for her rendition of “Home” from “The Wiz,” the song that Stephanie Mills made indelible. Some of us are afflicted with longer memories of Broadway’s best than the instant sensation TikTok generation.
The selection for “Rent” that Goldsberry offered had me similarly harking back to more memorable theatrical encounters with the music. Not that the songs weren’t admirably performed, but the same intensity of emotion can’t be conjured out of thin air.
These starry revues work best when the emphasis is placed on interpretation rather than raw execution. Not even the most gifted musical theater talents can necessarily conquer on command.
Broadway’s hold on us isn’t just about nostalgia or virtuosity. It’s also about collaboration and the glory of teamwork.
Here’s an idea for next year’s opening night gala: Reassemble these luminaries for a concert version of a musical and watch them scale new heights together.
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