Katie Welsh Concert: The Broadway Musical Heroine

On Saturday, April 6th at 7:30, Katie Welsh will bring us the first concert in her Spring Cabaret Concert Series at the Arts Council of Princeton – The Broadway Musical Heroine.

In this evening of song, Katie takes us on a journey through the decades, from the 1940s to the 2010s, on a quest to understand how Broadway’s leading ladies have changed over time. For example, what makes a Rodgers & Hammerstein heroine different from a Sondheim heroine? How do our favorite female characters navigate the world of relationships in similar and different ways? Katie considers these questions as she sings songs from Oklahoma!, South Pacific, Bells Are Ringing, Sweet Charity, Jesus Christ Superstar, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods, Les Miserables, The Light in the Piazza, and many more.

Katie, local to the Princeton area, always offers a unique evening of song in the format of what she calls an “informative cabaret,” a concept she first developed a few years back for her senior thesis at Princeton University. She shapes her patter to be informative and educational, giving her audience the backstory and context of each song, occasionally quoting scholars and journalists, touching on the history of musical theater, and leading fun moments of musical analysis.

She recently described the “backstory” of this concert to Donald Sanborn III in an interview published in the 2018 anthology of Musical Theater Today: “During the research process [for this show], I was particularly struck by how the heroine’s songs about love changed over the years…We can hear more psychological complexity and emotional depth in the Broadway musical heroine over the years, especially beginning in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when Broadway writers really started giving us more access to the leading lady’s inner world, especially to her oft-time conflicting thoughts and feelings about love.” So count on both enjoying a fabulous evening of song while learning about the evolution of the Broadway musical heroine.

Following The Broadway Musical Heroine on April 6th, the spring series will include Love…According to Great American Songbook on May 11th and a benefit for the Art Council of Princeton on June 15th The Music of Richard Rodgers.

Pianist David Pearl will again accompany Katie. David has performed in many of New York’s premiere venues and collaborates frequently with musicians in the jazz and classical community.

In addition to performing in venues and at private events in the Princeton area, Katie has also been seen in New York at Feinstein's/54 Below, Don't Tell Mama, The Duplex Cabaret Theatre, the Metropolitan Room, BroadwayCon, and the Princeton Club of New York. You can learn more about Katie at KatieWelsh.com.

Tickets to each event are $15 and are available at Eventbrite.com or for cash at the door. The Arts Council of Princeton is located at 102 Witherspoon Street in Princeton, NJ. The Music & Theater Collective is producing the series; additional information is available by calling 609-915-7889.

MORE ABOUT M&TC

This series is produced by the Music & Theater Collective. M&TC is committed to presenting programs – from concerts to lectures to panels – that both entertain and educate. For more information, contact musictheatercollective@gmail.com.