Broadway Spotlight Series
Played to a sold out crowd, sharing the evening with Idina Menzel's Spotlight Concert

Review of the "Full-release" Concert: A welcome Matt in the ''Broadway Spotlight''
By Wayman Wong

According to spelling, ''Bogart'' is only a few letters away from
''bogus,'' which naturally means ''phony.'' But Matt Bogart is 180
degrees away from that. He's the real thing. A Broadway star with good
looks, great pipes and charisma galore, he celebrated the release of his
CD ''Simple Song'' Oct. 7 with a kickass cabaret act at the Ars Nova
Theater in New York City.

If you've seen Bogart before in ''Miss Saigon,'' ''The Civil War'' or
''Aida'' (he's playing Radames through Oct. 13), you know he's got stage
presence and a powerful lyric baritone that soars through the ceiling.
But thanks to the magic of cabaret, you got to see his full personality
at play at the Ars Nova, and it was obvious from the moment he opened
with a fun and finger-snapping ''Crazy Little Thing Called Love.''

Yes, Bogart could leave the rafters ringing with ''Her Face,'' the
beautiful ballad from ''Carnival.'' And yes, he could silence the room
with a ''Simple Song'' from Bernstein's ''Mass.'' But what really
floored me was how funny he could be. He joked about singing ''Why,
God?'' from ''Miss Saigon''; traded quick-witted quips with his guest,
Sloan Just, and kept interrupting his duet of ''Written in the Stars''
with the golden-throated Nikki Renee Daniels, so he could regale us with
his travails of auditioning for ''Aida.''

Most adorably, Bogart brought up his girlfriend, Jessica Boevers (from
''Oklahoma!''), from the audience, so he could twirl her about and
serenade her with Rodgers & Hart's ''I Could Write a Book.'' When he
sang, ''I could write a preface on how we met,'' Boevers wisecracked,
''Yeah, I was really drunk. I don't remember a thing.'' She then joked
that she knew the words to all the songs on his CD because ''he plays it
all the time.'' To prove it, Bogart sang the ending to ''Soliloquy''
from ''Carousel'' as Boevers pretended to lip-synch and ham it up
hilariously.

What a cute couple. Boevers sure looks like she could be the Bacall to
his, well, Bogart. And if you missed this terrific show, the good news
is it'll return Nov. 17 at Joe's Pub, so make sure you can catch it when
Bogart gets to play it again. For details, visit his Web site:
www.mattbogart.com.

(Wayman Wong edits entertainment for the New York Daily News.)

reprinted with permission

(Photos courtesy of George Seylaz)