PBS’ ‘Leading Ladies’ Looks for a Truly Personal Style

Music is fixed yet fluid; songwriters codify it on paper in time signatures, notes, tempos and so forth, then singers come along and play around with it all, infusing their own temperaments into the mix.

That’s what’s exciting about music, and it’s what should be exciting about tonight’s KCET and KLCS presentation of “My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies,” as stars of the musical theater perform songs closely associated with them or dear to their hearts. Yet despite powerhouse singing by such Broadway legends as Liza Minnelli and Nell Carter, as well as such of-the-moment stars as Audra McDonald and Linda Eder, the moments of true revelation are disappointingly rare.

That some of the featured performers aren’t at their best, though, is small potatoes compared to the unfortunate way in which director Bill Cosel has packaged this night of nights (Sept. 28, 1998, at Carnegie Hall) for PBS’ “Great Performances” series. Unimaginatively shot and boringly cut and pasted together, this presentation rarely lets us share the excitement we see in shots of the jubilant New York audience.

On the plus side: Carter conveys a world of hurt in “Mean to Me,” which she sang in “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ”; McDonald undergoes a stunning nervous breakdown in “Down With Love,” from “Hooray for What!,” as her short-circuiting mind spits out lyrics from cheerier love songs; Karen Ziemba bubbles through “I Wanna Be a Rockette” (accompanied by actual Rockettes), from the unproduced musical “Kicks”; and Elaine Stritch roars with self-mocking anger in “The Ladies Who Lunch,” which she introduced in “Company.”

Still better is a tongue-in-cheek routine in which child actress Anna Kendrick sings “Life Upon the Wicked Stage,” from “Show Boat,” with backup by the ladies of “Cabaret’s” Kit Kat Klub. Hollow-eyed and dressed in grubby lingerie, the Kit Kat Girls embody what sweet little Kendrick, in a lace-collared dress and white tights, will become if she perseveres in her chosen profession.

A radiant Julie Andrews emcees but, sadly, does not sing, due to her much publicized vocal problems.

*

“My Favorite Broadway: The Leading Ladies” airs tonight at 8 on KCET and KLCS. The network has rated it TV-PG (may be unsuitable for younger children).