Broadway Undressed at 54 Below
Tom Guthrie sent me the full run of show a few days before Broadway Undressed at 54 Below. Next to most numbers he'd noted where the performers would start in the room and which moments he cared about most. I covered the rehearsal as well as the performance, which gave me a first look at the staging before the audience was in the room.
That turned out to matter, because the show kept starting off the stage. For the opening mash-up, Tom began by the sound booth, house left, while Landon Stovall and the backup singers started by the stairs, house right. They worked their way through the tables and met on stage, where the number ended with Tom turning Landon into a kiss.
Let's Misbehave, Hit Me With a Hot Note, and Wonderful Guy / I Want to Be Evil all began in the house too, so a good share of the night happened among the tables before it ever reached the stage.
The show is Tom and Landon's own story, an autobiographical cabaret produced as a benefit for The Door. Broadway and pop numbers alternated with patter about Landon's childhood, how the two of them met, and Tom finding his biological family, often with photographs projected behind them.
A lot of that story was told through costume, and much of it was handled by the Dressettes, the backup trio of Eric Rivas, Leyla Sera Eames, and Zachary Kropp. They stripped Landon out of his opening suit during Satan's Little Lamb, and one of them put him in a white choir robe afterward. He started Heaven in the robe and took it off just before the final "and free." Later, mid-song, a Dressette brought him a pair of sensible shoes so he could trade out of his heels. Tom's notes flagged each of those, so I knew where to be looking.
The one Tom marked as the big photography number was Masochism Tango / Unexpected Song. During the lead-in, the Dressettes took off Tom's jacket and Landon put him into a leather harness, and the number ended with Tom dipping Landon into a blackout. Darwin Del Fabro walked on right out of that blackout to sing Smile and My Man.
Tom's solos ran quieter. Out There was a storytelling number, and Journey to the Past, about finding his biological family, played against projected family photos. He'd asked specifically for frames with both him and the projections in them, since those could be the most meaningful ones from the night.
For the finale, Home, four singers from the NYC Gay Men's Chorus joined Tom, Landon, and the Dressettes, and the encore of September brought everyone back out once more. With that many people across the front of the stage, I needed a wide frame that still kept every face readable.
For a benefit, those frames keep working after the night is over, in grant reports, the next announcement, and both performers' own portfolios.
If you're putting together a cabaret or benefit that moves through the room, send me your run of show the way Tom did. Knowing where each number starts is how I end up in the right aisle when it does. You can reach out to talk through it with me here.
Event: Broadway Undressed
Venue: 54 Below
Date: September 17, 2026
Photographed: Rehearsal and performance
Program: https://54below.org/events/cover-me-with-tom-guthrie-and-landon-stovall-a-benefit-for-the-door/
Photographer: Dan Wright
