Neil Berg has a Broadway-sized goal: to bring “100 Years of Broadway” to a younger audience.

Berg and a group of five actors and two musicians are touring the country to perform his show in 120 cities. Their goal is to bring together American music and expose young people to it.

“There are several (genres of music) that are indigenously American, and musical theater is one of them,” Berg said.

Since one of the performers could not perform due to allergies, four Broadway stars performed a selection of songs from many musicals including “Chicago,” “Man of La Mancha,” “Oklahoma” and “Rent.”

The actors sang several pieces from shows they had previously performed in.

Carter Calvert dedicated her performance of “Memories” to her grandmother who recently died. The song is from the musical “Cats” in which she played the character Grizabella for her first large role on a national tour of the show.

Despite the full pit orchestra most musical theater shows have, Saturday, the stage was set with a grand piano, drum set and bass guitar to accompany the artists. Berg played the piano and in between numbers entertained the audience with personal anecdotes of his experiences on Broadway and history on the piece next in the rotation.

After the fifth performer’s allergies prevented him from singing, Berg had to adjust the show, which meant Ted Louis Levy picked up a few songs he would not normally do.

Berg introduced Levy, who is originally from Illinois, as being the “nicest gentleman he’s ever met on Broadway.”

Levy entertained the audience with his tap dancing and was more than pleased with the venue.

“I’m hoping tonight that I did the best work that I possibly could because this theater offered me every opportunity. Everybody here offered me every opportunity to be successful because they were so kind,” Levy said.

Even with missing one member of the performers, Dan Crews, director of publicity of the College of Arts and Humanities, said they were just a few dozen tickets short of a full house in the Dvorak Concert Hall. Crews enjoyed the performance.

“It’s nice that they could do such a variety,” Crews said.

Seven vocalists joined the performers on stage for their final number “Seasons of Love” from the 1996 musical “Rent,” which Berg said started to interest young people in theater again.

“We like to use it as the finale because it’s a song of hope and a song of love,” Berg said.

One of those selected to perform was Ashley McHugh, a senior music education major, who

is currently student teaching junior high school students. McHugh auditioned and encouraged her students to as well.

“It was a lot of fun,” McHugh said. “The stars were very down to earth, very interesting, very talented obviously.”

One of McHugh’s students, Savannah Stowell, auditioned along with some friends and was chosen to perform. Savannah, age 13, was the youngest person on stage and was all smiles after the performance she called “amazing.”

“I never dreamed I could actually do this,” Savannah said.

Both McHugh and Savannah had the chance to sit in on the rehearsal set up earlier Saturday and learn from the performers. McHugh, who said her musical focus is opera, said she learned a lot from the opportunity.

“It was priceless, absolutely priceless,” McHugh said.

After the show, the performers met with the audience for autographs and photos.

Four high school students drove up from Casey to see the show and were waiting after for Carter Calvert to come out. The group said the cast sang a lot of recognizable songs, their favorites being selections from “Phantom of the Opera.”

While many young people have not seen stage versions of plays and musicals, Taylor Grafton, 15, said the show was “awesome,” and she preferred seeing live shows.

“It’s more real; you never really know what’s going to happen,” Grafton said.

Emily Steele can be reached at 581-7942 or denmanaging@gmail.com .

Carter Calvert sings “All That Jazz” as the opening act of “Neil Berg’s 100 Years of Broadway” Saturday night in the Dvorak Concert Hall of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. (Audrey Sawyer

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