If you’ve got a thing for Broadway musicals, you can enjoy some song and dance favorites with local performers stepping up on the stage with Broadway at B’nai’s third annual performance Sunday, Aug. 23.
Admission is free and there is a social hour and art sale at 4 p.m. Broadway at B’nai gets underway at 5 p.m. B’nai Israel is located at 3830 NW 16th Blvd. in Gainesville.
The Broadway review at B’nai Israel synagogue developed from a collaboration between Steve Norflus and Philip Schwartz, who have loved musicals since their childhood. Norflus grew up in Norfolk, Connecticut, 45 minutes from New York City and Broadway; Schwartz in South Florida, where touring companies and movies introduced him to the musical genre.
“Between the two of us, we had about 100 years of loving musical theater,” Schwartz said. “We thought that we’ve spent all these years enjoying this music. Why not share it?
“This was an ambitious undertaking. We are fans. Not performers. Steve is a retired small business owner, and I’m a working software developer. Congregation B’nai Israel liked the idea and provided us with a venue. Now, three years later, we’re still having a wonderful time with it.”
Norflus said their goal is to bring together a mix of songs from Broadway shows from the 1930s and 1940s to more recent pieces.
“That is really the essence of what Phil and I are trying to do, you know, we’re trying to bring a mix of songs to the audience from what they know to what they might not know,” Norflus said.
Norflus said the idea was to find a troupe of singers and volunteers from community theater who “would voluntarily come and sing the songs that we selected. Work began on the first edition of Broadway at B’nai in February 2024.
That initial show was a success, so much so that they so they produced it again in 2025. By this year, the idea of the Broadway review was a given.
This year’s performance will mark the directorial debut of Adrianna Smithson, whose day job is as an office administrator, but whose passion lies in theater. She comes to the show with a degree in vocal performance from the University of Florida and community theater experience.
Last year she was in the show, reprising a song she did when she appeared at the Gainesville Community Playhouse in “Ragtime.” When the previous director was unable to commit this year, Norflus and Schwartz asked Smithson to step in. She immediately said yes.
“I’ve always been a singer and an actor…. So, it’s just been a really great transition. Anytime that I’m able to perform or sing is a good time and a good thing,” Smithson said.
She is also performing in this year’s show, doing a duet with her sister. But no spoiler alerts right now.
The review kicks off with “Another Opening, Another Show” from “Kiss Me, Kate” and concludes with “We Go Together” from “Grease.” Again, no spoilers.
“I love the songs that we picked because I think it’s the most diverse group of songs that we’ve had,” Norflus said. “And this year we’re putting a little schtick into the performance.”
Schwartz also lauds the performers. **We’re not just bringing Broadway to Gainesville; we’re putting Gainesville talent on the Broadway stage we create here,** he said,
An eclectic collection of 26 songs was selected this year, Schwartz said.
“Some songs will be very familiar, and people will find themselves humming along. Others may be completely new to them. And that’s one of the things we enjoy most. We want to remind people that Broadway is much bigger than the handful of shows they already know,” Schwartz added. “If we can introduce someone to a new show or a new composer, we’ve succeeded.”
Fourteen artists are performing, and most of them have done multiple community theater shows, Smithson said. “The circles are small in Gainesville community theater scenes, so everyone knows everyone.”
