There’s famous famous and there’s Broadway famous. A Broadway famous person can be famous famous but but the opposite isn’t always true. 

These days, a Broadway famous person needs a hit TV show or movie to enter the famous famous realm. Cynthia Erivo made that leap thanks to the “Wicked” films. Hugh Jackman made that leap – well, from Australia theater famous – when he put on the blades and mutton chops as Wolverine. 

Talent isn’t the deciding factor. Neither is a popping personality. 

Over the past few years, Indy has had a delightful inundation by the Broadway famous, thanks to the Cabaret, bookings at whatever they are calling the Palladium these days, and the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra’s Pops series. 

And sometimes even those potential patrons in-the-know about Broadway famous folks don’t realize who’s in town.

Case in point: Christian Borle.

I was lucky enough to see Borle on stage in “Peter and the Starcatcher,” “Something Rotten,” “Monty Python’s Spamalot” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (that show’s almost-saving grace), In addition, I enjoyed his work in the pro-shot videos of “Legally Blonde,” “Falsettos” and Lincoln Center’s “Sweeney Todd” concert. Even if you haven’t seen him, that range of shows should give you an idea of his ability to play both larger-than-life and down-to-earth characters. 

I didn’t find out about his guest vocalist spot with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra until a few days before the weekend of shows. Some theater folks I know hadn’t heard about the gig at all.

My unscientific reading of the audience at Hilbert Circle Theatre on June 5 was that it was a good mix of those familial and unfamiliar. This was an ISO Pops concert, after all, and the star of the show is the symphony and its charming leader Jack Everly.

Billed as “And the Winner Is…Best Picture, Best Score, Best Song,” much of the orchestra portions of the program focused on silver screen music, kicking off with the obvious “Hooray for Hollywood.” Oscar-winner Bill Conti’s music for “The Right Stuff” was followed by the evening’s highlight, John Williams’ theme from “Seven Years in Tibet.”  (Not even Oscar nominated but the source of a good story from Everly about tracking down the unpublished score and getting permission from Williams to perform it.) Music from Justin Hurwitz score for “La La Land” reminded how much the music carried that lackluster story on screen. 

On the way to the theater, I predicted that Borle’s first tune would be “Pure Imagination” from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and that guess proved correct. I also anticipated that the banter with Everly would be loose and fun and I was correct there, too. It was difficult to discern if schtick involving Borle’s permission to touch the conductor podium, for example, was planned. But why wonder? It delighted. 

Borle briefly and brightly shared memories of looking out from the theater where “Charlie” was being performed and seeing a much more popular show in a nearby venue, leading into a rendition of “You’ll Be Back” from “Hamilton.” No, Borle hasn’t played King Charles. Yet.

Then it was back to material more connected to Borle with ‘It’s Hard to Be the Bard” from “Something Rotten.” The something missing here was more of Borle’s physicality – he seemed to be somewhat constrained by the hand-held mic.

An MGM overture from the ISO led into intermission. 

The second half included familiar crowd-pleasers from “The Lord of the Rings” and “Star Wars” as well as an understandable sombre “Schindler’s List” theme and anecdotal upbeat “Beauty and the Beast” overture. Borle’s contribution to the second half was singing all of the characters from that show’s opening song, “Belle” (yes, including the immortal line “Marie…the baguettes!” and a sweet “Bride Over Troubled Water.” A late game highlight from the ISO was a series of movie studio fanfares, all joyfully recognizable and humorously brief.

As for Borle, here’s hoping that concert gigs continue but that these performances also serve as a bridge to his next musical theater role. 

As demonstrated, albeit briefly, here, he’s Broadway famous for a reason.