The Sixties: On Broadway

This was an ambitious program with Jenny Lynn Stewart (soprano), William Lewis (piano), Skip Ward (bass), and Scott Morehouse (drums). Maybe too ambitious.

We got 26 songs from 20 Broadway musicals, so not every song (or musical) will get the full ConcertMeister treatment. Ms. Stewart has a powerful soprano voice. To me, her less-than-powerful singing was a somewhat less successful—sometimes the wistful quality worked, but sometimes it didn’t. Par for the course in a one-woman show, there were too many “shoot-for-the-high-note” endings for some of the songs.

That said, there were introductions to musicals and songs I was peripherally aware of—What a Night This Is Going to Be (Baker Street, 1965); Beautiful Candy (Carnival, 1961); Other Side of the Tracks (Little Me, 1962); and Rich Is Better (How Now, Dow Jones, 1967). On a personal note, of the 20 musicals represented, I have been in productions of six of them [list available upon request].

Highlights included Love Makes the World Go Round (Carnival)—a very sweet rendition; As Long as He Needs Me (Oliver, 1963), with a very nice build up; Sunrise, Sunset (Fiddler on the Roof, 1964*), pretty sentiment; and If He Walked into My Life (Mame, 1966), sentiment expanded. Those were the highlights in the first half!

The second half included Hymn for a Sunday Evening (Bye Bye Birdie, 1960); Hey Look Me Over (Wildcat, 1960); Hello Dolly (Hello Dolly, 1964); and The Impossible Dream (Man of La Mancha, 1965). Most effective in the second half was Aldonza (La Mancha). Here,
Ms. Stewart was earthy, forthright and not trying to impress us as a soprano.

There were some less successful moments, as well. Twice, Ms. Stewart made forays off the stage and into the audience (Dirty Old Man, from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1962); Air/Let the Sunshine In, from Hair (1968)). Neither was particularly effective, and Ms. Stewart trying to navigate the steps back up onto the stage was worrisome.

The afternoon wasn’t quite a one-woman show; Mr. Lewis duetted on Sunrise, Sunset, and he and Mr. Ward did back-up-boy duty on Let the Sunshine In. Unfortunately, even rock lite is not Ms. Stewart’s forte—ending the first half of the concert with this was a bit of a miscue.

I’m glad I heard some of these ’60s classics and I’m glad I was exposed to some lesser-known works/songs. I’m not certain I’d seek out another of this woman’s one-woman shows.

In rechecking my notes, I see that I was impressed enough with Stephen Sondheim’s lyrics to Do I Hear a Waltz? (from 1965) to jot down “roses are dancing with peonies.” It’s nice to explore these little gems.

ConcertMeister
*The first Broadway musical I ever saw—the actress playing Tzeitel at the time was Bette Midler!