A reminder, Songbook is a concert featuring the music of up and coming theater composers and lyricists—except when it isn’t. The current iteration was a combination concert and celebration of the 25th anniversary of Songbook. In fact, Mr. Lindsey-Nassif performed in the inaugural concert. So, though he’s not a fully established composer, he’s further along than many who appear in the series, e.g., his Flight of the Lawnchair Man (3hree) has already had several productions, at least one of which was directed by Hal Prince.
This was a plus and a minus for this concert, in my opinion, because while we heard some songs from current projects that he’s working on, we also heard songs from earlier works that have had many staged performances, so a little freshness was lacking (once again, in my opinion). And a few of the songs had that build up to the end followed by holding the last note a long, long, long time. It’s effective but, maybe because of the evening’s song selections, a bit overused. But those are minor quibbles in an evening filled with good songs that were well composed and very well performed. There were thirteen selections, so I’ll report on what I considered the highlights.
The concert started with a high-energy performance by Eddie Korbich of PersonaliTNT from Hoods and Hoofers, a show set in the 1920s. Very, very up tempo and quite humorous as well. Two songs from Eliot Ness: The Man Who Broke Capone (I’ve also found the title to be Eliot Ness in Cleveland) were sung by Adam Shorsten, who was in fine voice if a bit “over-singy” from time to time. Starting to Disappear began in an introspective mood that turned into much more of a rock feel. Will It Matter that I Was was a strong personal anthem.
A set of four songs from Opal followed. Opal is a young girl whose parents die in a storm at sea; Opal washes ashore and ends up in an Oregon logging camp. It’s loosely based on a true story. In Mother, Father, a ten-year-old powerhouse, Lily Adams, sings a plaintive lament to her lost parents. Send You a Sign followed, a duet by Miss Adams and Marni Nixon—yes, the Marni Nixon. She was a joy to see and hear and the duet was quite effective, with Ms. Nixon explaining that the girl’s parents will send a message to say that they’re gone … but they’re not gone. If the pipes aren’t quite what they used to be, there were still flashes of sheer brilliance in her singing. Joshua Dixon added a nice touch as a bumpkin with real sincerity in Sears and Roebuck Wedding Band.
Mr. Korbich returned with I Want to Fly, from Lawnchair Man, expressing the joy of actually making it up into the air, and Brandi Chavonne Massey sang The Air Is Free strongly, as a sort of diatribe to/against an FAA agent.
Castles in the Air, from Hoods and Hoofers, was convincingly sung by Scarlett Strallen, though the song itself suffered a bit from the range and the setting of the text. Often, it’s very difficult to clearly get, as in understand, the lyrics when sung in extremely high ranges; that said her soprano was lovely.
Music in This Mountain, from Honky-Tonk Highway and set in a roadhouse in Tennessee during the 1970s, had Erin Hill playing the harp and singing, joined by the ensemble of Jacob Christopher, Penelope Deen, Michael Penick, and Mikki Sodergren. In a somewhat boisterous fashion, it showed us that the universal feelings of music are all around us—and in us.
And here’s a shout out to John Znidarsic (Producer) and all of the performers, vocalists and instrumentalists, who volunteered their time and energy to this worthwhile effort known as Songbook. While I only came across it in recent years, it’s great to know that it’s still going strong in its 25th year. I’ll most likely be returning to more of the presentations throughout the rest of the season.
ConcertMeister
No comments:
Post a Comment