Holiday Songbook (12/12/15)

Featuring the music of mostly not-yet-known musical theater composers and lyricists, Songbook is always one of my favorite events, and Holiday Songbook ratchets that up a notch. First off, kudos to Cheryl D. Raymond from Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts, John Znidarsic (host), and Erica Ruff (producer), for this excellent concert.

In this case, the songs are composed specifically for this concert or, as the first song on the program showed, from an existing musical. So they were mostly stand-alone songs. Clocking in at fifteen songs, it’s not really feasible to comment on every one of the composers, lyricists, and performers. Highlights it will have to be.

As mentioned above, the first song was One More Day, from the Hanukkah musical Broadway Sings the Odd Potato (music: Gail C. Bluestone; lyrics: Eileen Bluestone Sherman). It was winningly performed, by Andrea McArdle, as a nice ballad contemplating what we would do if we knew that we had one more day (or one more chance). Overall, it had a slightly plaintive melody/theme.

Michael R. Jackson’s Black Christmas was somewhat of a gentle protest song, featuring references to Ferguson/Baltimore, and Trayvon Martin (among others). The recurring refrain of “Black Christmas / Pop! Pop! /Silent Night / Violent Night” was very effective. Not your usual holiday music, but authors and composers need to say what they need to say.

On a slightly humorous note, So Over Santa (music: Natalie Tenenbaum, lyrics: Kevin Wanzor) was about a girl quizzing her single mommy about who her daddy is. Mommy refers to a “mistletoe liaison” and the girl finds out that her daddy is Santa! She finally goes to the North Pole to meet him and learns that he’s not quite entirely who he is perceived to be.

Nick Luckenbaugh’s idea of a Holiday Fix is, according to the lyrics, “Hit every party, make the eggnog stronger, and pour the wine a little longer” over and over and over again. You might just end up with a hangover that lasts ’til October.

What Child Is THIS!, by Katie Thompson, recounts the tale of a harried mom putting her thirteen children to bed. When she gets to tucking in the thirteenth, she realizes that she can’t remember the child’s name—or birthday, even. Finally she recalls that it’s Chris, born on (of course) December 25th, her only hermaphrodite child. Funny, yet touching, stuff.

Christmas in New York (music: Joseph Trefler, lyrics: Bill Nelson) was a
classic throwback to the Tin Pan Alley era of songwriting. Here we had a dynamite
Danyel Fulton singing about taking folks to visit iconic NYC spots at Christmastime—Macy’s, Rockefeller Center, Fifth Avenue, skating in the park—backed up by a crackerjack vocal quartet. You know me, if there’s real vocal harmony it’s high on my list of favorites. This was an A+ (I literally wrote A+ in the margin of my program).

Another crowd pleaser (and ’Meister pleaser) was The Christmas Tree Blues (music: Derek Gregor, lyrics: Sam Carner), given a tour-de-force performance by an, um, imaginatively costumed Kristofer Holz. Indeed, he was as “blue as any evergreen could be.” With an appropriate tribute to an Elvis type of sound, the lyrics also included, “I think I’m on my last ring.” I didn’t take any more notes because I was laughing so much.

Not all of the new songs hit the mark exactly, but there were no real clunkers either. And musical styles ranged from contemporary country to modern classical (an
a cappella quartet version of Ave Maria). And I just realized that there was one more piece from an existing musical. When I Come Home (music: Paul D Mills; lyrics: Danielle Trczinski), from Non-Equity: The Musical, was a nicely constructed quartet that had each individual reiterating the theme that “with you beside me, I’m never alone.” It then morphed into a duet/duet/quartet structure that was quite nice to experience.

Rounding out the concert was Like It’s Christmas Time (music: Jenna Pasqua; lyrics: Jenna Pasqua and Annie Pasqua), about a fellow who has to be away from home every Christmas eve—but promises his wife that he’ll be back before sunrise. Part of its refrain was, “Ho-ho-home, meet me under the mistletoe.” It was fun, if just a bit bittersweet. And sometimes that’s what Christmas is.

ConcertMeister