... or birth ... or ... whatever. The Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts is celebrating with an exhibition and special programming. Part of the special programming includes the LPA Cinema Series: BBC Shakespeare. I decided to take some 'me' time and attend a couple of comedies.
On Tues., April 5, I saw "As You Like It" from 1963, with a breakout performance (per many critics) by Vanessa Redgrave. She was wonderful, as was the entire production. It was adapted, I believe, for BBC Television broadcast, so it was most likely Shakespeare Lite. (Yes, I have a Complete Shakespeare here in the apartment – no, I have not read it cover to cover and certainly have not memorized it all.) Suffice it to say that this comedy hit many of the high points, in a nicely conceived teleplay.
I skipped "King Lear" with Ian Holm, though now I think I might have enjoyed the experience. Anyway, on April 26, I saw "Taming of the Shrew," part of a Shakespeare Retold series. Starring Shirley Henderson (a feisty, sprightly actress in this role), it was a delightful 2005 comedy. You know what? It's nice to laugh out loud in a movie screening, even if you miss a bit of the dialogue that follows. And here, you could actually hear others laughing—and you had a feeling of community.
Yes, this is the same place I see/hear silent comedies with piano accompaniment. It's nice seeing/hearing talkies, too. I imagine that both the 1963 "As You Like It" and the 2005 "Taming of the Shrew" are available online? streaming? Netflix? public library (gasp!)? I say, take a look if it sounds like they interest you.
And Happy Deathday (yikes!), Will!
Friday, April 29, 2016
Thursday, April 7, 2016
Highlights from The Magic Flute (4/2/16)
Highlights from The Magic Flute
And other Mozart arias
All right, I sort of broadened my horizons and had an OK time. Opera is not always my favorite, and Mozart is not always my favorite, but the vocalists from the Juilliard School’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts did put on a good show.
The afternoon started off with three arias from Le nozze di Figaro. An aria from
Die Entführung aus dem Serail was scratched (the soprano was suffering from a cold, though we didn’t get that information until much later in the concert, a bit of bad form on the library’s management front). Two arias from Don Giovanni followed.
Se vuol ballare, from Figaro, was sung by bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum, who sang with a good, natural, deep sound. He sang well but his stage comportment was slightly lacking. Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano, sang Voi che sapete. In introducing her character from the opera, she described a “crazy little teenager.” Some of that came through while, vocally, she seemed to be hiding behind the mask of her sound. I’ve been guilty of that myself in the past; you’re so concerned about producing a good, focused sound that you end up not singing freely. But these are students, and I think that they’ll continue to grow into themselves as performers. Deh vieni non tardar, also from Figaro, was sung by soprano Angela Vallone, who had a better connection with her vocal sound, and had pretty good to very good vocal control.
Deh, vieni alla finestra, from Don Giovanni, was sung by baritone Xiaomeng Zhang who sang nicely but seemed once again to be trying to be an opera singer rather than trying to be a singer. I almost got the feeling that he was auditioning, not performing. Mind you, these are really tiny quibbles—all of the singing was of a really high quality. Rebecca Farley, soprano, sang Batti batti o bel Masetto, also from Don Giovanni. I enjoyed it even though the accompaniment essentially doubling the vocal line was a little disconcerting. Oh, and a phone went off during the aria. Can I get a “sheesh?”
At this point there was a brief interval—not really an intermission, and not really explained to us. What followed were highlights from Die Zauberflöte, with a narration of the plot delivered by Evan Leslie, of the Library for the Performing Arts. And the vocals were also sung against a backdrop of slides depicting costume and stage designs for various productions of Magic Flute, taken from the recently opened exhibit at the Library. The narration went very nicely, with a few bobbles, and the slides were interesting although, for the most part, the large screen they were projected on was mostly blank—slightly odd, in that the slides only took up about one-third of the screen.
Baritone Dimitri Katotakis sang selections from the role of Papageno. The semi-staging and mime were done well, and he sang with a good, natural sound. He was joined by Pamina (Ms. Farley) in a cute duet, Bei Männern, welche Lieben fühlen. It was at this point, where the famous Queen of the Night aria was supposed to be performed, that we finally learned of the reason we hadn’t heard from the soprano who had been scheduled to sing two earlier arias. Ms. Farley then acquitted herself nicely with Ach, ich fühl’s, which was pleasant, though there were a few vocal technical glitches.
Mr. Katotakis then returned with Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen, a sort of male version of a spinning song (miming a music box?) that was more like an art song than an aria. I liked it. Papageno’s suicide aria, Papagena…Papagena, followed, in a nice, straightforward performance. Mr. Katotakis was joined by Ms. Vallone in the duet, Pa-pa-pa, which was enjoyable, and a great way to cap off the end of the afternoon. A shout out is welcome at this time for Valeriya Polunina, who was the able accompanist/collaborator with all of the afternoon’s vocalists.
So, did the afternoon inspire me to rush out and find a performance of the full Zauberflöte? It did not. Nor, for that matter, Figaro or Don Giovanni. But I did enjoy hearing these young singers in a well-thought-out afternoon of arias and duets.
ConcertMeister
And other Mozart arias
All right, I sort of broadened my horizons and had an OK time. Opera is not always my favorite, and Mozart is not always my favorite, but the vocalists from the Juilliard School’s Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts did put on a good show.
The afternoon started off with three arias from Le nozze di Figaro. An aria from
Die Entführung aus dem Serail was scratched (the soprano was suffering from a cold, though we didn’t get that information until much later in the concert, a bit of bad form on the library’s management front). Two arias from Don Giovanni followed.
Se vuol ballare, from Figaro, was sung by bass-baritone Cody Quattlebaum, who sang with a good, natural, deep sound. He sang well but his stage comportment was slightly lacking. Amanda Lynn Bottoms, mezzo-soprano, sang Voi che sapete. In introducing her character from the opera, she described a “crazy little teenager.” Some of that came through while, vocally, she seemed to be hiding behind the mask of her sound. I’ve been guilty of that myself in the past; you’re so concerned about producing a good, focused sound that you end up not singing freely. But these are students, and I think that they’ll continue to grow into themselves as performers. Deh vieni non tardar, also from Figaro, was sung by soprano Angela Vallone, who had a better connection with her vocal sound, and had pretty good to very good vocal control.
Deh, vieni alla finestra, from Don Giovanni, was sung by baritone Xiaomeng Zhang who sang nicely but seemed once again to be trying to be an opera singer rather than trying to be a singer. I almost got the feeling that he was auditioning, not performing. Mind you, these are really tiny quibbles—all of the singing was of a really high quality. Rebecca Farley, soprano, sang Batti batti o bel Masetto, also from Don Giovanni. I enjoyed it even though the accompaniment essentially doubling the vocal line was a little disconcerting. Oh, and a phone went off during the aria. Can I get a “sheesh?”
At this point there was a brief interval—not really an intermission, and not really explained to us. What followed were highlights from Die Zauberflöte, with a narration of the plot delivered by Evan Leslie, of the Library for the Performing Arts. And the vocals were also sung against a backdrop of slides depicting costume and stage designs for various productions of Magic Flute, taken from the recently opened exhibit at the Library. The narration went very nicely, with a few bobbles, and the slides were interesting although, for the most part, the large screen they were projected on was mostly blank—slightly odd, in that the slides only took up about one-third of the screen.
Baritone Dimitri Katotakis sang selections from the role of Papageno. The semi-staging and mime were done well, and he sang with a good, natural sound. He was joined by Pamina (Ms. Farley) in a cute duet, Bei Männern, welche Lieben fühlen. It was at this point, where the famous Queen of the Night aria was supposed to be performed, that we finally learned of the reason we hadn’t heard from the soprano who had been scheduled to sing two earlier arias. Ms. Farley then acquitted herself nicely with Ach, ich fühl’s, which was pleasant, though there were a few vocal technical glitches.
Mr. Katotakis then returned with Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen, a sort of male version of a spinning song (miming a music box?) that was more like an art song than an aria. I liked it. Papageno’s suicide aria, Papagena…Papagena, followed, in a nice, straightforward performance. Mr. Katotakis was joined by Ms. Vallone in the duet, Pa-pa-pa, which was enjoyable, and a great way to cap off the end of the afternoon. A shout out is welcome at this time for Valeriya Polunina, who was the able accompanist/collaborator with all of the afternoon’s vocalists.
So, did the afternoon inspire me to rush out and find a performance of the full Zauberflöte? It did not. Nor, for that matter, Figaro or Don Giovanni. But I did enjoy hearing these young singers in a well-thought-out afternoon of arias and duets.
ConcertMeister
Friday, April 1, 2016
Songbook – March 2016 (3/28/16)
Featuring Lyricist Jill Abramovitz
First off, all of the performers were great: Jill Abramovitz, Joy Son (piano), Arielle Jacobs, Jessica Vosk, F. Michael Haynie, Michael Winther, Barbara Anselmi (piano), Alex Gemignani, Lisa Howard, Kevin Pariseau, Dana Steingold, Kate Wetherhead, Aron Accurso (piano), Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf (cello), and Andrew Potenz (cajon).
As I’ve mentioned in the past, a Songbook that focuses on lyrics is somewhat difficult to comment on—the lyrics sometimes get overshadowed by the music. Here, they were on equal footing for the most part. Ms. Abramovitz’ collaborators included Ms. Son, Brad Alexander, Mr. Accurso, and Ms. Anselmi.
Ms. Abramovitz kicked things off wither own rendition of Happy, a somewhat manic treatment of a wedding called off because the groom-to-be is gay. It was fun, and she gave off a little bit of a Carol Burnett vibe, to me.
Three songs from Bread and Roses followed. Put Me to Work had nice driving rhythms and a good approach to storytelling. Listen Please was powerful, if a bit stereotypical. And Building 646 had similar driving rhythms heard in Put Me to Work. I must say that I am not familiar with the movie Bread and Roses, but these songs seemed interesting.
A stand-alone song, Turning the Corner, was next, that had an inherent
sadness, yet with a nice feeling. Mr. Winther did a great job of getting this brand new song across. Brand new as in only completed on the day of the performance! Ms. Abramovitz scored big with What They Never Tell You from It Shoulda Been You. It must be a thrill to sing your own song from a Broadway show—
especially one that was Tyne Daly’s in the show.
Four songs from The Dogs of Pripyat followed, based on a true story of the lives of dogs surviving the Chernobyl atrocity. Join the Pack was a real treat—I even managed to jot down some lyrics: “Feel the lurking of the wolf within.” I especially liked the madrigal section that then morphed into an up tempo, power ballad feel. An ensemble of five singers provided excellent backup and collaboration with
Mr. Gemignani. The Little Guy had the high energy of yappers, while Almost Autumn featured a beagle, a mutt, and a human, and, after a lovely quiet opening, had interweaving stories and lines that worked really well, creating some beautiful harmonies. I Was Better Off Without You closed out the Dogs set, and was the tale of a cat and a dog on a quest for a catfish. I’m not making this up, you know.
Another stand-alone song, Gene Rosen, was inspired by and written for
Gene Rosen, who was a true hero in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Mr. Winther gave a very moving performance, and it turns out that Mr. Rosen was at the concert. It’s not every day one gets to hear about a true hero in song, while the hero is there in the room. The repeating sentiment throughout the song was “’Cause your heart’s too big for your house.”
Written as a micro-musical, 11:07 was a nifty take on the “dreams really can come true” theme when the guy of a couple, singing with his wife, has his dream come true—to sing a song with Ann Harada, of Avenue Q fame. Ta-dah! Ms. Harada made an appearance, and much humor ensued.
The final song of the evening was Kind of Crazy, and if I got my notes written correctly it will be the final song of the final episode of this season of Submissions Only (which I had to look up online—yeah, I’m that much out of touch). The lyric that stuck with me was, “Your kind of crazy goes just perfectly with mine.” Ms. Vosk did a fine job, and was joined by some of the others from the evening’s performances, truly turning it into a full-blown finale. The variety of Ms. Abramovitz’ lyrics spread out between four different composers made for a compelling evening of new theater (and stand-alone) songs. There are two more Songbooks in this year’s series. I plan on being there!
ConcertMeister
First off, all of the performers were great: Jill Abramovitz, Joy Son (piano), Arielle Jacobs, Jessica Vosk, F. Michael Haynie, Michael Winther, Barbara Anselmi (piano), Alex Gemignani, Lisa Howard, Kevin Pariseau, Dana Steingold, Kate Wetherhead, Aron Accurso (piano), Mairi Dorman-Phaneuf (cello), and Andrew Potenz (cajon).
As I’ve mentioned in the past, a Songbook that focuses on lyrics is somewhat difficult to comment on—the lyrics sometimes get overshadowed by the music. Here, they were on equal footing for the most part. Ms. Abramovitz’ collaborators included Ms. Son, Brad Alexander, Mr. Accurso, and Ms. Anselmi.
Ms. Abramovitz kicked things off wither own rendition of Happy, a somewhat manic treatment of a wedding called off because the groom-to-be is gay. It was fun, and she gave off a little bit of a Carol Burnett vibe, to me.
Three songs from Bread and Roses followed. Put Me to Work had nice driving rhythms and a good approach to storytelling. Listen Please was powerful, if a bit stereotypical. And Building 646 had similar driving rhythms heard in Put Me to Work. I must say that I am not familiar with the movie Bread and Roses, but these songs seemed interesting.
A stand-alone song, Turning the Corner, was next, that had an inherent
sadness, yet with a nice feeling. Mr. Winther did a great job of getting this brand new song across. Brand new as in only completed on the day of the performance! Ms. Abramovitz scored big with What They Never Tell You from It Shoulda Been You. It must be a thrill to sing your own song from a Broadway show—
especially one that was Tyne Daly’s in the show.
Four songs from The Dogs of Pripyat followed, based on a true story of the lives of dogs surviving the Chernobyl atrocity. Join the Pack was a real treat—I even managed to jot down some lyrics: “Feel the lurking of the wolf within.” I especially liked the madrigal section that then morphed into an up tempo, power ballad feel. An ensemble of five singers provided excellent backup and collaboration with
Mr. Gemignani. The Little Guy had the high energy of yappers, while Almost Autumn featured a beagle, a mutt, and a human, and, after a lovely quiet opening, had interweaving stories and lines that worked really well, creating some beautiful harmonies. I Was Better Off Without You closed out the Dogs set, and was the tale of a cat and a dog on a quest for a catfish. I’m not making this up, you know.
Another stand-alone song, Gene Rosen, was inspired by and written for
Gene Rosen, who was a true hero in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shootings.
Mr. Winther gave a very moving performance, and it turns out that Mr. Rosen was at the concert. It’s not every day one gets to hear about a true hero in song, while the hero is there in the room. The repeating sentiment throughout the song was “’Cause your heart’s too big for your house.”
Written as a micro-musical, 11:07 was a nifty take on the “dreams really can come true” theme when the guy of a couple, singing with his wife, has his dream come true—to sing a song with Ann Harada, of Avenue Q fame. Ta-dah! Ms. Harada made an appearance, and much humor ensued.
The final song of the evening was Kind of Crazy, and if I got my notes written correctly it will be the final song of the final episode of this season of Submissions Only (which I had to look up online—yeah, I’m that much out of touch). The lyric that stuck with me was, “Your kind of crazy goes just perfectly with mine.” Ms. Vosk did a fine job, and was joined by some of the others from the evening’s performances, truly turning it into a full-blown finale. The variety of Ms. Abramovitz’ lyrics spread out between four different composers made for a compelling evening of new theater (and stand-alone) songs. There are two more Songbooks in this year’s series. I plan on being there!
ConcertMeister
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