“Collages/Refaire” (11/3/18)

William Lewis, Pianist/Singer

When I first saw this one listed, I thought to myself, “Have I heard this guy before?” and the answer is yes. I’ve heard him as an accompanist as well as in a previous iteration of this concert—well, this type of concert. Clocking in at 19 numbers (with most of them being a mash-up of two and sometimes three songs), not everything will be covered.

The concert opened with It All Comes Out of a Piano/Let Me Sing and I’m Happy (Lazarus/Berlin). It was sort of a medley of ‘welcome/cheery’ songs along with a pastiche of classical piano pieces and phrases as well as ‘popular’ tunes (Shine Little Glow-Worm, Mairzy Doats, My Momma Done Told Me, Be It Ever So Humble …). It was a fun way to start.

There was an Americana section that included Simple Gifts, The Lass from the Low Countree/Black Is the Color of My True Love’s Hair (all Traditional); You’ve Got to Be Taught/Children Will Listen/Teach Your Children Well (R&H/Sondheim/Crosby, Stills and Nash); and Aquarius/Virgo, from Twelve Quite Heavenly Songs (P.D.Q. Bach). I love me some P.D.Q. Bach!

An Irish grouping of songs led up to intermission. My favorites were Lady of Knock (Rosemary Scallon), a piano solo that reminded me a bit of Shenandoah, and The Travelling Doctor Shop (arr. by the Wolfe Tones) that included the dreaded audience sing-along—but this one was actually fun (and we only had to learn one brief phrase).

The second half started with a Broadway set that included First You Dream (Kander/Ebb, from Steel Pier), Hangin’ Out the Window (Roger Lax, from The Weekend), and Where Is the Tribe for Me? (Walter Marks, from Bajour). The song from Bajour was my favorite of the afternoon—a novelty song with wacky animal sounds and a Latin beat. It was quite the showpiece. In fact, I heard
Mr. Lewis perform this piece at a concert four years ago and I remember loving it then, too.

The International set began strongly, with a mash-up of Chevaux de Bois/Carousel/Too Long at the Fair (Debussy/Brel/Barnes). A piano solo of a Chinese popular song did not fare as well; it seemed a little out of place. What followed was the accompaniment to Hotel (a Poulenc art song) with Lazy Afternoon (Moross) and Feeling Good (Newley) layered on top. It worked better with Lazy Afternoon but not so much with Feeling Good.

A catch-all section rounded out the afternoon. At This Moment (Billy Vera) was a country & western tune with snippets of the Tennessee Waltz thrown in for good measure. The last song of the afternoon was Nothing Left to Say (Martin/Angerman) which was simple and effective. Well, almost the last song—One More Beautiful Song (Ed Kleban) was a ‘feel-good’ song from the musical A Class Act, performed as an encore.

As noted at the beginning, Mr. Lewis is indeed more of a pianist than a singer. But his delivery and his knowledge of the material made this an enjoyable concert. After seeing him twice now, I’m not sure I’d jump at a third chance. But I just might change my mind about that in the future.

Songbook (10/29/18)

Daniel Green, composer and lyricist, and book writer

This guy is a good composer. Great? I’m not certain. The program gave us songs from The Remarkable Journey of Prince Chen, The Museum of Broken Relationships, and Window Treatment. We may hear more from/about these musicals as we go along.

You Won’t was a stand-alone song that featured Mr. Green as pianist and singer, with two backup singers contributing niftily. I liked it.

Three songs from The Remarkable Journey of Prince Chen followed. I’m Gonna Stay with You was very wordy but had a ‘you’re stuck with me/I’m really effective’ vibe. It earned a + in my notes. Standing by Your Side had a rippling accompaniment and two views of unrequited feelings—can love be far behind? The last, I Will Never Give In, was a little more mysterious, in a searching (literally and figuratively) manner.

Perfect Day for Sailing was a stand-alone Sondheim-esque piece but in a good way, very sweet. After another stand-alone song, we moved on to The Museum of Broken Relationships, which is, apparently, a real museum in Croatia!

All four songs from this were interesting, if a little dark—not that there’s anything wrong with that. The theater (and musical theater) should probe deeper, darker feelings.

Window Treatment, from Window Treatment, was a hoot. A gal stalks her neighbor—not literally, but only visually. She imagines herself eating the meals she watches him prepare. She imagines herself in his relaxing evenings. She’s crazy! But really funny. Carly Kincannon learned this song just for this performance (though I’m sure it will be in her rep for a long time). It was a tour-de-force, both as a performance and as a composition (music by Daniel Green, lyrics by Deborah Zoe Laufer). We may be hearing from them again. (As a side note, I just finished reading a recounting of the eleven seasons of the Carol Burnett Show on CBS. In it, she calls out and congratulates the writers who were responsible for specialty material for their broadcasts—in retrospect, that’s what Window Treatment, the song, reminds me of.)

Reborn was a song from a new project. It had a dark accompaniment but was quite powerful. Hmm, more from new projects?

The finale to the concert was also the Act I finale of The Museum of Broken Relationships. In this iteration, the museum is in its Brooklyn guise, and people embrace the concept—and the cause—wholeheartedly.

Will this flourish into a full-fledged musical? I don’t know. I do know that this is a very talented composer who surrounds himself with terrific musicians. Is that a recipe for success?

Waiting around is so difficult. But hearing such great music while waiting around is a joy that I enjoy.

ConcertMeister

Guest Post, from BrotherMeister

Please feel free to contact me with posts that you may find interesting. This is from my brother, and the tix were only $18.00, which counts as low-cost tix as far as ConcertMeister is concerned. From BrotherMeister:

Date: Saturday, November 10, 2018
Place: Kent State University
Show: Children of Eden
Book by John Caird, Music and Lyrics by Stephen Schwartz

I knew virtually nothing about the show going in except that it was a Stephen Schwartz show which was post-Godspell and pre-Wicked. My program was light on facts, but Wikipedia helped out.

Written in 1986, it had little commercial success, but remains popular with school and community theatres and is ranked in the top 20 of most frequently licensed musicals. I can see why both those facts are true. While we enjoyed it immensely, the music was good but not particularly memorable, and the production was extremely interesting, but not ‘easy’.

It’s a Two-Act show, with Act I focusing on the story of Adam, Eve, Cain, and Abel. Act II tells the story of Noah and the flood. Having memorized the Wicked cast album (and having seen the show four times) it was fascinating to hear some similar musical themes in a germ stage.

The production was intriguing, with a huge cast — 22 named players — and an additional 10 or so unnamed. They’d clearly pulled heavily from the School of Dance, to fantastic effect, and seemingly all the dancers could sing well, too. Even in the choral parts, of which there were many, no weak voices were apparent. Clearly the actors had been rehearsed heavily in dance as well ... it was nigh impossible to guess which were the Theatre students and which were Dance.

Staging was coolly minimal, with mobile scaffolding along with giant boxes with pictures on each of their six sides, which could be combined to create stairs or other scenic needs (apple tree, ark, etc.). Costuming was an eclectic mix of high-concept fashion — clearly influenced (created?) by the fashion school at Kent State — and streetwear, mostly monochromatic.

We were impressed with “Father” (Fred Rose), Eve (Merrie Drees), and most especially Adam (Devin Pfeiffer), a freshman(!) with the acting and singing chops of a seasoned Broadway pro. Noah’s wife (Montria Walker) stole Act II with her gospel-inspired “Ain’t It Good?”

Overall a very interesting night of theatre which could so easily have gone very wrong. It’s nice to see myriad forces coming together in such a successful fashion.

BrotherMeister

(I am ConcertMeister and I approve this post.)

Canstruction NYC (11/12/18)

Composing on the fly, here, so don't expect lots of fancy-schmancy. Canstruction is a cool event happening at Brookfield Place in lower Manhattan through Nov. 15. I went today and enjoyed myself. Here's their website – https://www.sdanyc.org/canstruction/.

The really cool thing about the 30 sculptures made up of food cans is that all of the canned goods are donated after the event to City Harvest, for distribution to food pantries. The event is free, but they do ask for a contribution of good-quality canned food. I donated Goya black beans.

There is public voting as well as voting by a blue-ribbon panel. One of the awards is for Most Cans; that went to WSP USA's Grand CANyon, which was created with a whopping 8,325 cans of food. Think about that. 8,325 cans of food that will be donated. Other entries that I saw had easily more that 1,000 cans each. Now multiply that by 30. And so on, and so on ... if you're old enough to get that reference.

I haven't cast my vote yet, but I'm leaning toward AFK Engineers' Gnome More Hunger (yes, I'm a sucker for nerdy-wordy humor). Others in the running are CAN-un-DRUM and My Kingdom for a CAN. There was also a 'whale' entry that incorporated water bottles at the base. I thought that was truly inspired.

ConcertMeister (in non-concert mode)

A Suite of Dances (10/27/18)

This was a very ambitious program by the New York Classical Players and the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts. For the record, I did not attend all of the different portions. Here’s the deal. Three of Bach’s Suites for Unaccompanied ’Cello (their title, not mine) were followed by a screening of Jerome Robbins’ A Suite of Dances (several movements from the Bach suites choreographed on, and performed by, Mikhail Baryshnikov). Heady programming. I know me, and I knew that three complete unaccompanied cello suites would swamp me. So I showed up at a time where I thought I would hear some cello music and see the screening. I lucked out.

When I arrived, they had just taken intermission after the first two suites had been played. As sometimes happens, a library representative speaks with the performers to get a little insight into the programming. In this case, Evan Leslie (from the library and who is also a cellist) spoke with cellists Julian Langford, Sujin Lee, and Julian Schwarz about how they approached this performance and, indeed, how each would approach the opening of Bach’s Suite No. 1 in G major. Each of the three played the opening of the first movement and it was ear opening for me. The notes were there, and the same—yet there were differences in interpretation. That’s understandable, but you don’t usually get to hear such differences that immediately.

After all three cellists had spoken and played, Mr. Schwarz played Suite No. 6 in D major (BWV 1012) – 1. Prélude; 2. Allemande; 3. Courante; 4. Sarabande;
5. Gavotte I; 6. Gavotte II; 7. Gigue. As in most Bach unaccompanied string works I’m familiar with, this one had a mix of austere, slightly unapproachable moments as well as more inviting moments. As the movement names imply, dance forms were involved or inferred, though dancing to them might be a little difficult. And that’s where the genius of Robbins shows up.

As with the earlier Robbins music/dance film program I saw at LPA, this included three separate film snippets—one with Robbins rehearsing Baryshnikov, and two performances, one from March 3, 1994 and one from May 29, 1994, both at New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. What can I say? It’s Baryshnikov, a solo cellist, and Bach. It’s interesting to see how the rehearsal moves translate (or don’t) into the final performances. But that’s what live theater is—whether it’s music, drama, dance, musical theater, or opera—it’s live and one of a kind. And that’s why I attend.

ConcertMeister

Carnegie Hall Citywide (Hate the Name Change) (10/20/18)

Samantha Hankey, mezzo-soprano; Chris Reynolds, piano

This used to be called Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts—I miss the Neighborhood connection in the name. But I digress. Fourteen vocal selections, not named here.

Very interesting (and slightly strange) afternoon concert. Soprano Hannah Rose Kidwell withdrew due to an injury—apparently she sprained her ankle while en route to an audition. Ms. Hankey was wonderful as a replacement.

Two Franz Liszt songs began the program. The first was sad but not mournful and very beautiful. And Ms. Hankey sang exceedingly well in the room (a church with very reverberant acoustics). The second Liszt song had a dramatic piano introduction and then very rich and full accompaniment to the vocal lines. Sort of the epitome of the Romantic era. [And then a phone rang! Really, people?]

Four Richard Strauss songs were next, one with full, rippling accompaniment and silvery vocal lines that I associate with the composer. The second was darker in tone and form—dramatic without going overboard, just taking us right there to the edge. The third was slightly coquettish and a little off-putting. Maybe she was working too hard? The fourth was much quicker and dramatic and very effective.

A set of three Samuel Barber songs followed. The first was somewhat simple in style, though there was also some of the silvery quality of the Strauss. The next was fuller and solid, in both performance and technique. The third was clean and straightforward. Of note, her partner/accompanist was totally supportive (even when he was playing on his own)—they worked extremely well together, which brings up a slight quibble. He was quite adept at signaling when they were at the end of a grouping, which is not a bad thing. But their stage comportment was also just a little too slick for me. I understand that artists want to develop their own style, but her hand-over-heart gesture every time she bowed/acknowledged applause was a bit contrived and cloying. Yes, I’m quibbling, but it’s my blog.

An Henri DuParc song followed that was spiky and dramatic, somewhat martial in tone, and a type of a ballad, as in a story well told. An Alban Berg piece was next that was sweeter and more Romantic in style than I associate with Berg. A Schumann song was next that was solid—not sad but compelling nevertheless. It was serious, for want of a better word.

Two Manuel de Falla songs closed out the program. In the first, I thought ‘lullabye’ from the very beginning and was not wrong. There were some Latin/Spanish flourishes, however, that I really liked. The final work on the program had strong, rhythmic accompaniment, with fiery vocal lines, as though Ms. Hankey were channeling her pre-Carmen flair.

I was not far off the mark. As an encore, we heard the Habanera from Carmen!

ConcertMeister