Come Fly Away

There was a time several years ago when I had been overdosed on Frank Sinatra.  It involved a car trip where 50 Sinatra songs were played in a row...even worse they were all classified as "romance" songs.  Since then I've slowly been adding some of the classic crooners pieces back into my repertoire.  "Come Fly With Me", and "Fly Me to the Moon" never left though, for obvious reasons, they're awesome space songs :)  I still typically prefer the upbeat to the slow romantic, but when the musical Come Fly Away, set completely to Frank Sinatra songs with his original vocals, arrived in town, it was not to be missed.

The plot is told completely through dance with choreography by Twyla Tharp, and music via a swing style band at the back of the stage.  It follows the romantic relationship stories of 4 couples at a New York nightclub.  Beyond that the plot details can pretty much be whatever the viewer puts into it.  Reading the wikipedia page I didn't reach the same conclusions about the characters, which is part of the joy of the performing arts in general--they can become what you want them to be.  What I would have appreciated was some sort of introduction to the characters names.  As it was it took remembering who did what dance and referencing the program to figure out who was who once I got home.

Couple Number 1: The sweet and innocent bartender Marty who falls for Betsy, the shy girl in the frilly pink dress.  In real life, Ron Todorowski and Mallauri Esquibel.  Some of their highlight numbers are the  self conscious, getting to know you feel of "Let's Fall in Love" (another of the Sinatra songs that quickly found it's way back onto my "like" list) and "The Way You Look Tonight/My Funny Valentine" near the end of the show showing how their relationship has matured.

Slim

Chanos

Couple Number 2: The partner swapping Chanos and Slim.  Each arrive with someone else, and they end up together as a result of being the last to pair up.  Perhaps this is the story I understood the least.  Slim was used by other guys to make their girl of choice jealous and Chanos seemed to have the least stage time although some good dance tricks and a kind of sleezy appearance.  Both Marielys Molina (Slim) and Matthew Stockwell Dibble (Chanos) were also part of the Broadway cast.  Their primary duets were "Yes Sir, That's My Baby", and the reprise of "Makin' Woopee".   Chanos showed up in "Body and Soul" with Couple #3, and Slim with Couple #4 in "Learnin' the Blues" and "Let's Face the Music and Dance".

Couple Number 3: The confident pursuit by Sid, of the sleek sophisticated Babe and the partnership most developed story wise.  John Selya at 41 years old is muscular and still a prime dancer.  He threw girls around, busted out the hip hop as part of "I Like to Lead When I Dance", a sort of challenge dance between Sid and Babe, like a much younger guy. Meredith Miles appeared the most balletic of the stars with her tight French rolled hair, bright red dress and very fluid movements.  Other duets they had were the introductory "I've Got a Crush On You", "Witchcraft", and "Teach Me Tonight".

Couple Number 4:  A tumultuous relationship between the incredibly hot (and Canadian!) Cody Green as Hank, and the "everyone wants me, so you should too", Kate (played by Laurie Kanyok).  Both of them were also in the Broadway cast.  This was a love/hate relationship with the must abrupt (maybe hungry would be a better word) style of dancing, showcased so well in the "That's Life" duet!  They also danced to "Fly Me to the Moon" as an introduction and Kate's feet hardly touched the ground she was tossed between Hank and the ensemble guys through the entire thing!  They go off with other people, I'll say to make the other jealous and then reconcile with "One for My Baby" which I took to just be the last drink/last dance bar closing type song where she's laying it all out there emotionally.  Although this is not the take that was seen by another reviewer, who had them as the let's just be friends couple by the end.  I guess I'm a sucker for wanting everyone to have a happy ending.

Through the dancing you could see the ballet influence, but definitely with a twist.  The show became steamier as the hours in the bar passed, the clothing decreased (although the shirtless guys, totally ripped and oooo...so sexy! were quite enjoyable eye-candy), and the dancing became raunchier.  Some of the company dancers really showed off the talent, particularly the men in "I'm Gonna Live 'Til I Die" which had some impressive leaps and spins.  Ron Todorowski was particularly acrobatic and even threw a forward handsfree layout flip into his bow at the end.

Solo trombonist and saxophonist on left.

http://www.playbill.com/multimedia/video/4691.html

Of course these reviews are incomplete without some mention of the musicians.  The 14 member band consisted of piano, guitar, bass, drums, trumpets, trombones, and a variety of saxes, with the odd flute and clarinet thrown in.  "Take Five" was a number for the whole company and showed off the band, particularly one of the sax players with the solo.  Also featured in another song was one of the trombonists with a nice mellow, muted solo.  They all got to show off their choreography skills with some marching band style horn to the right, now horn to the left, motion.

How a production like this, involving live musicians and a singer 13 years dead, comes together is quite fascinating.  According a Globe and Mail article the original Sinatra performance tapes, some from way back in 1957 which had to be baked in an oven to reattach the adhesive, were used and the vocals separated from the musical accompaniment.  A click track was then created which allows the conductor to match the time of the musicians to the vocals by listening to metronome type sounds.  Today music is pre-recorded and the singer later records the vocals, however Sinatra was in a studio with the live orchestra so they could give and take between them which allows for the excitement of a live performance to come through even now.

The joys of technology combined with swinging music, and energetic dance create an evening experience quite unlike anything else I've seen.

9 to 5: The Musical

So I know you were thinking the TSO season is over, therefore a summer with no blog posts...wrong!  This actually was a bit of a last minute event, but yesterday I saw 9 to 5: The Musical.  Based on the 1980 movie of the same name (well minus the "musical" part) starring Dolly Parton, Jane Fonda, and Lily Tomlin, it became a hit and great inspiration for transformation of the workplace to be more hospitable towards women.

The musical version is sensationally enjoyable.  The songs, written by Dolly Parton, are varied, some with that hit of country twang, some with it all out celebrated.  While the touring cast may not have the huge names of the original Broadway version (it would have been awesome to see Allison Janney as Violet), they have excellent voices and collectively quite an impressive resume, which includes a fair amount of spots on soap operas.  No wonder, they're all very pretty people.  Dolly herself makes an appearance via video at the start with some background info and again at the end providing an update on how the lives of the characters turned out in the future.  Part of the beginning intro was a bit campy, perhaps a few too many references that link back to her, but a descent idea to provide some background for those who haven't seen the movie or a refresher for those who did many, many years ago.  The projector didn't work at the end and her image was jerky then disappeared completely while the audio continued and the cast mouthed the words.

Diana as Doralee
(www.gonaples.com)

Diana DeGarmo is probably the most well known of the cast to the general public, having been runner up way back on the third season of American Idol.  Since then she's been on Broadway in Hairspray and Hair, and is continuing the "hair" theme by sporting a Dolly Parton blonde wig in this show as the Texan Doralee.  At times you'd swear it was Dolly herself who had just spoken, she has her speech down exactly.  Never were there any doubts about her vocal skills, and she delivers her single solo "Backwoods Barbie" with a tenderness that makes her endearing.  It further emphasizes the boss's sleeziness for having spread the untrue rumours of them having an affair.  Oh and check out those heels!  A country girls idea of glam indeed :)

Dee as Violet
(www.gonaples.com)

In the role of Violet is Dee Hoty, the widowed mother and no nonsense worker who knows it all and keeps getting passed over for promotion because she's a woman.  Continue theme of sleezy boss, adding sexist to the list of transgressions.  No stranger to Broadway, Dee has had 3 Tony nominations and was Donna in Mamma Mia.  She plays the role straight, and shines in the production "One of the Boys" number.

Wendy and Judy (not Mamie)
(http://mrjcb91.weebly.com)

Mamie as Judy
(http://www.nwadventures.us)

Rounding out the trio of slighted women is Mamie Parris as Judy, the former housewife new on the job because her soon to be ex-husband Dick left her for his secretary.  Maybe it's the French twist hairstyle or some of the characters traits or her lovely smooth (yet also powerful as demonstrated in "Get Out and Stay Out") voice, but I could totally see her walking into the roll of Mary Poppins.  Must have Disney on the brain, because the long blue nightgown costume for that song could have been right off Wendy in Peter Pan.  Incidentally the song was one of my favourites.  There's something about those women power songs effectively saying "who needs a man?".  One of the best lines of the show was in the final montage regarding Judy's future life.  It explained how she remained single, and became a regular on The View talk show after her best selling book, "Life Without Dick"...pun I'm sure intended. ;)

Hart with Judy and Violet
 (www.gonaples.com)

While it is a women power show, there are some men worth mentioning as well, more for their skills as performers than characters which is especially true for Joseph Mahowald in his role as the "sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot" boss Franklin Hart, Jr.  His other Broadway credits include the title role in Jekyll & Hyde (oh to hear him sing "This is the Moment"!), and Javert in Les Mis.  His voice was one of those you could listen to all night.

Jesse (denverpost.com)

An ensemble member who caught my eye was Jesse JP Johnson (who also played Violet's son).  He was the most enthusiastic dancer of the bunch, not to mention cute, but then he's one of those former soap stars from One Life to Live so it goes with the territory.

Tinsworthy
(blogto.com)

There was also the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Tinsworthy who looked incredibly like Colonel Sanders of Kentucky Fried Chicken fame.

What would one of these posts be without mentioning the happenings in the orchestra pit.  In this case "orchestra" is a bit of a misnomer, band is more appropriate.  Taking a peak over the railing at intermission I discovered a very complete percussion section, all handled by one guy, 7 different guitars played by two guys, several keyboards, each hooked up to a laptop which looked to be running something like Garage Band which I'm guessing provided the extra string and woodwind sounds.  There were also two reed players who each had a clarinet and flute, and between them a bass clarinet, bari and tenor sax.  Two trumpets, a trombone, and a bass rounded out the group.

The Women with Dolly Parton (www.gonaples.com)

A little too much down home country charm to be considered a work of theatrical art, but all musicals aren't suppose to be.  Not everything ushers in a new era like Oklahoma, so for a fun evening/afternoon at the theatre, this is good one.

The Season Ends with Opera

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra 2010/2011 Season came to a close on June 26 with a program titled Opera Favourites.  I know very little about opera, the only one I have any interest in seeing is Mozart's Magic Flute, but I missed it when the Canadian Opera Company was performing it.  There is of course Wagner, and the wonderful Puccini who's works I've heard elsewhere (and incidentally blogged about).

Alasdair Neale (wbhm.org)

And while Puccini might be great without words, to do opera justice requires singers.  This role was filled by soprano Leah Crocetto and tenor David Pomeroy.  Guest conductor for the final event was Alasdair Neale, making his TSO debut.

There was a nice mix of vocal and orchestra selections with informative introductions by Mr. Neale, and I would welcome his return to the podium.  Most of the pieces would start and I'd be thinking...hmm, I'm not sure I know this one, but shortly thereafter would be a common theme and suddenly I'd recognize it.  Some of the highlights included what have become the classic, and some may say over done opera pieces.  From Puccini "O mio babbino caro" from Gianni Schicchi (which is pronounced in a completely different way from how it's spelled) and the "famous or infamous", as commented by Maestro Neale, "Nesson dorma" from Turandot (seriously there are SO many versions of this, here's one that covers 3 in 1...The 3 Tenors).  Over done or not, David Pomeroy sang it amazingly well.

After an orchestra interlude of "Intermezzo" from Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, both Mr. Pomeroy and Ms. Crocetto joined forces to tell the love story of Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San in the "Love Duet" from Madame Butterfly.  From that single song one would never realize what a heal of a guy Pinkerton actually is.  A shame Butterfly loved him so much.  But it's opera, these things come with the territory :)

The second half moved back in time to feature the music of Mozart and Verdi, and opened with the wonderful "Overture to The Marriage of Figaro".  It continued with the "Dove sono" from the same opera, then "Fuor del mar" from Idomeneo sung by Ms. Crocetto and Mr. Pomeroy respectively.  Moving onto Verdi, the segment opened with the "Triumphal March" from Aida, minus the elephants (and chorus that the linked version has, but it showcases the trumpets nicely...well I think there's a rotton note now that I listen to it).  Maestro Neale mentioned his desire to have been there at the debut of the the opera.  Evidently it must have been a very grand affair.  I've played an arrangement of this piece and it is quite fun, especially if you have a great brass section, like the TSO does, led by Andrew McCandless (principal trumpet) and Gordon Wolfe (principal trombone).

Just prior to the quiet finale duet of "Parigi o caro" from La Traviata was the ultimate chauvinist song (according to Mr. Neale) of "La donna e mobile" from Rigoletto.  Mr. Pomeroy acted the part very well beginning with a casual lean on the conductors podium.  This was a piece I remember from it being on a listening exam in High School.  It was much more enjoyable to see live than to listen to on cassette (yep, that's how we were given our listening pieces).

Not to let the audience leave on that quiet, somewhat relaxed note however, the vocalists and orchestra obliged the applause with an upbeat drinking song...which I think was from La Traviata.

It was a nice light end to the season as the audience filled out of the hall and several orchestra members shook others hands, probably wishing them a happy summer.

Thanks to everyone at the TSO for another fantastic season!  I'm eagerly anticipating returning to Roy Thomson Hall for next seasons 90th anniversary.

And with that (because I missed posting this in June), Happy Canada Day to everyone!

Last Night of the Proms

The penultimate concert of the TSO season was a spectacle.  Anyone who has said Canadians fall short in the patriotism area when compared to our counterparts south of the border (admittedly I have been one of these), was not in Roy Thomson Hall this past Wednesday evening.

The Last Night of the Proms concert with conductor Bramwell Tovey has been a tradition for I don't know how long, although this is the first year I attended.  Unfortunately, Maestro Tovey's mother passed away last weekend, so he had to cancel and return to England.  I imagine finding a replacement for a concert like this proves rather tricky.  Not only does the conductor need to know British music, they need to connect with the audience in that Pops concerts way, and it would help if they had ties to the country the Proms originated in.  Well the TSO struck gold with Maestro Grant Llewellyn, a Welshman (a fact he reminded the audience of regularly throughout the evening) who's bio describes him as "renowned for his exceptional charisma, energy and easy authority in music of all styles and periods", all skills he demonstrated in spades.  The subtitle of this years concert was "A Royal Wedding Celebration", for the marriage of Kate and William, the now Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

I know very little about the real Proms in England, except it's a series of concerts on the Promenade, and the last night of the concerts is a more relaxed atmosphere featuring British hits (see here for the wikipedia explanation).  The Toronto celebration started before you even entered the hall with the 48th Highlanders of Canada Pipes and Drums bagpipe regiment playing outside.  There were also lots of people with flags and sporting fancy hats.  I had no idea this was part of the event or I would have gone hat hunting or at least brought the tiny Scottish flag we have by our fireplace.

The concert started with "O Canada", then "God Save the Queen", during which the audience respectfully stood and sang along.  Maestro Llewellyn said he had spoken with Bramwell Tovey and had been instructed to ensure we all had a good time, then dove into the Wedding Celebration with Mendelssohn's "Wedding March" from A Midsummer Night's Dream.  It's nice to hear there's more to this piece than the usual segment played a weddings.

Next up was the "English Folk Song Suite" by Ralph (pronounced the proper British way as "Rayf") Vaughn Williams.  Garnering a laugh from the audience at the proper pronunciation Llewellyn said he didn't know why people found that funny and humourously singled out a lady near the front to explain it to him.  She couldn't and he continued by reading the lyrics of the three songs in the suite..."Seventeen Come Sunday", "My Bonny Boy" and "Folk Songs from Somerset".  Having recently been introduced to several other pieces by Vaughn Williams, I found these quite a departure, definitely more light hearted, and wonderfully enjoyable.

We then moved onto Scotland, for Hugh S. Roberton's "All in the April Evening".  As a reminder again of his background Llewellyn said he felt very comfortable with this piece because it was about sheep, and being a Welshman that was something they have a lot of (linked version is complete with sheep).  At this point the 2nd chair violinist handed him a small stuffed sheep.  Laughing he took it, looked at it suspiciously and said "he looks a little nervous" before placing the animal behind him on the conductors stand.  The 2nd chair cellist then stood up and reached out to pet to sheep.  Llewellyn turned around with a somewhat stern "did I say you could touch my sheep?" as the cellist cowered behind his cello.  Quickly relenting the Maestro reconsidered with "actually you can have it, it's a ram".  This sparked another round of laughter from the audience.  Finally able to continue the introduction, the piece is actually about the crucifixion of Christ and is for unaccompanied chorus sung by the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, he turned around to begin and was faced with this ram.  Picking it up and looking unsure where to put it, he settled on the floor.   After placing it he pointed down as if ordering him to "stay".  Not everyone could see this given the position of the flag behind the podium, but it cracked me up again.

The first half concluded with Sir Hubert Parry's "I Was Glad", the song to which Kate Middleton walked down the Westminster Abbey aisle (see link), and a Llewellyn public service announcement that those without flags would feel left out in the second half, so they should go contribute to the TSO education fund by buying one at intermission.  Advertising his point, he walked down the red carpet of the stage with a Welsh flag over his shoulder.

TSO stage

Beginning the second half was a piece any graduate is extremely familiar with (as well as any high school band member who's played at commencement), the "Pomp and Circumstance March".  During which Will and Kate, wearing their wedding day best, took a stroll down the red carpet performing the royal wave.  At their appearance the Choir pulled out green branches to recreate the trees that were in Westminster Abbey for the wedding.  With the audience on their feet, the "Royals" led in the singing of "Land of Hope and Glory".  They chatted a bit with Llewellyn who congratulated them on their marriage.  He then wanted to acknowledge those couples in the audience who had been married (to the same spouse, "call me old fashioned" he said) for more than 50 years.  I wasn't expecting very many, but there were a lot!  Probably about 15 or so people standing.  He increased it to 60 years, and there were still 5 or so on their feet.  At 65 he had about 3 couples left, and dedicated the next song, "Love and Marriage" to them.

A short summary of "Excerpts from An Orkney Wedding, with Sunrise" is that it starts with some really bad playing in the strings, gets worse at about 4:30am when the trumpets come in after having had too much to drink, and finally turns pretty when the sun rises.  "Songs that Kept Us Going" was prefaced by Llewellyn as "containing songs you may know and want to sing, but don't".  Although admitting you can't keep a Welshman from singing he said to be aware that sudden changes may occur and don't annoy your neighbour.  Indeed he turned and cued the audience at times, mouthing the words enthusiastically for "White Cliffs of Dover", "Bless Em' All" and "We'll Meet Again".

Apparently there's a Toronto tradition linked to "Fantasia on British Sea Songs" and someone told the new conductor this existed but failed to mention what the tradition was!  So as he said anything could happen.  And it did!  After the introduction he turned to the orchestra to be greeted by an empty principal trumpet chair.  The piece starts off with bugle call and couldn't start until Andrew McCandless was found.  Suddenly from the back of the hall the trumpet rang out.  Facing the orchestra again Llewellyn found concertmaster Etusko Kimura holding what liked like a 1/2 size violin.  "The Sailor's Hornpipe" proceeded as she scraped out the medley, hitting sour notes along the way on this tiny violin.  She switched back to her usual, as it continued getting faster and faster.  Then the choir started the wave!  It easily went around the mezzanine level and through the balcony, but due to the horseshoe nature of the hall the main floor seats were pretty much left out.  Recognizing this, the conductor led them in their own version at the end of the segment while admonished the balcony levels for being so invested in the wave we failed to speed up our clapping.  So we clapped faster as they played the segment again.  The next section was to depict women saying goodbye to their sailors and the choir continued their shenanigans by pulling out the handkerchiefs and balling.  Another segment began with a clarinet solo, which I was actually hoping to hear, but evidently the choir finds the clarinet a dull instrument as they pulled out every other thing they could to do, including playing string games.  I've probably mixed some of these up, but it had the audience in stitches and the conductor going along for the ride.  Even some orchestra members seemed to have trouble keeping a straight face.  It was all in good fun, and came together in a rousing version of "Rule Britannia" as Kate and William reappeared.

www.instantencore.com

Llewellyn asked what Kate had gotten "her hubby" for his birthday (Prince William's birthday actually was on June 21) and she indicated that perhaps he had missed it but she had played him a song on the French horn, and indeed she had picked her way, in her wedding dress, through the percussion section and slipped into her seat for "Love and Marriage".  Impossible to miss.  The Maestro indicated it was just the beginning of many more years of horn playing, at which the brass section broke up laughing.  I'm thinking I got the joke, but am not going to read too much into it. ;)  As it turns out Kate was being portrayed by soprano and TSO utility horn player Erin Cooper-Gay.

gossageartists.com

Baritone Jesse Clark was William.
Facing the audience for a final time they led in the singing of "Jerusalem".




Just when you thought the concert was over, they obliged with an encore of "I'll Be Seeing You", one of my favourite songs which can be done in so many ways to suit any mood (see the Deep Space Nine episode "It's Only a Paper Moon" for example).  This version included a recorded message from the then Princess Elizabeth and her sister Princess Margaret on a BBC radio program wishing goodnight to children who were being evacuated from London during the World War.  It was a touching ending to an evening filled with fun.  It was so much fun in fact that my father, typically not a symphony going guy, wants to go back next year!  My much beloved Pops are having wonderful effects.

Orchestra members in the spirit of things

On another note, Frank Morphy the 2nd oboist and TSO member since 1972,  appeared during the second half sporting a shirt with the slogan "Retired: Don't Ask Me To Do a Darn Thing".  I'm guessing that might have been his final concert, as the TSO now has a 2nd oboe audition notice on their website.  Happy retirement!
He wasn't the only one switching attire.  Others donned hats, several ladies tiaras, and the previously mentioned 2nd chair violin even had on a veil!  It's always awesome when the orchestra gets into a show.

Late Night TSO and Mahler 5

Wow!  Just WOW!  For so many reasons.
1. I'm starting this post within minutes of returning home from the concert.
2.  The TSO has a new concertmaster.
3.  Mahler is epic!

Tonight was the third in a series of concerts featuring Mahler's Symphony 5. As part of the Toronto Luminato festival, tonights was Late Night: Mahler 5 with a 10:30pm start time, and consisted only of the 70ish minute symphony.  I'd class it as a casual concert given the orchestra plain black attire.  Personally, I think one trombonist took the casual thing too far...a black sweatshirt, really?  Not even a terribly nice looking one.  The black shirt with jacket favoured my some of the gentlemen is classy, or even the more casual black dress shirt with the cuffs rolled up to the elbows (*sigh* one of my favourite looks on a guy) that bassoonist Sam Banks was sporting is fitting.  On the other hand I noticed more fancy dressed audience members than I'd classify as normal.  Ok, end wardrobe digression.

Walking into the hall right away something was different.  I'll call it mood lighting which tends to only show up at Pops shows.  However, lighting was used very effectively throughout the evening.  Case in points:  The symphony opens with a trumpet fanfare solo, and a spot was placed on Principal trumpet Andrew McCandless.  During the slow movement featuring just strings and the harp, the lights on the brass, winds, and percussion were dimmed.

If the lighting wasn't enough to catch your attention, as the orchestra members began to take their seats, where they were sitting would have.  The layout had the basses (all 8 of them...told you Mahler was epic!) on the left side of the stage, behind the first violins and cellos which had been moved from their usual stage right position to beside the first violins.  The violas were pretty much the same, maybe shifted over slightly, and in the usual cello spot were the second violins.  There was also the fact that the score sitting on the conductors stand was about 2 inches thick!

Jonathan Crow (canada.com)

10:30pm arrived, the concertmaster for the evening, Jonathan Crow as per the program, appeared and the orchestra went wild...well as wild as an orchestra gets.  It's not uncommon to applaud a guest concertmaster but this foot stomping went beyond the usual.  Since this is the 2nd or 3rd guest I've seen this season (beginning with Jonathan Carney for Rhapsody in Blue back in Oct 2010, and a few weeks ago at Rachmaninoff Rhapsody David Bowlin) I anticipated a new hire would be announced shortly for the concertmaster chair which has been open for as long as I've been a regular attendee (so at least 2 years).  I didn't expect that "shortly" to be less than a minute.  Conductor Peter Oundjian followed Mr. Crow on stage and announced he was the new TSO concertmaster!  From a quick search, it would appear he has had quite the career with the Montreal Symphony joining at 19, and becoming concertmaster (the youngest to hold that position in any North American orchestra at the time) at 25 continuing through 2006.  Since then he's been more focused on chamber music, but is now the new concertmaster of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra!

As for the actual piece.  I said after the season opening Mahler Symphony #2 "The Resurrection" that youtube didn't do Mahler justice.  A sentiment which I will strongly echo again!  It's just not possible to have the same experience listening to any recording as you get from being in a concert hall filled with people, and an orchestra consisting of 4 trumpets, 3 trombones, 7 French horns, 3 oboes, 3 bassoons, 3 clarinets, the previously mentioned 8 basses, and a percussion section complete with gong, timpani, bass drum, and crash cymbols (just to name a few), and the usual strings.

The first of the five movements is a funeral march, but such a pretty one.  The overriding theme, if one must find one, is a journey from darkness to light.  Dynamics play a huge part in what I've heard of Mahler.  Each movement, save for the fourth slower and string based Adagietto which was a love letter to Mahler's wife Alma, had pianissimo and fortissimo alternations and it made complete sense for the winds to put in ear plugs when the horns let loose, sometimes even raising their bells.  Additionally,  this was sometimes done by the clarinets, and oboes as well.  Given the weight and length of the work I don't even know where to begin at describing sections I loved.  I don't remember where they were (for a "real" review of a performance earlier this week, see this).  There was a small violin solo part Mr. Crow played, looking forward to seeing him featured more next season, and string pizzicato sections that were fun to watch and added variety.  In the Allegro Finale, the switch into a major tonality was thrilling.  It really felt like the journey was complete.  As described by Herbert von Karajan "...you forget that time has passed...The fantastic finale almost forces you to hold your breath."  Somewhere, perhaps in the second movement, there was this great entrance by the brass that actually did have me holding my breath, as well as the Finale.

I have never seen a Toronto audience on their feet so quickly.  I'd say it was one step before "leaping to their feet", but it was the fastest and most complete standing ovation I have yet seen.  It lasted for 3 sets of bows and acknowledgement of the brass, horn, percussion, and wind sections.

The season is technically not complete, but this is the final concert conducted by Peter Oundjian, the final full classical work, the final performance by the new concertmaster (the program lists current associates sitting first chair for the next few weeks), and I'll venture a guess, the final to feature a full conglomerate of principal players.  So what a fitting bookend to a season that started and ended with epic Mahler!

Rachmaninoff and the Impressionists

The TSO continued its season of mini-festivals with Rachmaninoff and the Impressionists.  The purpose of this one being to showcase how musicians who were contemporaries of each other produced quite different music.  The evening's program was "The Isle of the Dead" by Rachmaninoff, "Premiere Rhapsodie for Clarinet and Orchestra" by Debussy, Dukas "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", "Les offrandes oubliees" by Olivier Messien, a composer I had not heard of before, and concluded with Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini".  A perfect mix of music!

Gabriela Montero
(www.classicfm.co.uk)

The evening was already off to a wonderful start since I had a new companion to go with me who has real bona fide musical knowledge, unlike my limited repertoire, and who has played Debussy and Messiaen works before.  Unfortunately our seats were pretty bad for the type of concert.  Being off to the ride side when there's a piano piece scheduled is typically never a good thing, but the lid of the grand piano pretty much completely blocked guest soloist Gabriela Montero from view.  Additionally in the clarinet concerto, Maestro Peter Oundjian seemed to move the same way as soloist and TSO principal clarinet Joaquin Valdepenas, allowing for only quick glimpses of his finger work.

Maestro Oundjian began the concert with an audience chat as usual, and explained how Rachmaninoff had an obsession with the Dies irae (day of wrath) theme which showed up in both pieces of his on the program.  He then asked to borrow the fiddle of assistant concertmaster (David Bowlin, a guest, was sitting first chair) Mark Skazinetsky and played the theme.  I've never heard him play before!  I know he's doing Bach's Double Violin Concerto next season with Itzhak Perlman, so maybe he's starting to ease into performing again.  He played maybe 15 notes, and got a foot stomping ovation from the orchestra, quipping he'd pay for it later.

One of the interesting elements of "The Isle of the Dead" was the meter of 5/8.  Quite an different feel it gives to a very moody piece, but I really liked it.

Joaquin Valdepenas
(ca.yamaha.com) 

Being an amateur clarinetist I really wanted to closely watch Mr. Valdepenas hands.  Alas as mentioned above, this didn't work out to well.  What I did see was inspiring, and his tone...sigh...wow!  I wish I had a smidgen of the talent.  During one run up a scale I audibly sighed, so smooth, so even, so perfect.  As for the piece as a whole, I wouldn't class Debussy as one of my favourites but there were lots of unexpected changes and it was 7 minutes of being completely entranced.  Even better he returned to his orchestra seat for the second half of the concert.  I would love to hear him do Mozart's Clarinet Concerto at some point.

The TSO should be getting good at "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" having played it at the Halloween concert (that review here) earlier this season.  However, it was quite different under the baton of Mr. Oundjian.  He had complete fun with it!  One advantage of my seat was a great view of the conductor.  He started it off very slowly, and the first hint at the main theme floated between the clarinet, oboe, and flute passing off so effortlessly that without seeing the musicians it would be hard to pinpoint who was playing.  At the start of what I'll call the second section, after the rapid bits and just before the bassoons take over with the full theme, Oundjian again took his time with the short segments.  They hung in the air moving the audience to the edge of their seats anticipating what was coming next.  The expression on his face showed he was having fun with it.  The bassoons (Michael Sweeney and Sam Banks) let loose on the theme with contrabassonist, Fraser Jackson, leaning onto the first intro note when the theme returns near the end giving added emphasis.  A wonderful, unhurried, rendition full of play and joyfulness.  The musicians seemed into the fun as well, I noticed Pat Krueger going wild with the triangle.  I was so swept up in the music that the visions of Mickey Mouse almost disappeared entirely :)

Following the intermission chat with Gary Kulesha (Composer in Residence) and Mark Skazinetsky about Rachmaninoff and his contempories came the somewhat dissonant "Les offrandes oubliees" (The Forgotten Offerings) by Messien.  The piece is in three parts beginning with what's labelled as "Very slow, pained, profoundly sad" and is meant to represent Christ's suffering on the cross.  Apparently most of Messien's works have religious connotations.  The middle section I can only describe as a cacopheny of sound.  I noticed principal trombone, Gordon Wolfe, reposition the sound blocker behind the contrabassoonist's head, and I understand why!  The description for this segment was "Fast, ferocious, desperate, panting".  The final part was strings only, and not even all of them played.  Much quieter and depicting "the Bread of Life and of Love" it was stirring and pretty but unfortunately I was starting to hit sensory overload, and found parts repetitive since I really didn't know what to listen for.  I can tell when I'm losing concentration because I notice audience noises.  I heard a lot of coughing and program shuffling in this last bit.  Unfortunate people can't be silent during the quiet parts.

Finally it was time for the showpiece of the evening, "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini".  I have great love for this piece and some history.  It was on the program of the first classical concert I ever went to.  The National Arts Centre Orchestra was playing "Symphonie Fantastique" which was the primary reason I went, and this was the other piece on the program.  I don't know who conducted, or who the soloist was, but I know exactly where I sat, who I went with, and that when they got to variation 18 the whole thing clicked as to why it sounded so familiar!  Well that and then realizing the dies irae theme was in both pieces explaining the combination in programming.  I was not disappointed by the TSO's version this evening either.  What I noticed was that I focused more on the orchestra part than the piano, probably because of the lack of visibility of the soloist (although principal violist, Teng Li and another musican who weren't playing the concert came and sat in front of us for this piece, so they must agree they're good orchestra watching seats).  Variation 18 was beautiful as it should be.

The audience provided a standing ovation and Gabriela Montero graciously acknowledged the orchestra before taking a seat for an encore.  A gifted improvisationalist she requested a theme from the audience and received Gershwin's "Summertime" as a reply.  After playing this a few times she completely twisted it into a rich texture providing only brief glimpses back to what it was at the beginning.  It was pretty jaw dropping.  Then she did it again.  Taking the theme of "Hockey Night in Canada" (she had requested something Canadian, and you KNOW that when that request is made "Hockey Night" is going to be thrown out there).  The person could not sing it though so one of the violinists played it for her, garnering another round of applause.  Ms. Montero ended up only taking a small snippet but that was again twisted and turned into a rich sound completely disguising the original material.

During the end of "Paganini" I noticed a gentleman in the front row taking notes (and here I thought I was the only one who did that).  Figuring he was a critic I googled for a concert review when I got home and indeed it was John Terauds of the Toronto Star.  For a more "educated" review, his can be found here.

There are now more happy memories to add to the history I have with the "Paganini Rhapsody".

Billy Elliot: The Musical

Toronto has had its own company of Billy Elliot: The Musical since March 1, 2011.  I took the chance to take it in Victoria Day weekend, May 22 to be exact, and it turned out to be a particularly special performance.  Just prior to curtain it was announced that the boys who play Billy are carefully selected and train for months prior to appearing.  We were in for a significant performance as it was the world premiere of the newest Billy, Ty Forhan.  (See here for an article about his thoughts on being Billy)

I had listened to the London cast recording, but purposely avoided seeing the movie or searching for a plot summary as I wanted to truly experience everything first hand.  It resulted in quite the emotional experience.

J.P Viernes

Ty Forhan

May 29 I had the opportunity to see the show again from a closer vantage point than my earlier balcony seats, although it was off to the side.  At this performance J.P. Viernes was Billy.  First off it took some more imagination to fit an Asian boy into the English family portrayed by Armand Schultz as Billy's father and, on the 29th, the blond David Light as older brother Tony.  J.P did have the accent down though.  Ty's appearance on the other hand would have fit that mix of performers beautifully.  His older brother the week before was played by Patrick Mulvey.  Acrobatics wise and perhaps for overall quality of dancing (his turns stayed impeccably centred) I'd give the edge to J.P, but at 14, compared to Ty's 12, he's had 2 more years of training.  Both had an appealing singing voice that maintained strength though the entire show.  Accounting for everything, mostly my personal preference, and maybe because it had the inherent "wow" factor of my first time, I preferred Ty as Billy and Patrick as Tony.  Although I appreciated that David seemed to lose the thick British accent on occasion as it made the dialogue easier to understand.

Solidarity
(www.shedoesthecity.com)

Now that the overall comparison is out of the way, I'll mention a few other highlights.  There will be further Billy comparisons in how they handled certain dances though, just warning you.  The choreography between the miners and police during "Solidarity" was the first moment that made me gasp as they jumped back and forth over batons.  The juxtaposition of placing the miners and police against the girls ballet class was striking, making this one of the great ensemble numbers.

Lightening the story after the heaviness of "Solidarity" is "Expressing Yourself" with Michael (a closeted "poof") and Billy.  Wearing his sister's clothes, Michael (Dillon Stevens the 22nd, and Jack Broderick the 29th) dresses up Billy in the most horrendous combination of patterned skirt, shirt, and sweater.  The idea to have them dance with a dress on a hanger as a partner works amazingly well as does the big finish with the oversized dancing dresses and even a pair of trousers joining in their big performance number.

Having accepted extra dance classes "Born to Boogie", follows the emotional letter song.  Emotional songs tend to be quiet, which doesn't help all the people who are trying to clean themselves up after sniffling through it (myself included).  The coughs and throat clearings are quite audible after these sections.  More with Ty than J.P I noticed the number of times Billy has to change shoes throughout this number.  He goes from running shoes to ballet slippers to tap shoes and back to runners for the backflip off the piano (which makes complete sense, I sure wouldn't want to land in ballet slippers or slip in taps).  I held my breath during the section with jump ropes.  Ty nailed the entire segment, jumping in with Mrs. Wilkinson, and tapping throughout never missing the rope.  Unfortunately it didn't go quite as well for J.P, but it didn't detract too much.   I image the shoe changing and starting of the jump rope sequence are sections the conductor watches very carefully and is prepared to put in a few bars repeat if needed to give Billy more time to finish.

www.cbc.ca

Leaping right back into the emotionally charged aspect of fights on the picket line and how it affects Billy leads to a very rhythmic (as all tap numbers should to be) "Angry Dance".  It begins with Billy in his bedroom which becomes disconnected from the set and spins around centre stage as he throws everything out of it before climbing down and being joined by the miners with plywood boards, and the police with their plastic shields and batons.  Power is the best word to describe this as Billy throws himself around and even onto the police shields.

"Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher" is a twist on the traditional greeting to say the least :)  Interesting the word "merry" is used, since in Briton the expression is "Happy Christmas".  Billy's dad, shows he does have a soft side, and is still dealing with sorrowful emotions as well during "Deep Into the Ground".  Armand Schultz does a great acting and singing job through the entire show.  He is able to express a lot of emotion with few words.

a2view.wordpress.com

The ballet duet to Swan Lake between Billy and his older self (Samuel Pergande who's trained with multiple ballet companies) was a highlight.  What a role for a kid!  You get to sing, dance, and fly!  I mean who could ask for anything more and they're only 12-14.  How do you follow that career wise?  Ty had a more dreamlike feel to his interpretation while J.P (and older Billy) were grinning throughout making it more about the pure joy of dancing.  Here the more refined acro aspect of J.P showed through in the cartwheels over chairs.  Initially I was thinking this was probably one of the few times a pit orchestra played Swan Lake, however being able to see the conductor on the 29th revealed it's a recording they dance to since he remained seated the whole piece.  It's unfortunate pit orchestras have been reduced to the size where they are incapable of producing the grandiose sound Swan Lake requires.

The "show stopping" number opening night was quite likely "Electricity", Billy's big solo number.  It's no wonder they alternate between 4 or 5 Billy's, it's such a full role!  The disembodied voices at the audition add an extra "scary factor" to how auditions would be.  Again Ty and J.P seemed to approach this differently, well the beginning part anyway.  Ty started out with an angry feeling, he spit out the words in reply to the "how does it feel when you dance?" question.  This makes sense to me, it had an honesty of "you've just repremanded me, are being sugary sweet in asking the question, and now you want me to explain something I don't understand".  Alternatively J.P emphasized the "I don't really know" aspect without the same element of frustration and anger.  Both boy's dancing was extremely impressive.

Spoiler Alert!

The ending when Billy is getting ready to leave for the Royal Ballet school with the entire town behind him, even though the strike is over and the minors have lost everything, is the second major tear jurking moment.  Particularly at the second viewing, I noticed that when Billy and his dad are packing the suitcase, his dad is teaching him how to fold the clothes.  Something small, simple, and otherwise insignificant that adds a whole other dimension to the layers of feelings.  He totally loves his son, and really is supportive of his dancing.  The minors singing while descending into the mine with the clattering of the cage stirs all kinds of thoughts I won't go into but it's a good thing they bring everyone back for a more upbeat finale or people would be leaving in tears.

That concludes the performance aspect comments.  In other notes, I continue to find the sets in productions I've seen recently so versatile.  Here with the extra piece for Billy's room removed, his house becomes the community centre, and an extra side segment with a mirror and closet creates Michael's room.  With everything moved out and a brick wall at the back the stage becomes the streets, or with a black background it's a mine entrance.  A fancy curtain and bare stage create the theatre for the Royal Ballet auditions.  Of particular interest was the complete reversal of a fence that let the audience change sides from the miners shouting at those crossing the picket line, to the scabs doing the crossing, without leaving their seats.  I was surprised at the amount of swearing, especially in a show children will see.  It is about miners after all, not fishermen, but evidently bad language transcends occupation.

I'm not sure I'd second the advertisement quote of "if you only see one musical this summer, make sure it's Billy Elliot" with as much enthusiasm as they do, but not knowing of any other high quality musicals on the current calender, it is definitely work checking out.  And if you're at all prone to tears, remember the tissues!