Those MGM Musicals Really Are Glorious

The Symphonic Pops Consortium created concert Those Glorious MGM Musicals will always hold a very special place in my heart.  Ten seasons ago it was performed in Ottawa by the National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by guest maestro Jack Everly.  Having an affinity for musicals, and being a student always looking for a cheap night out, I convinced three of my friends it would be fun and we headed downtown.  For the first time I was attending a symphony concert and while the write up sounded entertaining I wasn't sure what to expect. 

Needless to say my worries were completely unfounded and I loved it.  It was the start of my affection for Pops concerts, the sound of a symphony orchestra, the live music experience, and the knowledge imparted in such a charismatic way by the Maestro who, several years later, would accept the post of Principal Pops Conductor.  I left that evening with the goal of seeing all the musicals that had been featured in the show.  It took about five years before I had the time to start tracking them down, and I almost accomplished the goal.  The early operettas I haven't found in their entirety, although youtube has helped with relevant clips.  The movie search took me places I hadn't expected, mostly into the world of autobiographies and behind the scenes books.  Several books covered one of my favourite musicals, Singin' in the Rain, and the performers in it, but my interest has branched out into a greater appreciation for all classical and symphonic music.  Really what better result from a first concert experience could there be?

Anyhow, when I found out that I was going to be in the area when the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra was performing the same show, I couldn't resist.  Not exactly a bookend to how I got hooked on this genre, but a wonderful reminder of everything that I love about it. 

Nick Fitzer
(www.irtlive.com)

The concert itself was great, there were things I didn't remember from the version I'd previously seen and variations from the printed program.  Perhaps Nick Fitzer wasn't feeling well since his solo pieces were unfortunately replaced or cut.

Nick Adams is an incredible talent.  His dancing in "Steppin' Out With My Baby" was high energy and his voice just as strong after a series of

Nick Adams
(www.nickadams.biz)

steps as when he first walked out.  A highlight of the whole show was his "Singin' in the Rain" number to close the evening.  The dance choreography mirrored that of Gene Kelly (minus the shrinking suit coat sleeves.  Aside: the suit he wore in the film was wool and the water caused it to shrink so noticably that you can see the sleeve length change) and Nick did a great job.  It would have been the icing on the cake to include a police man at the end coming up and tapping him on the shoulder adding yet another element of the movie.

Scott Hogsed
(calendar.gsu.edu)

Other highlights were "The Atchinson, Topika, and the Santa Fe" from The Harvey Girls which started with Scott Hogsed and Nick Fitzer, then continued with Kathy Voytko in the Judy Garland role.  The vocal arrangement was done by Kay Thompson and won an Oscar for Best Original Song.  I believe Thompson was also the basis for the character of Phoebe Dinsmore, Lena Lamont's vocal coach, in Singin' in the Rain.  Dan'yelle Williamson's version of "Get Happy" dressed in the suit jacket style made famous by Judy Garland, and "Stormy Weather", a Lena Horne signature piece, were also very enjoyable.

Dan'yelle Williamson
(www.abouttheartists.com)

Kathy Voytko
(www.playbillvault.com)

The ladies teamed up for a lovely and very special arrangement of "Can't Help Lovin' That Man" from Showboat.  The history of the musical by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II is really quite interesting.  After starting on Broadway, the first movie version was a silent film made in 1929 (technically based off the novel not the musical, so I suppose that partially justifies a silent film, although the musical had opened 2 years earlier).  Some of the original broadway cast ended up in the movie when several talking sequences were added.  More cast from the stage appeared in the second version from 1936, then in 1951 MGM got their hands on it for the lavish treatment with which they produced musicals.  Lena Horne wanted the role of Julie (and I think would have been a perfect fit), but it went to her friend Ava Gardner instead.  Obviously a disappointment, but the two ladies still remained friends.  The duet arrangement let the audience imagine what it might have been like had casting turned out differently.

Many more musicals were featured from The Wizard of Oz and Meet Me in St. Louis (two more Judy Garland classics) to The Band Wagon.  Speaking of Oz in his introduction to the piece conductor Everly read from a newspaper synopsis that described what we think of as a children's movie as "girl transported to psychedelic world, kills first woman seen, then teams up with three others to kill again".  When you put it like that, maybe not for children after all.  It likely would have had quite a different feel had studio head Louis B. Mayer gotten his choice of cast with Shirley Temple as Dorothy.

After the encore of "That's Entertainment" I got to thinking about all the people I've inflicted my love

of this stuff on since that first evening.  There have been a lot and I now have a few standing agreements about which concerts friends want to go to.  I'm glad that my excitment has rubbed off and I hope I've helped in some small way to keep the performance of this music alive.

In 1969 a portion of MGM was sold with props, costumes, and the backlot divvied up and also sold off.   The music library however was tragically sent to a landfill.  Many thanks to Jack Everly and the others who worked for two years to recreate the symphonic scores that were so carelessly tossed out, so that a concert of this music could exist.  I don't like to imagine what I'd have missed out on if I hadn't shown up to Southem Hall 10 years ago.

Hits of the 60s!

"Happy New Year and Welcome to the 60's!"  With these words my first concert experience of 2012 began.  Ok, not exactly, they followed the opening "Baby Boomer Prelude" performed by the Naples Philharmonic lead by conductor Jack Everly back in January.  The "Prelude" as well as 3 other pieces on The Beat Goes On: Music of the Baby Boomers program were his arrangements, and as usual were highlights of the evening.

"Medleys" was the decisive word of the evening comprising all but 2 pieces on the program.  There was a nice split between orchestral only (the aforementioned "Prelude", an entr'acte titled "Symphonic Sounds of the Sixties", a grouping of TV theme songs in "The Wonderful World of Television", the "Theme from Love Story", and "Lara's Theme from Dr. Zhivago") and vocalist involvement.

Farah Alvin
(www.tenthfloormusical.com)

Guest artists for the series of concerts were Farah Alvin, Kristine Reese, N'Kenge, Joe Cassidy, Heath Calvert, and Roy Chicas.  Heath was also in last season's Broadway's Leading Men, where I had ranked him at the bottom of the male talent list compared to the other gentlemen.  In this show however, I would rank him at the top.  Whether it was another year of experience, more fun music, or just differences style from the others voices, I'm not sure.  But I thoroughly enjoyed his interaction with the ladies in "What's New Pussycat" from "Back to Bacharach" (obviously a medley of songs from Burt Bacharach), the blend with Farah in "If I Fell" from the Beatles medley, and his rendition of "Sounds of Silence".

But I'll go back a bit.  After being welcomed to the 60's, a quick summary of non musical accomplishments (I quote "...put man on the moon a great achievement by NASA, blah, blah, blah") we were reminded that Elvis was still gyrating, Chubby Checker introduced The Twist, the 50's was more the era of the guys group, but the 60's belong to the ladies, which led into "Stop! In the Name of Music". This medley by the ladies included "My Guy", "Baby Love", "Leader of the Pack", and a new favourite of mine "You Don't Own Me" featuring Farah.

Kristine Reese
(kristinereese.com/photos.html)

As an intro to "The Wonderful World of Television" Jack recalled when colour TV's were first coming out and there was the one house on the street that had one, so everyone flocked there.  Initially, there weren't a lot of colour programs and it was one show that saved ABC and ushered in a change to producing more colour shows.  That show started off the medley and was Walt Disney's "Wonderful World of Colour", the precursor to the "Wonderful World of Disney" I grew up with.  It generated the money Walt needed to go ahead with his plans for Disneyland.  (As an aside I recently finished the book "Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination" which goes into a lot of detail about the colour TV/Disneyland construction time period).  Also included were themes from "I Dream of Jeannie", "The Andy Griffith Show" which had the orchestra whistling and snapping, "Bewitched", "Star Trek: The Original Series", "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and even "The Flintstones", I had no idea it was out in the 60's!

I've known the "Theme from Love Story" for years, although probably it became ingrained in my mind when the Canadian pairs figure skating team of Jamie Sale and David Pelletier used the music to win the 2002 Olympic gold medal.  I've never heard it in concert though and it came with the exceptional bonus of having Jack at the piano!  I knew that was his instrument, but hadn't seen him perform in that capacity before.  After starting off the orchestra from the podium, he moved to the piano and conducted as necessary from there.  It was beautiful.

Roy, Heath, and Joe in
Frankie Valli Medley
(www.symphonicpopsconsortium.com)

The first half concluded with a tribute to Frankie Valli.  It appears The Beat Goes On first debuted in the Indianapolis Symphony 2005/2006 season while the Jersey Boys musical debuted on Broadway in Nov. 2005.  Depending how far in advance each of these were conceived I have no idea which would have come first.  Not that it really matters, both point to the original group, but having been introduced to Valli and the Four Seasons music through Jersey Boys not too long ago, it seems a bit less fresh than if that hadn't been my exposure.  On the flip side, I recognized the carefully synchronized choreography of Joe, Heath, and Roy (who did a pretty great Frankie falsetto) as being part of how things were done in those days.  Since Valli started out with The Four Seasons, and there were only 3 guys they got Jack in on the action, "teaching" him the steps and getting him to join in from the podium during "Let's Hang On".  It adds to the fun element of the evening that he seems pretty much game for anything, including sporting a tie dye cummerbund.

Matthew Sonneborn
(www.thephil.org)

The second half opened with "Symphonic Sounds of the Sixties" a medley of instrumental hits and the section I did the worst at trying to name the components.  "Goldfinger" was easy and I recognized Mancini's "Baby Elephant Walk" having played it, but that was pretty much it.  I was able to remember one tune which with google and youtube's help turned out to be "Tijuana Taxi".  Matthew Sonneborn, principal trumpet, stood up for his solo part and had a tassel of some sort tied to the end of his trumpet which he was able to swing around.  The skills of orchestra musicians never cease to amaze :)

N'Kenge
(www.symphonicpopsconsortium.com)

For that matter, neither did the talents of Joe Cassidy.  With all the vocalists reunited for "Hits of the Tie-Dyed Decade" he played the piano during "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" and later an acoustic guitar for a solo in the Beatles Medley of "Yesterday".  Other "Hit's" segments showcased N'Kenge in "Think", Roy in "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", Farah in "Both Sides Now", the orchestra in "More" and everyone in "Downtown" which is still stuck in my head!  Evidence of a great song I suppose.  "Downtown" was the audience participation part of the evening as the singers were silent at the first lyric of "downtown" except the whole house was too.  We catch on quickly though and next time filled in the blank.

Joe Cassidy
(www.symphonicpopsconsortium.com)

The evening concluded with a medley from the Fab Four.  Recently in looking for the pieces that comprised this concert I have listened to Beatles songs ranging from originals to lullaby versions to those that follow baroque performance practice!  Talk about an invasion into all areas.  As Jack mentioned at the top of the program, who would have thought the lyrics "she loves you, ya, ya, ya" would have the impact they did.

The Beach Boys music made an appearance in the encore of "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Surfin' USA" and "California Girls" was quoted in the opening "Prelude".  In a show with so many long medleys, there were times when it would have been nice to hear more of a song.  In fact I heard a comment from one audience member that they wished there were fewer medleys.  Typically I don't get the feeling of being short changed and this was probably the first concert where I've thought some excerpts could have been longer.  In true Symphonic Pops Consortium arranger fashion though quite often just when you're about to think "stop changing, I want more of that" they comply by showcasing a vocalist in a longer segment of the song.  The timing is always impeccable!

Kudos to the cast, orchestra, and creators on transporting the audience back in time.  Are we going to the 40's or 50's next season?

Winter Escape with the Naples Philharmonic Orchestra

February 22 I had the opportunity to experience yet another orchestra.  Knowing I was going to be escaping the cold weather at home and heading for the warm climate of Florida I planned ahead and discovered that the Naples Philharmonic was performing Broadway's Leading Men, conducted by none other than their Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly!  How perfect is that?  Warm weather and what's guaranteed to be an enjoyable show.

Outdoor Box Office

A short note about The Philharmonic Centre for the Arts, which is both an art museum and the concert hall for the orchestra.  It's an intriguing place.  The first thing that hit me was free parking!  Something you never have in Toronto!  Second to that was the outdoor box office.  It's amazing what gets done in warm climates that I would never even consider!

Inside there were a few rooms with sculptures to peruse, alas no picture taking was allowed so the art images are from the Phil's website.

The best pieces (in my totally unqualified to judge opinion) were on the stairs going up to balcony level.  They were musical in nature and one was titled "Symphony for the Deaf" and was a mass of various instruments.

The somewhat creepy Sentinels were in the lobby rather than outside in the garden area (maybe they get taken in for the winter).

The Sentinels

The funky red chandelier by Chihuly reminded me of Medusa and hung in the area above some other sculptures.

Chihuly Red

Our seats were in one of the side boxes.  Hayes Hall is carpeted in lush forest green, and each box only has 8 seats.  There's a rather exclusive feeling associated with opening the heavy full door (no curtains here) from the hall into the box.  The seats were decently comfortable as well.  The box directly across the theatre from ours had only 2 people but other than the back edges of the orchestra seating it appeared to be a fairly full house.  The orchestra seemed rather squished on the stage and I'd put the average age as quite young.  It was nice to see a strong female contingent particularly in the woodwind and brass sections.

The performance opened with a signature Everly arranged "Overture" which included, among others, themes from "If I Were a Rich Man" played by concert master Glenn Basham, "Where Is the Life That Late I Led", "Ol' Man River", and "The Impossible Dream".  The overture itself covered over 5 different musicals.  The following four pieces introduced each of the leading men vocalists.  Jacob Clemente, the 13 year old current Broadway Billy Eliot, sang and tap danced through "When I Get My Name in Lights" from The Boy From Oz; Ted Keegan, a former Broadway Phantom, sang "Maria" from West Side Story; Heath Calvert, another Broadway veteran, gave a well sung but rather plain rendition of "This is the Moment" from Jekyll and Hyde; and Ben Crawford (same one mentioned in previous Yuletide post) wowed the crowd as Prof. Harold Hill announcing "Ya Got Trouble" from The Music Man.  Perhaps I was underwhelmed by "This is the Moment" because I had read reviews of Ashley Brown's Broadway with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra from the weekend before which had Ben Crawford's rendition garnering an ovation.  So I was expecting him to also perform it here.  However, I don't think either of the other gentleman could have put across "Ya Got Trouble" in quite the same excellent fashion.

The orchestra was featured playing "Selections from Oliver" before the leading lady, in the person of Brynn O'Malley, took the stage in a nod to Julie Andrews with "Le Jazz Hot" from Victor-Victoria.

Closing the first half was the other Everly arrangement of the evening, "Leading Men Medley".  He has this amazing ability to cover the best parts of a song and fit them all together so well that you hardly notice the transitions between them.  Out of the 10 songs covered there were only 2 I didn't recognize.  The orchestra introduction was "Luck Be a Lady" which led to "Guys and Dolls" sung by Ted, Ben, and Heath.  Following was "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" and "I Have Dreamed" before Jacob joined them in a leather jacket singing "Summer Nights" from Grease.  The song has some interesting chuckle moments coming from a 13 year old.  A mini John Travolta he's not, I'd say his dancing is superior to singing, but he's still got a huge career ahead of him.  Ben took over with "Some Enchanted Evening" which HAS to have bass singer for the song to have weight (for example), and it was perfect.  Camelot and My Fair Lady were featured through "If Ever I Would Leave You" and "On the Street Where You Live" before they finished together with a vocal of "The Impossible Dream".  Talk about a great closing to the first half.

Intermission was interesting.  Typically nothing happens on stage.  The odd musician may remain and practice some parts, and the librarian swaps out the music on the conductors podium, but that's about it.  There was much more activity this evening however.  Two gentlemen (presumably at least one was the librarian) placed a green notice and piece of music on each stand.  My own wild speculation abounded, but really the only reason for adding more music to an already full concert is that something is being replaced.  Indeed after "Seventy-Six Trombones" highlighting the brass section particularly, Jack turned to the audience and all was explained.  Brynn was very much under the weather and unable to perform the "Love Duet Medley" (she would return for the finale), so to feature the orchestra and since no leading men concert would be complete without West Side Story they were going to replace it with the  "Overture to West Side Story" (played much better than this link, but I believe it was a very similar arrangement).  He continued with, "the orchestra has not rehearsed this.  See you at the end".  Unrehearsed or not, they must have been familiar with the music because Jack did not slow it down.  In fact it was one of his most lively conducted numbers of the night!  The transitions between sections of the piece may not have been as clean or tight as they could be and I'm not sure if all the percussion was bang on (although with the off beats it's hard to tell at the best of times), but there was a lovely horn solo in "Somewhere".  Given the extremely energetic "mambo" shouts from the orchestra the enthusiasm from the podium paid off.  Jack's breathlessness at the end was well deserved.

Jacob continued to demonstrate his dancing skills in "All I Need is the Girl" from Gypsy, before Ted tapped back into his Phantom days performing, as described by Jack, "the most romantic song from the musical".  I really liked the arrangement which began with the imposing instrumental "The Phantom of the Opera" as Ted walked out slowly to centre stage before it softened into "Music of the Night".  It's been a long time since I've seen the Phantom, yet his rendition took me back.  All the nuances were there right down to the wrist motion at the "close your eyes and surrender" line.  "Selections from La Cage aux Folles" was inexplicably dropped, yet the musical was still represented with Ben's "I Am What I Am" rendition.  *sigh* he has a voice one could happily listen to all night.

The evening of great music concluded with the powerhouse from Les Miserables.  A medley of "Look Down"and "At the End of the Day", as part of the orchestral intro; "On My Own" exquisitely sung by Brynn, I would never have been able to tell she wasn't felling well; "Stars" (one of my favourite lines in the whole musical is "and so it has been, and so it's written on the doorway to paradise that those who falter and those who fall must pay the price", I just love the melody there) where Ben got to return to his Javert understudy days; Ted matched Brynn with a poignent "Bring Him Home"; and the entire cast and a 14 voice male chorus joined in for the powerful "One More Day" and "Do You Hear the People Sing?" finale.  I wonder if this will be part of the Do You Hear the People Sing? concert celebrating the music of Boublil and Schonberg which Jack's debuting with several orchestras (NACO and Baltimore so far) for the 2011/12 season?  If so, it's definitely worth going to see.

Broadway's Leading Men is also making a stop next month in Ottawa with the NAC orchestra.  It is however going to lack Ben Crawford.  But hopefully will include a healthy Brynn and some great love songs.  So GO!