Night of American Music

The Oct. 9 concert titled Rhapsody in Blue included two pieces from Samual Barber, the "Overture to Candide" by Bernstein and the title piece featuring guest pianist Jon Kimura Parker who apparently has been guesting with the TSO for 25 years.  The evening began with a great pre-concert chat by Rick Philips where we found out how Gershwin came to write "Rhapsody in Blue" as well as some stories about Barber and Bernstein.

"Overture to Candide" was a rousing start to the evening.  From the choir loft seats it's great fun to watch the conductor.  I'd never seen the string players have to pull stray hairs off their bows before, but there were a few who did after this piece.  There was also a guest concertmaster, Jonathan Carney.  He's the regular concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony.  An interesting note, the BSO's Pops season opened Oct. 7, and why anyone would want to miss Maestro Everly and Gotta Dance is beyond me, but then I'm not a trained musician, mearly a fun loving amateur.  Mr. Carney's style seemed a little flamboyent to me, at least more than I usually recall seeing from the other TSO associate and assistant concertmasters.

Next up was "Symphony #1" by Barber.  Maestro Oundjian introduced this piece (I do love how there's talking in casual concerts!) and mentioned it's rarely performed because people don't quite know how to program it.  After hearing it, I've decided I'm not a fan.  It's interesting I suppose, but it didn't really resonate with me.  The evening's concert was dedicated to a cousin of the Oundjian family, making the very famous Barber piece, "Adagio for Strings" especially poignant.  No one could ever accuse Mr. Oundjian of being stoic on the podium, he feels what he's conducting, and while I often have trouble finding a downbeat, the orchestra produces beautiful music with his leading.  At one point he made a gesture that looked as if he was drawing a bow across a violin.  It's not hard to tell that is his instrument.  There's one very pregnant pause in the piece and the audience was told that in a previous concert some people had thought the piece was over and started clapping, however he felt sure that wouldn't happen tonight.  And indeed, with that reminder, it didn't.

The program concluded with the much more upbeat "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin.  This piece was named by Ira and originally was going to be "American Rhapsody", however with other names around like "Study in Gray", it became "Rhapsody in Blue".  Gershwin was asked to compose the piece by Paul Whiteman for a concert called An Experiment in Modern Music in 1924.  He hadn't been working on it and with 5 weeks left, on a trip to Boston for out of town tryouts for a musical, he developed the piece.  Gershwin wrote a piece for 2 pianos.  The second piano part became the orchestration.  Apparently Gershwin was mostly self taught and asked Ravel and Stravinsky if he could study music with them.  Ravel's response was "why would you want to be a B class Ravel when you can be an A Class Gershwin?". Stravinsky asked how much money he made, and when Gershwin laid out a 6 digit figure, Stravinsky said "I should be studying with you".

Now back to the actual performance of the piece.  Peter Oundjian introduced Jon Kimura Parker and explained they attended Julliard at the same time, but only met at their graduation ceremony (their guest speaker was Aaron Copland and neither were really paying attention) since they were seated beside each other.  Not a lot of names come between "Ou" and "Pa" so the alphabet brought them together.  They joked around a bit, mentioned the glissando in the clarinet at the start of the piece and how when the clarinetist slid it for the first time (it wasn't originally written that way) it was liked and since then the clarinet player pretty much does what he likes that sounds good.  At this the oboe player looked like he was laughing and the clarinetist gave a quick shake of his head.  However, it sounded really cool, and is something I'm going to have to read about how to do, this may make runs a lot easier ;)

There was an instant standing ovation at the conclusion of the piece.  For an encore Mr. Parker took the microphone and said "when you play with an orchestra you've got to have...", sat down and started playing "I've Got Rhythm".  After being presented with flowers, and there still being a standing ovation, he went back in time, but stayed in the same country, concluding the evening with "Solace" by Scott Joplin.

New TSO Season

The Toronto Symphony Orchestra opened their 2010-2011 season with a bang--Mahler's "Resurrection Symphony".  Since 2011 is the 100th anniversary of Gustav Mahler's death, his works are showing up on the schedules for a lot of orchestras I follow.  For example, Baltimore opened with Symphony 7 and has 4 other pieces planned for the season.   The NAC Orchestra is doing Mahler's 4th Symphony near the end of the season, but it's still there.  Indianapolis has Mahler's 5th in a few weeks, and if I kept looking maybe I could find all 10 of the symphonies somewhere.

Prior to Sept. 25 when I attended the TSO concert, I'd heard OF Mahler, but never actually HEARD Mahler.  I don't know why I waited so long!  As usual if I'm attending something new I look for it on Youtube. I found a version conducted by Leonard Bernstein, a famous conductor, so I figured it was a pretty good rendition.   Once the symphony started (the orchestra began with "O Canada", both verses, I didn't know it had 2 verses!  Must be a season opening thing because I've never seen them play that before) I quickly discovered Youtube does not do Mahler justice, well it probably doesn't do a lot justice, but definitely not Mahler!  

From the opening notes I was entranced.  I think my mouth was hanging open for parts of it and there was so much to take in visually. There was no getting drowsy in this program.  The melody passed to various instruments and never got lost for me, the balance between everything was incredible even with a huge orchestra.  Symphony 2 is scored for a lot of what I'd consider extras to a typical orchestra complement (such as 4 clarinets, 2 E-flat clarinets, 4 oboes, 4 bassoons, 2 harps, etc. and 10 HORNS - which was incredible).  At a few points the clarinets and horns even pointed their bells up.  Is that a Mahler thing?  Did he write to do that in the music?

The offstage playing of horns and percussion in the fifth movement was interesting.  According to the program notes by Don Anderson, "The first part of the concluding movement is emotionally uncertain, haunted by the evocative echoes of off-stage horns and whispered, fragmentary allusions to the Dies irae (Day of Wrath)".  I'd agree with the haunting aspect for sure, especially since it follows this touching mezzo-soprano solo "Urlicht" (Primeval Light), which I liked more than the vocal parts in the final movement.

The local library is now hunting for their recording of Mahler 2 since it's not on the shelf and I'm anxious to hear it again.  If only I had free flights anywhere in North America, I would make that list of which orchestras were doing what and maybe hear all 10 symphonies in a season.  Alas, some dreams don't come true.  

But attending more TSO concerts does.  Tonight is a much lighter subject with "Rhapsody in Blue".  I can't wait.  More soon.

Musical Trip to the South Pacific

One enchanting, and very hot, humid south Pacific style, afternoon was spent at the Four Season Centre last week taking in the first Broadway revival of South Pacific.  It's the only Canadian stop for the touring production of the show that started at the Lincoln Center in New York.  Incidentally, that run closes tomorrow.  As an added bonus, Thursday night the Lincoln Center production was the subject of "Live from Lincoln Center" on PBS.   So since I got to see two different casts, in the same show, days apart, hence there will be a bit of comparison to follow.  

To start with we had great seats--first row of the raised rear orchestra level, so no heads in the way.  Although, there was no view of the actual orchestra which was too bad since at 26 members it's now considered large for a Broadway show.  There was a low register clarinet part during Liat's dance in "Happy Talk" that sounded tricky and fun at the same time...if only I could have seen the score and the person playing.  I believe PBS mentioned the Lincoln Center orchestra is 30 members and the stage there is really cool, it retracts to expose the pit for the overture and entr'acte, then extends covering most of the pit for the show.  

The music is of course by the well established Rodgers and Hammerstein, presented in the original orchestrations, and everyone's voice was amazing!  Carmen Cusack as Nurse Nellie Forbush had a delightful Little Rock accent (well presumably, I've never been to Arkansas) and a great spunky energy as she "Wash[ed] That Man Right Outa [Her] Hair", was a "Cockeyed Optimist", and in love with "A Wonderful Guy".

It's been a while since I've seen the movie, and maybe there it comes a lot later, but I was surprised that "Some Enchanted Evening" was in the opening scene.  But what a way to start off a show!  Jason Howard as Emile de Becque was phenomenal!  His opera background showed and his voice made me sigh, relax, and soak it all in.  Just gorgeous to listen to and what I think an Emile should look like, more so than the Lincoln Center counterpart.  It was in a biography on Ethel Merman where I first heard that the turning point song in the second act is referred to as the "11 o'clock song", a hold over from when performances started at 8:30pm and the song would appear around 11pm.  I'd say in South Pacific it's "This Nearly Was Mine" and Howard brought the house down.  It didn't quite stop the show but I imagine if you put his same performance back in 1949 when the original opened, it would have.  Anderson Davis played Lt. Joseph Cable and in addition to a great voice, showed off his totally ripped abs!

At times Bloody Mary seemed over the top, pushing a bit too hard in the acting portion, although "Bali Ha'i" and "Happy Talk" were sung with an appropriate tone.  I preferred the Toronto cast to the Lincoln Center one where it seemed like several characters (Luther Billis for example) had an extra forcefulness which came across to me as over acting.  The shouting got tiring and monotonous after a while, whereas the mix in Toronto was well executed.  Luther, played by Matthew Saldivar, was funny, charming, and the kind of ham everyone loves as "Honey Bun".  

South Pacific is definitely worth seeing before it sails away into the Bali Ha'i sunset.

Jersey Boys

Thanks to some wonderful deals, my musical escapades around town haven't stopped for the summer!  Last week I was able to enjoy Jersey Boys: The Story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons at the Toronto Centre for the Arts.  Yet another example of a theatre that has changed names, I remember when this place was the North York Centre for the Performing Arts.  Back in 1993 I saw Show Boat there which opened the theatre prior to starting it's Broadway run.  Until Jersey Boys arrived, Show Boat was the longest running show at 88 weeks.  Jersey Boys is now into it's second year and just announced it's closing on August 22.  Our seats were near the back in the centre orchestra section, but were really good.  It's not that large a theatre and even the back row probably had a good view.

Unlike Mamma Mia! I didn't go into this knowing all the music.  In fact all I knew of it was the snippets of "Sherry" and "O What a Night" that are played in the TV ads.  I recognized several others as the performance went on and really enjoyed it.  We had the understudies for the characters of Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi, (Grant Tilly and Matt Cassidy respectively) but I don't see how the originals could be any better.  These guys are all very talented.  Other than Frankie (Jeff Madden), they play instruments (guitar for Tommy, bass for Nick and keyboards for Bob Gaudio, played by Quinn Vanantwerp) in addition to the singing and dancing.  All their voices are great and meld very well together.

I liked how the story was told as a personal narrative with each character taking their turn at explaining how the events unfolded to bring the group, which over time when through a multitude of names, from Jersey to the big time.  Presumably, the personalities are somewhat accurate for each character:  Tommy getting into trouble with money, Frankie having family problems and even losing a daughter to drugs, Nick quitting just when things were starting to turn around, and Bob being the song writer and still honouring the business agreement he made with Frankie on a handshake.  The ending where each character described their current life (unfortunately Nick has died), was also very well done.  You think it might end on a sad note, but then they all come back to do one last song and people leave humming.

The last 3/4 I liked the best, since the beginning seemed to rush through a lot of segments of songs without much focus.  The set was effective too with an overhead catwalk adding an additional level for entrances and exits, as well as a place for the trumpet, trombone, and saxes to play during one of the hit numbers (which of course I now can't remember).  During the preface to one song, which Bob wrote specifically for Frankie, they showed how it took some serious selling to the record company and radio stations to get it played.  Through the whole segment the name of the song wasn't mentioned.  Just when  you'd expect someone to say the name the scene would switch to Bob trying to convince someone new to agree to play it.  Finally it's "play the song already", which was exactly how I felt, since they were giving this unknown piece such a big build up.  The song ended up being "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" which was well deserving of the tension.

Other songs I ended up having the "they did that?" reaction to were "Earth Angel", "Walk Like a Man", and "Working My Way Back to You".  If deals are still available, I may get a chance to see this one again before it leaves.  Only 1 month left, if you haven't been...GO!

Independence Day Celebration

Cross it off the Bucket List!  Ok, I don't actually have a hard copy Bucket List, but I managed to pull together a whirlwind trip to Washington DC to see the 30th Anniversary of the "Capitol Fourth" concert LIVE.  I've grown up watching the PBS show and have wanted to see it in person for ages.  Plus the last, and only, time I toured around Washington DC was about 8 years ago, and I wanted to go back with a new knowledge base and see the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum again.

Having gained some unexpected time-off, in 3 days I arranged accompaniment, accommodation, directions, maps of downtown and the Metro subway system, and a very rough plan.  I even found the prohibited items list for the Capitol Hill lawn (good thing since I would have taken my umbrella for shade and ended up losing it) and discovered a great piece of info...there was a dress rehearsal open to the public the night before the show!  Never one to turn down seeing what was sure to be a great concert more than once I added that to the list of things to do.  Now onto the concert.

The magnitude of things was certainly what I expected.  The Capitol Building is huge, and very impressive in any light.  Being there extra early for the real show we got to take pictures as the sun was setting and it's very pretty.

We were standing at the base of it for the dress rehearsal (the centre lawn had been opened at 3pm and filled by 5pm), and it was a good spot.  Thankfully I had remembered my binoculars, and you could see the stage and narration hut quite well, even if the performers were small.  The added bonus of attending the concert this year was not only that it was the 30th Anniversary, but also the first "Capitol Fourth" that my favourite, Jack Everly, was conducting.  He's replaced Erich Kunzel who had conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in this and the Memorial Day concert for the last 20 years.  I'm probably bias, but I think they made an excellent choice and he did a wonderful job.

Funny things happen in rehearsal and with professionals I guess it's no exception.  First Gladys Knight and Darius Rucker weren't there, so they had stand-ins who lip-synced to the songs they were going to sing.  The Darius Rucker guy (seen in photo) was really quite entertaining and the stand-in fiddle player was very energetic in his air fiddle playing.  Jimmy Smits hosted, and after introducing the people who weren't there tongue-in-cheek, he was especially sincere with the introductions of David Archuleta, Lang Lang and Reba McEntire since they actually were performing.  Lang Lang's intro included some background on one of the pieces that didn't make the final concert.  At the rehearsal his first piece was "the theme from a movie starring Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour called Somewhere in Time.  Also known as Rachmaninov's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini Variation 18" [my paraphrase].  After stumbling over "Rachmaninov" and having the audience say it with him, Jimmy said he'd just refer to it as "the theme from Somewhere in Time" which is what he did the next day.  During the end of the rehearsal with the orchestra playing the "1812 Overture" and a few other marches, they showed fireworks from previous years on the large screen, but they had the real cannon fire!

July 4 was hot, full sun, with not a cloud in the sky, and we arrived just as they opened the security line at about 2:45pm.  The concert started at 8pm, so yes a long afternoon waiting.  However, it really didn't seem that long.  When we arrived the real Darius Rucker was practicing, there were always people milling around on stage, and watching the lawn fill in, as well as the people who picked spots on the Capitol Building steps (the poor people, the steps were in full sun and they had 5 hours to wait!), eliminated the bore factor.  Plus I had the fun of constructing my own lean-to for shade using chairs, a sheet, and clothes pins.  The fence we sat in front of helped immensely.  What do you think?  Do I get my Girl Scout badge? :)   Hehe, interestingly enough the book I was reading is visible in this photo.  A biography of Irving Berlin, one of America's great songwriters who's "God Bless America" has probably been in this concert for all 30 years.

The real concert was worth the wait.  It started with David Archuleta singing "The Star Spangled Banner", then Gladys Knight did her set of songs, followed by a taped history segment with NSO background music, and the real Darius Rucker in the mid-lawn stage.  Watching what actually happens on the stage preparation wise that you never see on TV was really neat.  There's all the instrument additions and removals (the drum set for the back-up bands and the grand piano for example), plus the orchestra and chorus relaxing.  Well not exactly relaxing, but the chorus got to sit, and the Maestro removed his jacket at every opportunity, it must have been brutally hot up there.  The orchestra was featured in the overture to the musical "George M" which included Cohan songs such as "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Mary's a Grand Old Name" and "Grand Old Flag".  It was a crowd pleaser, as was Lang Lang's performance of Horowitz's "Variations on the Stars and Stripes".  Really there was nothing to say after him but WOW, even the orchestra was applauding.  There was a nice tribute to Erich Kunzel by John Schneider singing "When the Saints Go Marching In" and the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps played the "Washington Post March".  This was by the fountain of the Capitol Building which was hidden behind walls of people so we couldn't see it except on the large screens, but they sounded good.

Reba McEntire played two of her popular songs, then was awarded the National Artistic Achievement Award.  Patriotism took over as she sang "God Bless America" and the fireworks started.  Unfortunately trees were in our way since we were on the side of the centre lawn.  People had started leaving as soon as she was given the award and I wondered why, the concert wasn't over and they'd sat there all afternoon!  Turns out they were going around to the other side of the trees to get a good view of the Washington Monument since the fireworks originated behind it.  With the emptying out of people though I was able to move up closer and watch the orchestra during the "1812 Overture" and the two marches they played at the very end which is when the following picture was taken.  One I think was a much longer version of the "Washington Post March" the Marines had done.  The musicians use clothes pins to attach the music to the stand so it doesn't blow away.  I don't there there was enough of a breeze to cause that, but better to be safe than sorry!

The fireworks were pretty amazing, they just never stopped!  The display certainly goes much longer than you get to see on TV, and you never get to hear the full orchestra at the end either, they usually cut the broadcast off shortly after the "1812 Overture".

The concert and just July 4 in Washington DC was a great thing to be able to experience.  I've now done the Canadian and American capital bashes.  They are very different, but both fun.  I didn't hear an official crowd estimate for this July 4, but previously I'd heard something like 500,000 people attend.  Everyone we chatted with was friendly, and it really is fun to sing along to the US National Anthem and God Bless America, and the other patriotic songs that are great pieces of music, but are rarely heard (and understandably so) north of the 49th parallel.  But for one day, I got to be an honorary American!

Day of Firsts with Ballet and Bruckner

Thursday was a great day!  I was able to enjoy an afternoon and evening of culture :)  There is nothing better than taking advantage of the deals offered to young adults in the city of Toronto and my entire day cost less than one full price ticket to either the National Ballet of Canada or the Toronto Symphony.  For all you other young folk out there check out DanceBreak and tsoundcheck.

So lets start with the ballet.  What caught my attention was West Side Story, which is why I wanted to go.  Other than The Nutcracker I've never been to the ballet, and quite honestly I don't much care for the National Ballet's current version of The Nutcracker, and find the Royal Winnipeg's much more entertaining.  But I digress.  Since this was my first experience, I did a bit of research.  Primarily this consisted of reading the ballet notes online and listening to the music.  The other two ballets on the program were a new commission by Finnish choreographer Jorma Elo called Pur ti Miro and Jerome Robbin's Opus 19/The Dreamer.  Pur ti Miro is set to Beethoven's "Violin Concerto in D, movement III: Rondo", and "Consecration of the House Overture", while "Pur ti Miro" is from "L'incoronazion di Poppea" (The Coronation of Poppea), an opera by Claudio Monteverdi.  The Beethoven pieces were easy enough to find on youtube (versions of the concerto by Itzhak Perlman as well as a rather young Pinkus Zukerman and the Overture), and are quite lyrical and lovely to listen to by themselves.  I particularly like the joyous aspect of Perlman's performance.

Opus 19/The Dreamer is danced to another violin concerto in D major, this one by Sergei Prokofiev (who incidentally also wrote the music for the ballets Romeo and Juliet and Cinderella).  I found this on a CD from the library and honestly did not like it at all.  The ballet notes described the piece as a "brilliant concerto...dissonant, bittersweet, [an] oddly compelling work with its blend of romanticism and modernity".  Well I got the dissonant part, but not the compelling.  So I was expecting to enjoy at least the music in the first ballet and of course Bernstein's score to West Side Story.

I picked a seat in the front row, since I've never sat in the front row of any performance, and I wanted to be able to see the orchestra.  Well I needn't have worried about the second part because the pit at the Four Seasons Centre is more in front of the stage than under it making for a wonderful view from the audience.  At times there was far too much going on to take it all in with the dancers, orchestra, conductor, and even singers, providing visuals.  Through my research I also found out there was a pre-ballet talk about the various works and I'm very glad I went.  Ballet Master, Lindsay Fischer provided insight into the choreography, story lines, and artists through a very engaging and heart felt talk.

The surprise of my experience was how something can completely change when you put movement to it.  I thoroughly enjoyed Opus 19/The Dreamer.  The violin soloist, Benjamin Bowman, was phenomenal in both Pur ti Miro and Opus 19.  So, I would probably have had a new appreciation for Prokofiev's piece just with that; however, add the abstract story of the ballet and it was incredible.  The music and movement fit so well that it all came alive!  Abstract or not I understood more of the searching and yearning to fit in showcased in Opus 19, than I did the more narrative story of Nero, the emperor, and Poppea, his mistress, in Pur ti Miro.  Granted the pas de deux between Tanya Howard and Jiri Jelinek was beautiful and the lifts throughout were breathtaking, but I didn't feel like she really loved him.  Maybe she didn't and that's the point, but he looked at her loving, while she looked at him almost with distain.

West Side Story was fun, and lively and everything it should be.  The conductor, David Briskin, was enjoyable to watch, sang along at parts and at times had a similar beat style to my favourite conductor :)  One dancer fell in "The Prologue" as the guys were skidding across the stage, although he was up again so quickly you almost had to second guess if it actually happened.  I imagine that's a very shocking experience for a dancer.  A nice job was done of singing and acting "America" by Jordana Damec as Anita and Stephanie Hutchison as Rosalia.  These dancers are obviously very multi-talented!

Several hours later, the evening began at Roy Thomson Hall for what was originally marketed as Yannick and Yundi.  Yundi, a Chinese pianist who recently won the Warsaw Chopin competition was to play Chopin's "Piano Concerto No. 1 in E Minor", with Yannick Nezet-Seguin conducting.  The evening was completed with Bruckner's 9th Symphony.  Unfortunately, Mr. Nezet-Seguin (who I was looking forward to seeing) was unable to make it due to scheduling conflicts, so with 9 days notice another French-Canadian conductor Jean-Marie Zeitouni, stepped in.  He conducted "The Messiah" this past Christmas.

This was also my first experience with Bruckner.  I've heard various interviews which give the impression he is the epitome of classical music, and while technically I'm working backwards by hearing his final, unfinished symphony first, might as well start with the one that would showcase all his experience.

There was a fair amount of dynamic contrast and the piece progressed at a lively tempo, so it certainly wasn't boring.  Near the ending there were repetitive notes in the strings and horns which got a little dry though.  The sound from the four French horns sounded so much louder than usual, which I assumed was because I was sitting in the choir loft directly above them (great place to watch the conductor from and Mr. Zeitouni was very expressive making it quite entertaining).  Then when leaving I noticed there were four other horns sitting behind them!  No wonder the principal clarinet (side note: he appeared to use a synthetic reed) put in an ear plug when the volume increased.  It was also neat to see that of the full stand of mallets/sticks laid out the timpani player used at least 4 different sets.

In conclusion, I think I like Bruckner and will go searching for his other symphonies.  Unfortunately, both the TSO and National Ballet seasons are drawing to a close, so for the summer months this blog might expand more to CD/movie reviews.  Stay tuned!

Irving Berlin: From Ragtime to Ritzes

Last week, May 15 to be exact, was another great evening of music with the National Arts Centre Orchestra as they presented their final Pops concert of the season, splendidly conducted, as usual, by Maestro Jack Everly.  The programs title appears to have changed from when it was first announced, with "Ragtime" being replaced with just "Rags".  Personally, I like the "Ragtime" since Irving Berlin's first big hit was "Alexander's Ragtime Band".  Also a wonderful movie which I watched this past week twice!

It seems quite an undertaking to boil down over 1500 songs (which is just the published number, apparently Irving Berlin wrote over 3000, talk about a prolific writer) to a two hour concert, yet Mr. Everly and his team have done a wonderful job!  Medleys abounded yet it never felt short changed with just choruses, and several songs even included some less familiar verses.  I counted 37 different songs, not including any snippets that may have been hidden between the main themes.  The show had all the classics from “White Christmas” to “Oh How I Hate To Get Up in the Morning” and even a few I hadn’t heard before.  One advantage of having so many songs to choose from is that perhaps this show can live an extended life by swapping new ones in.  For example, "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" in  the holiday medley, or "Something to Dance About" in with the other dance songs.  Maybe even "It's a Lovely Day Today" mixed with "Blue Skies"?  So many options exist!

The cast of singers was phenomenal.  Tony DeSare held his own among the other Broadway veterans, although seemed more at home during his two piano numbers.  He played both without music and I believe I detected a bit of "Rhapsody in Blue" mixed in with "I Love a Piano".  It also had a great little swinging clarinet line (I'm always listening for those!) from Mr. Sykes.   I expect Tony really shone during his post concert Cabaret.   

The "Sisters" medley was lots of fun and included "You're Just in Love" (one of my favourites from Call Me Madame with Ethel Merman and Donald O'Connor) and "You’d Be Surprised" which I hadn't heard before. Natasha Yvette Williams performed it so well!  I've been searching for a recording and haven't been able to find anything as well sung or acted as her version.   Ashley Brown (the original Mary Poppins on Broadway) has a lovely voice and looked stunning throughout the evening.  If only I lived in Indianapolis as she's doing "Ashley Brown's Broadway" with the Indianapolis Symphony next season, which is sure to have some fine music.  It was great to hear Hugh Panaro again too.  He was just as enjoyable as when he debuted with the NACO in "Guys and Dolls: In Concert".  The lively footwork and singing of James T. Lane was extremely entertaining.  The whole ensemble together had a sound that blended well.  Ashley and the men in "Heat Wave" generated a strong reaction from the audience, as did the "Easter Parade" section of the "Holiday Medley" courtesy of James's Easter bunny.

Maestro Everly was also in fine form.  It's clear he really enjoys this music and, while always fantastic to watch, if possible appeared even more animated than usual.  His knowledge of the repertoire is obviously very vast and the delivery so honest.  This was evidenced by his introduction to "Remember" where he described that Berlin gave the rights to three of his songs to his future wife in an attempt to win the favour of his eventual father-in-law.  Mr. Everly listed "Remember" and "Always" then without missing a beat admitted he couldn't recall the third one.  We never did find out what it was.  Was anyone there on Thurs. or Fri. night that could fill me in?  Additionally, his concluding thanks to the orchestra, other staff, and audience ("we couldn't do it without you, well we could but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun" :) ) was completely genuine.

The closing numbers for the first and second halves were flipped from what was listed in the program.  A wise decision, since "Irving Berlin's America" (a medley including "This is the Army, Mr. Jones", "How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning", and of course "God Bless America"), which was the original finale, really had that USA patriotic feel to it right down to the men in white and the ladies in red and blue dresses.  Granted Berlin was a strong patriot, but I appreciated leaving singing "Puttin’ on the Ritz" rather than "God Bless America", even if they did make it more inclusive by sliding a "North America" into the last refrain.
 

To quote a song that appeared in a few section throughout the evening and has become the show biz anthem, “The costumes (they were fabulous, especially the finale dresses which gave that elegant white tie and tails look so well), the scenery (who needs it with such a great orchestra? but there were even banners depicting various songs), the make-up (the performers all looked beautiful), the props (does a Santa hat, Easter bunny, baton or instrument count?), this show had it all.  As for “an audience that lifts you when you’re down”, with such a wonderful evening of great music and two standing ovations, I don’t know who could have left unhappy.

Thanks NACO for a great season of popular music!