A Whirlwind of Music

Shamefully this is being written in November and back dated a month (wow, so behind) so it shows in the correct month drop down menu.  So way back on Oct. 14 the Toronto Symphony offered a Whirlwind of Music program.  We started in Germany with the first movement of Mendelssohn's "Italian Symphony No. 4", then moved on to Italy for Vivaldi's "Concerto for Bassoon in F Major" and Rossini's "Overture to William Tell".  After intermission we went to Austria for the "Overture to the Magic Flute" by Mozart, then back to Germany for Mendelssohn's "Konzertstuck No. 1 for Two Clarinets", before finishing the trip with the second and fourth movements of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 7".

Joshua Weilerstein

The concert was conducted by the incredibly energetic (ah, the joys of youth) Joshua Weilerstein.  He's accomplished a lot in his 24 years, completing graduate studies in conducting and violin, assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, and has had conducting gigs all over the world with orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Danish National Symphony to name a few.  He had an excellent rapport with the audience, provided interesting tidbits about the pieces and added humour by defining an intellectual as one who can "list to the William Tell Overture without thinking of The Lone Ranger".  True not a quote created by him (wikipedia credits it to Jack Guin of the Denver Post) but fun nonetheless.

Michael Sweeney

Highlights of the concert for me started with the bassoon concerto.  I enjoy the sound of the bassoon, but often find it difficult to pick out from the full orchestra unless it has an obvious melodic line.  So it was really nice to hear principal bassoonist Michael Sweeney take centre stage.  In fact it was an embellished version of the concerto that Mr. Sweeney created himself.  A rather prolific concerto writer with over 500 to his credit and more than three dozen for the bassoon, I've always liked that Vivaldi probably wrote most of these works for the female students at the Venetian orphanage where he worked.

L: Valdepenas, R: Zhai

The spotlight continued to be on principal players when new TSO clarinetist YaoGuang Zhai joined the veteran Joaquin Valdepenas for the "Konzertstuck (or Concert Piece) for Two Clarinets".  What impeccable tone, articulation and ability they both have that showed off the versatility of this wonderful instrument (sorry, I'm biased since that's my instrument too).

Clearly I'm no intellectual because I thought of The Lone Ranger, but I had no idea the "Overture to William Tell" had four sections and is 12 minutes long!  As a whole it's a great piece, and a shame so much gets forgotten about because of the popularity of the final gallop.  It opens with a section called Prelude: Dawn featuring only the cellos and basses, then the full orchestra joins for the Storm.  The third section, Call to the Cows, is the pastorale calm after the storm and features the English horn, before  transitioning to the brass filled finale.

It was a lot of variety packed into an fun filled afternoon concert.

Some Enchanted Evening with the TSO

Tuesday evening the Toronto Symphony opened its Pops Concert Series with new Principal Pops Conductor Steven Reineke at the helm for an evening of Rodgers and Hammerstein hits.  At first glance in the new, all glossy pages program (which had the side effect of condensing the piece order list to 1/2 a page!) I wasn't entirely thrilled with the pieces listed.  It seemed like a rehash of what's typically done at Pops concerts.  However my opinion changed once things got started.  While some of the these pieces are well worn and typical fare the vocalists made them come alive again!  Additionally some pieces often done by soloists were done by the choir combination of the Orpheus Choir of Toronto and the University of Toronto MacMillan Singers.  There were even a few included that often get overlooked.  "We Kiss in a Shadow" for example,  I don't recall ever hearing before. Obviously it's been a LONG time since I've watched The King and I.

The arc to the evening was chronological.  Reineke briefly described the plots of each musical and mentioned some of the historical significance Carousel and South Pacific had being the first to include subject matter regarding abuse, sexism and racism.

Ashley and her husband Daniel
looking lovely at their wedding
( www.patsybrownblog.com)

I have no complaints about any of the singers, they all had good voices, Ashley Brown though is spectacular!  Just wow!  She looked stunning as well in two lovely gowns.  Total side note: I couldn't help noticing a ring I didn't remember before.  Turns out she's been married almost a year (thanks google) and congrats Ashley!

I've heard her before and was so excited she was going to be coming to Toronto.  In fact all the singers were making their TSO debut.  In addition to Ashley was Aaron Lazar, and it was great to see Canadian talent on the program with Jonathan Estabrooks (see his interview regarding this concert here).

The choirs were highlighted as well, beginning with "It's Grand Night for Singing".  They also got to show off their whistling skills in their other main numbers "There is Nothin' Like a Dame" and "I Whistle a Happy Tune".  "Nothin' Like a Dame" was probably the most enjoyable selection as they passed around a mike singling out individual lines.  There was one guy in the front row who stood out even before his solo with his apparent enjoyment and great expressions.  It's great fun watching people like that.  Back in the audience, I don't think the young gentlemen in front of me had heard the song before because he was cracking up at some of the more humerous lyrics.

Carousel was apparently Richard Rodgers favourite musical and is Reineke's as well.  Here Ashley embraced a variety of vocal styles from the twang of "June is Bustin' Out All Over" to the serious romantic "You'll Never Walk Alone".  Later in The King and I section she shared the loving romantic "I Have Dreamed" with Jonathan for probably my favourite piece of the evening.  Such a wonderful combination of melody and voices.

Jonathan (operatoonity.com)

While a bit repetitive with the gestures in "Soliloquy", Jonathan showed impressive stamina throughout the 7.5 minute long song, which follows the character's wondering over all the fun he could have with a son, lamenting that his child may be a girl,  deciding that might not be so bad after all, and resolving to do all he can to support her!  I think it's one of the first times I haven't been bored by the full version and the ending was just as powerful as the start.

Aaron Lazar
(www.phototv.fr/aaron-lazar.html)

South Pacific selections in the second half allowed Aaron to reprise his Lt. Cable days (he performed the part at the Hollywood Bowl) with a nice rendition of "Younger than Springtime".   Jonathan got the ever popular "Some Enchanted Evening".  If I closed my eyes at the start of "A Wonderful Guy" I could have sworn it was Kelli O'Hara singing.  It diverged from there, but Ashley started out so similarly.

It's always nice when the orchestra gets its chance to be centre stage as well.   Here they were featured in the opening "Orchestral Interlude" which included segments of songs that weren't elsewhere in the show such as "Everything's Up to Date in Kanses City" (from Oklahoma) and "Shall We Dance?" (from The King and I).  The second half opened with the "Waltz" from the 1957 made for TV movie Cinderella.  Rodgers and Hammerstein took that project just to work with Julie Andrews and we all know what became of that collaboration.  It was a nice to hear the waltz live with full orchestra and I had forgotten that "10 Minutes Ago I Met You" was part of it.  I couldn't resist quietly singing along.  It was actually the Lesley Anne Warren remake from 1965 that I grew up watching and remember having to fast forward the commercials.

Hill Twirl
(www.the-sound-of-music-guide.com)

The evening concluded with the final R and H collaboration The Sound of Music.  The "Prologue and the Sound of Music" performed were the arrangement from the film.  It's been a while since I watched it but the start of "Prologue" sounded like dissonant contempoary music at times, with the flitty flutes (reminiscent of birds) and chime of church bells.  The horns calling with the mellow opening line "what will this day be like, what will my future be" in "I Have Confidence" was just enough to pull it back into context.  When Ashley walked to the front of the stage to start "The Sound of Music" I was so hoping she'd do the Julie Andrews twirl at the top of the hill, but she didn't.

After Jonathan's "Edelweiss" solo he invited the audience to participate in the second time through.  Nothing beats singing with full symphony orchestra!  The vocalists then all joined together for the concert conclusion "Climb Ev'ry Mountain".

After a standing ovation and several sets of bows, the orchestra returned to their seats for an encore (yay!) of "Do Re Mi".  At the first line from the choir of "Let's start at the very beginning" there was applause and cheers from the audience!  I absolutely agree it would have been no trouble to sit through the entire concert again.

I will venture that the A-list of symphonic pop artists isn't huge (well ok, maybe it is, but I've only been exposed to a limited number, so still think it's small) and Reineke and Ashley have worked together before so let's hope that this is only the beginning of her collaborations with the TSO.  Hmm, how about a dream team concert?  My votes go to Hugh Panaro, Ashley Brown and Ben Crawford...could you imagine an evening with them...heavenly!

Kudos also to the sound mixer.  It was perfect!  The singers didn't sound over amplified that I've sometimes noticed before, and their voices were melded beautifully with the orchestra.

Beauty and the Beast

NETworks touring production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast was recently in Toronto.  This one I wasn't going to miss.  I have fond memories of the previous incarnation back in 1995 at the Princess of Wales Theatre.  That might have actually been my first time in that theatre.  The recent version was brought by Dancap, not Mirvish and there were some large differences.

By its nature a touring production is generally not as elaborate as one settling into a location for a more lengthy run than a few weeks, but being familiar with the latter it's hard to get the preconceived notions out of my head.  Additionally I am intimately familiar with the music on the Broadway cast recording, so the first thing that hit me was the lack of lush and full sound in the overture.  With a grand total of 6 strings (2 each of violin, cello and bass), 2 brass (trumpet and French horn), 6 reeds, keyboards, and percussion in the pit, there's just no competing with the larger orchestra that would have been used in studio.  Next up was the different narrator in the "Prologue".  The haunting voice and ending vocal sneer at "for who could ever learn to love...a Beast?" was sorely lacking.

The village set
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

The smaller, simpler sets worked well enough, just not what I was expecting.  The curtain as the castle door was rather flimsy looking given it is suppose to be a fortress, and the town street of three houses/businesses that kept swirling around had a dizzying effect.

tower/balcony during
rehearsal
(www.revamp.com)

The inside of the castle had twisted vine type stairs that were interesting since at first glance you weren't sure how it would be used, the stairs were hidden within the twists.  However, these flipped around regularly as well, making it look like they were making the most out of the little they had.  It worked for the Beast's "If I Can't Love Her" solo to close Act One when he climbed the tower inside then the set flipped around and it wasn't that hard to imagine he was outside on a balcony.

various portals during rehearsal including colourful books
(www.revamp.com)

In contrast, the second act library scene lost the grandeur of a huge library by having brightly coloured books on portal drapes fly in.  There was only a small shelf of books behind Belle and the Beast during the reading of King Arthur that fit the characteristics of the rest of the sets.

Be Our Guest number
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

As scenes go "Be Our Guest" was the one that most closely resembled the original I remember, complete with audience showering ticker tape.  What I did miss was Cogsworth calling out "oh no, not the kick line" just before the end.

Emily as Belle
(www.showbizdeluxe.com)

The costumes were impressive, particularly Belle's golden ball gown.  The enchanted objects were pared down slightly which didn't have a negative effect except for Cogsworth.

L: Costume on Broadway
(disneymusicalgallery.tumblr.com)
R: Costume similar to tour
(www.news4uonline.com)

The brown velour type material looked a bit tacky, and I think a larger real clock portion could have helped.  However, James May was a great Cogsworth.

Michael as Lumiere
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

Lumiere's flaming hands used the 'blow air on material with an orange light to create fire' type look (a more technical description I'm sure exists I just don't know what it is).  This could have been more convincing if the colour wasn't quite so orange and if the flame extended further beyond the wick.  While Michael Haller had the candlestick characteristics down, he also added a rather thick French accent making him difficult to understand at times.

Matt as Gaston
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

I was not disappointed by the vocal talent though.  Matt Farcher as Gaston had the necessary biceps, cleft in his chin (real or drawn in, it was hard to tell) and a glorious voice (my favourite of the voices actually) which made "Me" and "Gaston" some of the highlight numbers.  Of course the dancing in the bar has stuck with me since I saw the original show.  I love the idea of having the mugs act like tap shoes for the hands.  Fantastic choreography!

Dance in the bar (toronto.broadwayworld.com)

Jimmy Larkin as Lefou was very bouncy and I'll guess it was the same actor who gave the enchanted carpet his athletic twists and flips in"Be Our Guest".  I found William A. Martin unconvincing in the role Maurice.  His gray hair and bushy eyebrows looked fake which probably didn't help, but I just didn't buy him as Belle's father.

The lovely Emily as Belle and Dane as the Beast
(broadwaycritic.files.wordpress.com)

As for the title characters...Emily Behny was a true beauty in the role of Belle.  Her voice could sound a bit shrill at times, but perhaps that was due to a microphone/amplification issue.  She soared over the final notes in "Home" effortlessly.  There was also an extra song in the second half I hadn't heard before.  After the Beast lets Belle go and she's back at the cottage with her father she sings "A Change In Me".  It was added in 1998 when Toni Braxton played Belle and it stayed in the show.  It shows Belle's character has been changed as well, not just that of the Beast.

Dane as the Beast
(toronto.broadwayworld.com)

And how about that Beast...while I wouldn't perhaps classify Dane Agostinis as your drop dead gorgeous leading man (although he looks more so the part in real life than as the Prince at the end, probably the long haired wig), I enjoyed his voice and portrayal of the Beast.  When he got to the low register in "If I Can't Love Her" I got shivers.  The higher ending of the song didn't come quite as naturally and I'm not sure I completely believed he was tormented at having no hope of loving someone.  He didn't seem devastated enough, but I'll take that rather than having it over acted.

In conclusion I'm glad Dancap had the show stop in Toronto and I'm glad I took the opportunity to see it.  If the rumours I've heard are true that Dancap isn't going to continue next season, their contribution to the Toronto theatre scene will be sorely missed.

Diamond Jubilee Proms

The Toronto Symphony 90th anniversary season concluded (well practically, there was one more concert featuring the guest trumpet soloist a few days later) June 20th with the standard The Last Night of the Proms.  This year there was the added theme of celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee year.  As I've been very lax in getting this written, it covers highlights only.

Conductor Bramwell Tovey, who was absent last year, was back and making her TSO debut was trumpeter Alison Balsom.  Rounding out the cast were soprano Laura Whalen and baritone James Westman.

The concert opened with a special appearance by the Fort York Honour Guard and Fife and Drum group who stood guard on stage during "O Canada" and "God Save the Queen".  The orchestra then continued with the "Crown Imperial March" which is one of my favourites.  Maestro Tovey was very engaging with the audience, particularly the late comers as he started to tell us about the piece "most of you have just heard".  He also promoted the volunteer committee's flag selling efforts at every opportunity.

One of the most humorous parts of the evening was when he asked those in the audience who were bearers of the large flags where they were from.  The first few who proudly displayed the Union Jack or St. George's Cross were from Lake Simcoe, Bobcaygeon and Toronto.  It took a few more people to find a true Londoner.  Perhaps the best response, that even had the orchestra laughing, was "Quebec".  Tovey replied he was looking forward to hearing them sing the finale "Jerusalem".

Alison Balsom
(beta.wosu.org)

Ms. Balsom, wearing a lovely white gown, started her part of the evening festivities with the well known "Trumpet Voluntary" then moved onto the "Prayer of St. Gregory".  What an amazingly beautiful sound!  When she returned in the second half, this time in a stunning red dress, with "Casta Diva Variations from Norma" by Vincenzo Bellini I think everyone's jaw was on the floor by the end.  How anyone can play that many notes with so few breaths is astounding.  I don't know of many trumpet guest soloists, and she's definitely one worth having back.

The red, white, and blue wardrobe theme was concluded by Ms. Whalen who had the blue gown and for the finale wore the Kate and Prince William flag from last year's concert as an additional shawl. Not to be outdone was Mr. Westman.  After demonstrating his vocal skills with "The Lost Chord" and "When Britain Really Ruled the Waves" he complemented his Union Jack handkerchief by revealing his Canada flag boxers.

Luba Goy as Queen (cbc.ca)

A special guest appearance was made by Queen Elizabeth II herself (in the form of Royal Canadian Air Farce actress Luba Goy).  She was accompanied by several hobby horse riding RCMP officers who managed to keep a straight face while she chatted with Tovey and indicated "60 years is a long time to be on the throne".  It took a second for the double entrendre to sink in and the audience laughter to start.

Mr. Tovey arranged several selections for the evening including "A Novello Rhapsody" consisting of parlour songs such as "I Can Give You the Starlight", "Waltz of My Heart", "Music in May", and "We'll Gather Lilacs" by Ivor Novello sung by Ms. Whalen and Mr. Westman.  In a tribute to Mr. Tovey's mother who passed away last year and the World War II veterans, of which there were a few in the audience, he played the piano in his own arrangement while Ms. Whalen sang "(There'll Be Bluebirds Over) The White Cliffs of Dover".  It was a tender, touching and quiet rendition that would have been easier to be sucked into without the distracting coughing from the audience.

The concert was bittersweet in that The Last Night of the Proms tradition is going on hiatus for a few years.  It was 20 years ago that Bramwell Tovey made his TSO debut, and I'm not sure how long after that the Proms started, but he's probably been the conductor of the concert since it's inception.  He shook hands with not just the concert master but all the front row players, then went to the bass row which consisted of the older veteran players he's probably known for most of those years.

I've only attended twice, but I like that the concert is a mix of Canada Day and Remembrance Day combined.  It's fun, and funny, but with its share of poignant and important moments as well.  The Wed. evening performance was quite full and I expect it will be missed next year.  So in the words of the encore song, until the Proms and the next TSO season return, "I'll Be Seeing You".

Thanks to everyone who made the 90th season a joy to attend!

TSO Goes Outside!

For the first time in a decade the Toronto Symphony ventured outside the comfy confines of Roy Thomson Hall.  They didn't go very far, just next door to Metro Square (well ok, David Pecaut Square, it was renamed last year), but it was a departure from the norm none the less.  From what I saw and heard, it was a departure welcomed by fans.  But let's go back a bit.

June 17 was the finale of the 6th annual Toronto arts festival called Luminato.  This year is also the bicentennial anniversary of the War of 1812 which has sparked interest both north and south of the border.  It's a war both sides think they won.  In Canada it's remembered because we got to DC, burned down the White House and repelled an American invasion.  In America it's remembered for the defence of Fort McHenry in Baltimore which inspired the writing of their National Anthem.  So I was eagerly awaiting the results of a co-commissioned piece from the TSO and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) by Philip Glass, a native of Baltimore.  How would this play out with both sides thinking they're the victors?  How patriotic a piece would an American write and would it be something Canadians could really care about?  But really there isn't anything wrong with each side winning.  No one really wins in a war, and it ended with each side occupying some of the others territory which was ultimately given back, so let's celebrate that both sides developed a stronger national pride and call it a day.

An added quirk was that this piece was receiving a joint world premiere.  Not that you'd know that from the BSO promo material, although various other US articles have mentioned the TSO.  But the 7pm BSO concert of other American music included the Glass piece as well.  It would have been fun to be a fly on the wall to see if the TSO was mentioned at the BSO concert.  They were in Toronto.

After welcoming and thank you speeches from Luminato people, and concert master Jonathan Crow (very cool to see him back again for this concert) led the orchestra tuning, the concert opened with Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man".   Eventually the camera crew figured out what shot showed the brass so their image finally made the screen.  Hidden at the back of the orchestra with all the audience on a rather flat ground limited our view substantially.  There were a few brief imperfections, but I love this piece and it didn't hurt the overall grandeur of it.

(From Luminato facebook page)

Upon conclusion we heard piccolos in the distance.  Was this aural competition or part of the show?  The answer quickly provided itself as the players and honour guard complete with muskets marched in and up to the stage.  The audience and part of the orchestra stood while both the Canadian and American national anthems were performed (you can bet that didn't happen in Baltimore!).  I know there are some Americans in the orchestra, but I'd guess that "The Star Spangled Banner" isn't a piece Canadian Maestro Peter Oundjian has often been called upon to conduct.

As the soldiers marched away CBC personality Tom Allen announced them as the "Fort York Honour Guard ladies and gentlemen, keeping out invaders for 200 years".  And we're very thankful they did :)

Philip Glass
(www.colineatock.com)

Finally it was time for the much anticipated "Overture for 2012".  There was a video introduction by composer Philip Glass who could not have looked less energetic or enthusiastic for the piece.  Does he dislike it that much?  My gut reaction: seriously dude we helped pay you for this, the least you could do is look happy we're debuting your work!  The piece itself wasn't bad.  It was typically minimalist with lots of repetition and a brassy melodic line that transfered a bit throughout the orchestra.  There was the underlying motor of the driving incessant, not quite arpeggio rhythmic patterns.  At times it got boring, and I was hoping for a change in pattern, often one came shortly after.  It was suppose to be a 12 min long piece and seemed longer than the closer to 5 it was, which I'm not sure is a good thing.  I'll second Tim Smith's comments in his blog regarding the BSO's performance "can we get some money back?"

Tom Allen, one of the highlights of the evening with his humorous and information introductions, returned with an invitation for the audience to imagine:  To imagine that we were to go home after the concert and find a job offer waiting for us.  The job is in New York and pays six times our current salary.  So we go, and then end up leaving for a church organist position in Iowa (I wonder if it was River City?).  This is what Dvorak did.  He discovered he didn't like city live and ended up in Iowa where the entertainment one summer was an Indian Medicine Man Snake Oil type show.  He went to every one to absorb the music and incorporated the themes into his most popular symphony.  That would be Symphony No. 9 "From the New World".  The TSO then played the 4th movement.

Moving onto some Canadian music, the first piece was by Malcolm Forsyth (incidentally the father of NAC Orchestra principal cellist Amanda), and was inspired by his first trip to the barren beauty that is Canada's far north.  The orchestra played "The Dance" from his orchestral suite Atayoskewin which is the Cree word for "sacred legend".  Youtube lacked a quick search result for the piece, but the NAC musicbox came through.  Take a listen here.  At times it reminds me of Copland's "Rodeo", particularly the first few bars.

View of audience from the back of the stage
(from Luminato facebook page)

Mr. Allen then tested our knowledge with a multiple choice question, who wrote the music for Lord of the Rings?  Was it John Williams, someone else I don't remember, or the Canadian Howard Shore who won three Oscar's, scored the film Mrs. Doubtfire, and suggested the name "The Blues Brothers" to Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi?  Not a tricky question to figure out.  They played a short suite excerpt from Lord of the Rings.  Having only seen the movies once I'm not familiar with the music.  It was good, but perhaps I'd find it more epic if I knew it better.

Maestro Oundjian dedicated the next piece to all the cyclists who go wizzing around the city.  Less than 4 bars in I figured it out as "The Flying Theme" from ET.  Very fitting :)

Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" is a masterpiece (well in my opinion).  Mr. Allen began by describing an invasion by a force that thought they'd get in, meet little resistance, take over, and be out of there by winter.  I, along with others I'm sure, assumed he was talking about the War of 1812, until he continued by saying that was what happened with France and Russia.  France thought it would be no problem to take Moscow, and Tchaikovsky's piece is celebrating the Russian defeat of Napoleon and his army. "But the parallels are similar.  So when you hear "La Marseillaise" that's them, and the bold brassy trombones, that's us!"  I'm not sure if the TSO played the full version (the recording I have runs 17 mins and includes the rarely performed vocal part), although it sounded like they did, and it didn't feel like 17 mins.  I'm also not sure if the carillons in the final section were recorded because I couldn't see if there were chimes on stage, but if it was live they were perfect.  Often I find the sound of the bells random, but this fit and the balance was superb.  They got to the climax and would you believe it FIREWORKS shot off behind the stage!  Who needs military cannon fire?  These were impeccably on the beat, and could not have have been better!  The finale even had a few extra shots that exploded in the air rather than just the single straight up shooting star type.  A Capitol Fourth (which concludes with an abridged version of the "1812 Overture" every year as the fireworks begin) could not have done it better!!

1812 Overture Finale Fireworks
(from Luminato facebook page)

The audience was on their feet immediately, not a begrudging out of obligation or slow standing ovation from this crowd, it was the real thing.  We were treated to an upbeat encore that I couldn't name but had a stick in your head tune that stayed with us all the way home.

I hope concerts like this become a tradition with Luminato and the TSO, there was a great turnout, great music, and thankfully the rain almost held off, but the few sprinkles only resulted in the opening of umbrellas, people didn't leave.  A testament to a thrilling evening of music.

I Heard the People Sing

This weekend I headed back up the corridor (as VIA Rail calls it) to Ottawa for the NAC Orchestra's tribute concert to composer Claude-Michel Schonberg and lyricist Alain Boublil.  Known to pretty much everyone as "those guys who wrote Les Miserables".  While that has been their greatest success so far, they've done a lot more as well.  In preparation for attending the Canadian debut, (the concert has already played in at least Indianapolis, Baltimore, Dallas, and Pittsburg) I went searching for cast recordings.  Miss Saigon (1989) I listened to in its entirety (all 1 hr 47 minutes of it) while stuck in traffic last week and Martin Guerre (1996) the following day.  The Pirate Queen (2006) I couldn't find on CD so borrowed a childrens book that gave me the story line since it's based on the real Irish chieftain Grace O'Malley.  So I felt somewhat prepared.  Nothing beats a performance LIVE though!

All the vocalists were making their debuts with the NAC orchestra and what a line up of stars familiar with the material.  Starting with the most experienced, Terrence Mann was the original Broadway Javert in Les Mis, Lea Salonga created the role of Kim in Miss Saigon, Eric Kunze was Marius on Broadway (opposite Lea Salonga's Eponine) and Chris in Miss Saigon, Kathy Voytko was the standby Grace for The Pirate Queen, and Marie Zamora played Cosette in the original French production of Les Mis (and is married to the lyricist :) )

As always, the concert opened with an overture, no snappy title, just "Overture".  It was short with one line quotes of songs that would be expanded on later.  One that stood out was "Bring Him Home" which had a very high oboe part that Chip Hamann sent soaring.

The overture ran right into the Miss Saigon segment beginning with the chorus singing "Bui Doi".  An excellent choice to start.  It created the emotion and sense of longing covered in the plot and placed the musical firmly in the time around the Vietnam War.  Even not knowing anything about the story, it provided the background needed through lyrics like:

"Like all survivors I once thought, when I’m home I won’t give a damn 

But now I know I’m caught, I’ll never leave Vietnam.

War isn’t over when it ends, some pictures never leave your mind.

They are the faces of the children the ones we left behind.

They’re called Bui-doi.

The dust of life, conceived in hell and born in strife.

They are the living reminders of all the good we failed to do.

That’s why we know deep in our hearts, that they are all our children too"

Terrence Mann
(broadwayworld.com)

Of course this is also accompanied by a lovely melody sung by Terrence (check out Indy's version).  Wow, his voice!  I don't know what I was expecting when he walked out (not looking all that much like his program head shot), but if all he did was sing, it would have been worth it.  However he also provided much of the entertainment value of the evening.  

Jack compared Alain and Claude-Michel to Rodgers and Hammerstein then had the audience practice pronouncing their names.  We must have sounded pretty good as Terrence declared that we had "good French".  Jack's reply, "well we are in Ottawa not Thunder Bay, they're good at this stuff".  He then proceeded to describe that in addition to Miss Saigon being a modern version of Madame Butterfly (the only opera I'm interested in seeing and the Canadian Opera Company doesn't have it planned next season :( ) inspiration came from the craziness of beauty pageants and indeed that's where the title came from and what "The Heat is On In Saigon" is a precursor too.

Lea Salonga
(www.filipinoexpress.com)

Another inspirational source was a photograph of a mother trying to pass her child to an American soldier.  I'm pretty sure I've seen this photo and yet now can't find it.  Lea's performance of "I'd Give My Life For You" where Kim sings about her son was so heartfelt.  She then lightened the mood with a story about when the show was in rehearsals.  She was cast at 17 after a world wide search for a girl who could look 15 yet had the vocal chops to hit a high E flat.  Knowing nothing of love, the director one day got so fed up with her ineptitude in a love scene that he told her to get out of the bed, and proceeded to get in with the guy playing Chris and demonstrated how to make love to a man, as Lea said 
"a w k w a r d".    Then added that since then she's learned a lot on her own and having fallen in and out of love, the romantic songs have developed more meaning.  Her duet with Eric of "The Last Night of the World" couldn't have been better.  It was neat to see second clarinetist Sean Rice pull out a saxophone for the few sax solo lines.

Kathy Voytka
(michaelcassara.net)

Eric then introduced a song that will be added to the 2013 revival of Miss Saigon called "Maybe".  It's for the character of Ellen, Chris's wife once he returns to the US.  I get the feeling in the original development there were several songs tried and cut for this position in the plot where Ellen has just met Kim, so this is another chance to find the perfect one.  Personally I like the melody of "Now That I've Seen Her" from the original London cast recording, but I wouldn't say any more than "Maybe".  It was Kathy's first solo of the night and I continued to be impressed with the vocalists.   


She introduced Terrence again to sing "The American Dream", a song by the Engineer who would do whatever was needed for him to get ahead.  Right away this was going to be fun as Terrence put on a pair of sunglasses saying "check it out", and proceeded to pat the violas on the head, and twirl another's hair, before getting stared down by Jack and turned his affections back to the audience.  My favourite line of this song is "bald people think they'll grow hair, the American Dream".  It makes me smile every time.

Terrence as "the Engineer" with the ISO (Photo: Thomas J Russo)

On a personal note I'm very glad Miss Saigon was created.  Not that I've ever seen it or consider it my favourite musical, but because it resulted in the building of the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto.  A theatre big enough to hold a helicopter on stage was needed and so back in 1991 construction started.  The theatre opening with Miss Saigon in 1993.

Marie Zamora
(Photo: Maggi Wunschi)

Terrence joined together with Jack to describe how Alain or Claude-Michel (I'm afraid I can't remember which, probably both actually) liked musicals, and saw a bunch in London/New York because France had no musical theatre scene to speak of.  So they combined forces and decided "why not France, why not now", and started their first "small, in the box" venture with the topic of the "very simple" French Revolution.  "Small" being in jest of course as this work featured an orchestra of 52 with an additional 40 performers.  The musical was The Revolution Francaise, and as Jack slightly butchered the pronunciation of "Francaise" and went to repeat it, they both chimed in "I'm/You're from Thunder Bay".  Rehearsed or improvised (which I think it was) it got the appropriate audience laugh :) The song introduced the audience to Marie, who sang "Au Petit Matin" as Marie Antoinette the morning she learns she'll be going to the guillotine.  My French is no where near good enough to understand any of what she sang, but it didn't matter, her clear soprano got the point across.  

Eric Kunze
(erickunze.blogspot.ca)

Marie's French introduction to Eric for the title song in Martin Guerre I was actually able to follow.    I wasn't a fan of the recording, granted this was one of the better songs, and it got even better with Eric singing it.  I wasn't sold on his voice after the earlier duet, but really enjoyed the emotion and power he brought to this song.  The following duet with Marie "Live With Somebody You Love" sealed the deal.  The final song in the Martin Guerre section was "Land of Our Fathers".  The 1999 cast recording doesn't include this piece (unfortunately that's the only copy the library has. Actually I figured I was lucky to even find that one).  It was part of the London production from 1996 and according to wiki the show was reworked before coming to the US with 40% of the material being new.  Yet still never made it to Broadway.

Up next was a testament to the fact that what gets written doesn't always make the show.  Jack said that putting together a musical is like CSI, in the end you have a whole pile of dead bodies, or in the case of Alain and Claude-Michel, songs.  "I Saw Him Once" was originally a song for Cosette, however Les Mis was running about 3 hours and 40 minutes so something had to go.  Marie's lovely soprano fit it just right.  Lost from Miss Saigon was "Too Much For One Heart" because the director said "there is no good theatrical reason for Kim to sing ANOTHER ballad".  So it became the duet "Please", and Lea said they still regret the change.

The first half ended with a song that has been recorded a huge number of times (something like over 200)  and has over 5000 various versions on youtube.  Kathy and Lea sang yet another variation, inspired by Glee, of "I Dreamed a Dream".  Really I don't think the "popular" twists do the song justice.  It doesn't need any vocal ornaments, but can completely hold its own being sung straight.  But maybe I'm just a purist.

The second half opening Entr'acte was decisive Irish fiddle music.  I wonder if concertmaster Yosuke Kawasaki got some tips from Natalie MacMaster when she was there earlier in the season for the crazy solo he had very much in Celtic style.  Turns out The Pirate Queen came about because Riverdance producers approached Alain and Claude-Michel with the idea to dramatize the story of Grace O'Malley.  Kathy described Grace as a sailer and chieftain, who met the Queen and saved Ireland.  All in a days work.  She then sang "Woman" which is a great "I am woman" empowerment song.  Without missing a beat she switched to the other end of the emotional scale evoking vulnerability at she and Eric sang "If I Said I Loved You".  The "Finale" included the chorus and had the lead characters get married!  What's this a happy ending?  Well I don't know the whole plot, so maybe someone else dies and it's a mixed happy ending like Les Mis, but a happier conclusion than Miss Saigon.

Marie Zamora
(www.mariezamora.info/blog.html)

The opening of the Les Mis overture began, and 30 seconds in abruptly stopped with Jack saying "But before all that...".  Talk about getting the audience on the edge of their seats with anticipation then pulling the plug!  It was while watching  a revival production of Oliver in London that Alain realized an epic novel could successfully be adapted to a musical.  Going home he started to re-read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables and ideas jumped off the page.  That's how it all started, and the first song they wrote was "On My Own" or more accurately "Mon Histoire".  Marie started in French with Lea joining in with the English...quite a combination that worked very well.

No need for plot summaries here, Lea, Kathy and Marie adopted the characters of factory workers upset at Fantine, a unknowing audience member being cast in the part as they directed their anger to her, in "At the End of the Day". (See following link from ISO performance.  Same cast except for Stephanie J. Block replacing Kathy and Peter Lockyer in place of Eric)

Terrence continued to be the comic relief of the evening, this time accompanied by Kathy as they embodied the inn-keeping Thenardiers.  After kicking Eric out for not having any money, Kathy turned her charms on Jack while Terrence did a little pick pocketing.  Yosuke was enticed by her as well and joined in the dancing unlike Zach de Pue who played it straight (just watch until after "At the End of the Day", it's hilarious!)

Marie, Eric, and Lea reprised roles they've played (Cosette, Marius, and Eponine respectively) for a beautiful version of "In My Life".  The backdrop grew darker and white lights appeared when Terrence returned for "Stars".  What a treat to hear it from the Broadway original Javert!  There was a bit of echo added to the mic, which added a different dynamic, but I don't think the singers needed it.  The song was created to provide background on why Javert is so obsessed with finding Valjean.  I can't imagine Les Mis without it, it's my favourite song.

Perhaps the most iconic piece, which probably has more renditions than "I Dreamed a Dream" is "Bring Him Home".  The version I'm most familiar with is Colm Wilkinson's who originated the role in London and on Broadway, but I think I preferred Eric's rendition.  The start of the challenging high note had an ever so slight wobble, but was quickly corrected and ended beautifully.

The entire cast reassembled for "One Day More".  A powerhouse arrangement, similar to the one at the end of Broadway's Leading Men actually, that had the people on their feet almost instantly.  After applause for the vocalists and the orchestra, none other than Alain Boublil himself took the stage for a bow.  It was a nice touch he was there for the Canadian premiere.

Final bows with Alain
(unfortunately Lea out of frame on far right)

But really they couldn't leave without singing the concert title song, and as the orchestra started again, and the audience took their seats the finale of "Do You Hear the People Sing" began.  The lyrics are invitational and it was all I could do not to join in, it just felt like the audience should have replied with "yes we'll join in your crusade, we will be strong and stand with you...".  In any case I left the theatre singing and I'm still catching myself humming it and other songs from the show.  It was a wonderful concert.  If anyone at the TSO is reading this, add it to the list of those I highly recommend bringing to Toronto!

Out of This World Finale: The Planets

My week of practically living at the TSO concluded on May 10 with the last in their series of concerts that included "space" music.  This one highlighted "The Planets" by Gustav Holtz.

The concert, conducted by music director Peter Oundjian, opened with "Canzon per sonare" by Gabrieli. It's a really cool piece just for brass.  Originally written for 4 trumpets and 4 trombones, it was performed by 2 horns, 4 trumpets and 2 trombones placed on either side of the choir loft!  It's an example of antiphonal music where a musical setting is played alternately by two groups, hence the placement of the instrumentalists.  It was one of the highlights of the evening.

Joaquin Valdepenas
(www.music.utoronto.ca)

Switching from brass to woodwinds, the next piece was John Corigliano's "Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra" with the solo performed by TSO principal clarinetist Joaquin Valdepenas.  The composer was in the house and was invited on stage to describe the piece.  His father was concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic and personally knowing the clarinetist, Stanley Drucker, and his skills Corigliano decided on a piece that used the entire orchestra, had an unprecedentedly difficult opening cadenza and a slow movement filled with emotion involving a duet between concertmaster and soloist.  Apparently when first presented to Mr. Drucker he looked at the opening, closed the score and said "I can't play this".  Obviously he learned it, and with something like 150 notes in the first few measures (I haven't seen the score, this was the comparison given), it's become something like running the 4 minute mile...once one person has done it everyone wants to.  Mr. Corigliano said he's been in universities where students will stick their heads out of practice rooms and say "listen to this", then play the opening cadenza.

It's an interesting piece.  There's a lot going on and it fit my definition of "good contemporary music" by having enough there I'd listen to it again, however I was really more engrossed in watching Mr. Valdepenas play, what quality of sound over ALL registers.  The final movement continued the antiphonal theme by having some of the brass (at least 3 of the horns and likely the trumpets) separated from the orchestra.  In my section of mezzanine we had a French horn player at the back.  Definitely a different way of hearing things.  I expected to be deafened but sometimes wasn't even sure if they were playing.

While I wanted to hear the clarinet concerto, my real reason for going to the concert was "The Planets".  Pretty much every year in high school our band teacher would pull out "Jupiter", we'd badly sight read through it (as I recall the clarinet fingerings in the opening were rather tricky) and she'd collect it and put it back on the shelf.  Such a shame really, because I think with some work we might have gotten in playable.  The centre slow section always went better than the beginning :)  Going back even further my first memories of "Jupiter" was at the Ice Show one season at Canada's Wonderland.  I believe it was a pirate theme routine that used the music.  Wow, useless information, think what important stuff I could remember if I could forget things like that!  Point being, the piece and I have a history and I really like it.  However, I've never heard all seven movements (Earth is excluded and Pluto wasn't a planet in 1914-1916 when the piece was written and interestingly enough has recently been removed from the list again).

It begins with "Mars: The Bringer of War", then a very contrasting movement with "Venus: The Bringer of Peace".  "Mercury: The Winged Messenger" is light and peppy and probably my second favourite.  Then is the famous "Jupiter: The Bringer of Jollity".  Things slow down dramatically after that, and since I was already tired, I found it incredibly easy to just close my eyes, enjoy the sounds, and started to drift off.  "Saturn: The Bringer of Old Age" is incredibly beautiful.  "Uranus: The Magician" picks up in tempo and has sounds that reminded me of the suite from "The Day the Earth Stood Still".  Neptune has always been my favourite planet and "Neptune: The Mystic" is slow, calm, and relaxing, but perhaps since I'm not as familiar with these last few, they tended to blend into each other.  The conclusion of Neptune with the ladies chorus singing offstage and slowly fading away as the door to the stage is closed gave the feeling you were floating away the with the voices.  Unfortunately I couldn't just float back home to bed, driving required waking up again.