What's in a name?

Tonight Linda, Sue, David and I saw a most remarkable play about a group of trans-gender persons who support each other, love each other and fight with each other. Southern Comfort by Dan Collins (Book and Lyrics) and Julianne Wick Davis (Music), conceived by Robert DuSold and Thomas Caruso is playing at Barrington Stage's St. Germain Theatre. Robert DuSold conceived and developed the transfer of Kate Davis's documentary Southern Comfort  to the musical stage.

This musical drama knocked me out, to put it mildly. This is probably because I have been involved with the work of GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) in obtaining the recent Supreme Court decision to declare DOMA unconstitutional and bring same sex marriage into full legality. GLAD also works with trans-gender persons, trying to get fair treatment in an un-fair world. This story is remarkable, dramatic, and totally absorbing.  You cannot leave the theatre unmoved.

The story involves a group of persons, each of whom is in some stage of changing gender.

The incredible Annette O'Toole portrays 'Robert', a woman who has gone through part of the transition to being a man and who is dying of ovarian cancer.  Her involvement in this role is mind-boggling.

Jeff McCarthy plays 'Lola', a man trying to decide if he wants to go through with the transformation. He is 'Robert's' girlfriend. He is good in the part, but having seen him portray Sweeney Todd in a previous Barrington Stage production made it a little more difficult for me to accept him in this role.



Todd Cerveris plays 'Sam' who was born Barbara and is part way to becoming a man.

Lizzie Hagstedt is a Storeyteller and plays the bass fiddle.

Natalie Joy Johnson is 'Carly', a man who has gone through the entire process of becoming a woman, including the sexual surgery.

Jeffrey Kuhn is 'Jackson', a woman who has decided to have the complete surgery but in the end decides against it.

David M. Lutken is a Storyteller and guitar player, as well as playing several small roles.

Robin Skye portrays 'Melanie', a woman who is in love with 'Jackson', even though he is not yet fully male.

Joel Waggoner is a Storyteller and violinist.

Elizabeth Ward Land is a Storyteller and plays percussion.

Every member of the cast acts and sings with an intensity that is almost frightening. The problems of the trans-gender community is brought forth in violent detail. This is a night in the theatre I will not soon forget.

Wonderful Town!!

Tonight Alice, Sue, David and I saw a fabulous performance of Leonard Bernstein's On the Town at Barrington Stage. Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote the witty and sophisticated libretto. It was based on the earlier ballet Fancy Free.

From start to finish it was obvious that this was going to be a block-buster. The cast, which included Clyde Alves, Deanna Doyle, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Elizabeth Stanley, Alysha Umphress, and the remarkable Tony Yazbeck, were all top notch, especially Mr. Yazbeck, who has an amazing set of pipes! But they all sang and danced the choreography of Joshua Bergasse (based on the original of Jerome Robbins) with elan.

The story of three sailors who have a twenty-four hour pass in New York City, their adventures and mis-adventures, is still fun after all these years. This energetic young cast brought us right back to the 1940's with its wild music and hep-cat attitude. The direction by John Rando and the musical direction by Darren. R. Cohen was superb.

Linda Lavin

Tonight David and I heard another one of the last of the 'Red Hot Mamas', Linda Lavin, in her one woman show at Barrington Stage. A slightly younger version of Barbara Cook, Elaine Stritch, and Tyne Daly, she gave us an energetic concert of songs that she had sung on Broadway as well as standards.

Her voice has held up pretty well through her seventy-five years and she still looks darned good.



Her combo consisted of the incomparable Billy Stritch, as music director and pianist, John Hart on guitar, Tom Hubbard on bass, and Linda's husband, Steve Bakunas on drums. They make a great team. Late in the show she introduced Aaron Weinstein, a jazz violinist, whose playing was, unfortunately, not amplified well and of whom, therefore, I can give no report of his abilities.

She opened with a song that has been a favorite of mine from The Mad Show. It is a spoof on 'The girl from Ipanema. Only this is the boy from 'Tacarembo La Tumbe Del Fuego Santa Malipas Zacatecas La Junta Del Sol Y Cruz' who moves to 'Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerych-
wyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch' in Wales. She delivers it in a slightly flat, unexpressive voice; a take-off on Astrid Gilberto. It is a show stopper.

Ms. Lavin wanders about the stage, often turning her back on the audience to sing to each of her combo in turn. Effective but a little odd, since she is, after all, the star. Her vocal delivery is fairly monochromatic; none of the nuance of Amanda McBroom. But she brings each number off with energy.

It was an enjoyable evening. Tomorrow night we will return to Barrington Stage for their production of On the Town by Leonard Bernstein. Two in a row, then off to Italy on Wednesday.

Bravi a tutti!

Sunday, June 9th was the third annual Ferris Burtis Music Foundation Benefit Concert at the Sandisfield Arts Center. A large, enthusiastic crowd greeted the young performers who presented a sensational program.

The program opened with 'cellist Julian Muller, then Gabriella Makuc, pianist, Katie Weiser, soprano and Jerry Noble, pianist, and, following an intermission, Yevgeny Kutik, violinist and Timothy Bozarth pianist.

The level of performance was over the top! All of these young artists have grown musically and technically since last year's concert. Members of the audience were visibly moved by the level of talent on display.

The Foundation is helping four young people in their college education as well as helping Yevgeny Kutik in his international career.

Tax exempt gifts to the Foundation are always welcome. Checks payable to Ferris Burtis Foundation are tax exempt and always welcome to help the work of the Foundation. Send your gift to Ferris Burtis Foundation, Berkshire Taconic Foundation, 800 N. Main St., Sheffield, MA 01257. Thank you! Herb

Here they are:

 

Julian Muller, 'cellist who will spend the summer at the Yellow Barn in Putney, Vermont this summer and who will return to the Cleveland Institute of Music for his third year in the fall.

 

 

 

Gabriella Makuc, pianist who will enter her second year at Lawrence College in Wisconsin.

 

 

 

Katie Weiser, soprano, who will enter the Graduate School of Music at Syracuse University this fall where she will study with Janet Brown, who is a long time student of Herbert Burtis.

 

Yevgeny Kutik, violinist who will receive financial help from the Foundation to continue his international career which this season has included symphony appearances in such far-flung places as Juneau, Alaska, and Montenegro.

 

These are the young artists of the Ferris Burtis Music Foundation. Next fall the Foundation will add Frederick Herrman, organist, to the list of students being aided. He will attend Baldwin Wallace College in Cleveland, Ohio.

 

A musical weekend

I have been visiting my friend David in Northern Indiana and we have had an interesting musical weekend.

On Saturday evening we attended a wonderful church supper and concert at his Chicago church, St. Paul and the Redeemer. The music was provided by the Magnolia Singers, a Gullah choir from
Charleston, NC.  They represent a tradition of singing that came to this country with their slave ancestors. Gullah is a patois of English and African Creole. The five singers perform with great energy and involve the congregation in their music. They all have strong gospel voices.There is a little too much on the beat clapping for my taste, but then, I have always enjoyed syncopation. They sang again in the church service Sunday morning. The lead singer's voice reminded me of Sarah Vaughn, with it's deep contralto and wide range. The congregation got into the act with a vengence and clapped and sang along. For me this is too much like responsive readings where the reader makes a statement and the congregation answers with the same phrase over and over. However they were very effective in their performance.

Then Sunday afternoon we attended a concert by the Northwest Indiana Symphony Youth Orchestra, Phillip Bauman, conductor. Mr. Bauman ably led the orchestra through a program that began with Slavonic Dance No. 1 in C Major, Op. 46, by Antonin Dvorak. This was followed by the Allegro movement of Symphonie Espanole in D minor, Op.21 of Edouard Lalo. Patrick Bieske was the young violin soloist.

The second half of the program began with Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, Op.30, No 1,  by Samuel Coleridge Taylor, a late 19th early 20th century composer from England.  As my friend, Dorothy Fee would have said, 'He was sunk on the text.' Iambic quatrameter grates on my nerves after a while. Taylor also had a limited melodic imagination. Already stuck with the Dump-di-dump-di-dump-di-dump rhythm of the poem, he seemed at a loss to conceive anything besides descending musical lines on the one hand, and repeating a phrase at a higher and higher pitch level.

Needless to say this will never replace Messiah, (which was the opinion of one critic in the early 20th century) or any other major choral and orchestra work.

The program ended with Music from Gladiator by Hans Zimmer, arr, by Wasson, which I hope never to hear again either.

At my age I am very aware of the sounds that are attacking my ear and brain. There are some I can live without.

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On Monday evening David and I hit the musical jackpot; the group. Music in the Baroque at the Harris Theatre. This fine choral and orchestral ensemble present a beautiful reading of Bach's St. John Passion. The exemplary conductor was Jane Glover, who has had a long career in Britain and this country. Her musical interpretation of the work went straight to the heart. It was honest, sincere, idiomatic, and exciting. I am so happy to get to know her work.

The soloists were Paul Agnew, Evangelist and tenor solos, Nathan Berg, Jesus and bass arias, Yulia van Doren, soprano arias, Kristina Szabo, alto arias, Todd von Felker, Pilate, Susan Nelson, maid, Klaus Georg, servant, and Ryan O'Mealey, Peter.

Mr. Agnew did a heroic job of the two tenor roles. His Evangelist was just fine. However, singing this role plus the tenor arias is too much for any one person. These are the two hardest tenor arias in the literature. It would be wiser to have a different tenor for the arias to have them come off well.

Nathan Berg, as Jesus, was a little under-powered at the beginning of the work but got into the swing of things as it progressed. Yulia Van Doren, was just not the voice for the soprano arias. In the first one her runs came and went vocally, and in the second she was
unable to float the high notes. If I remember correctly, Ms. Van Doren took one voice lesson with me a few years ago.

Kristine Szabo did a fine job with the alto solo and also grew in confidence as the work progresses. Todd von Felker was fine as Pilate and the three singers who took the smaller roles did their work very well.

Ms. Glover has a marvelous conducting technique that seems to embrace the chorus and orchestra inviting them, and the audience, to come share this wonderful work with her. She is top-notch.

K-K-K-Katie

One of my voice students once told me, when we were preparing a recital, that I was a musical mid-wife. Coaching the pre-natal musical period and helping deliver the baby. The baby, in this case, being a recital.

I suppose, in a way, this is true. As teachers we begin the process of learning a program with one of our students, ab ova, as it were. We continue to guide the process for a period of time, and, on recital night, the baby/recital is born.

Well last night Katie Weiser and Jerry Noble delivered the goods!

It was Katie's second Senior recital of the school year. She sang a very fine program last November. Jane Bryden and I have been her mid-wives, coaching and encouraging her along the way.

Her program included two songs by Franz Josef Haydn, 'Shepherd on the Rock', by Franz Schubert, (assisted by a very fine clarinetist, Madeline Zehnder),  'Und ob die Wolke', from Der Freischutz, by Carl Maria von Weber, three songs by Rachmaninoff, 'The Silver Song' from Douglas Moore's Ballad of Baby Doe, and the amazing Songs about Spring by Dominick Argento, with poetry by e.e. cummings.

In each case Katie and Jerry went to the soul of the song and delivered a beautiful baby, indeed! The Argento brought down the house! Katie will be singing at the Smith graduation ceremonies in a week or so as well as appearing on the Third Annual Ferris Burtis Music Foundation benefit concert on June 9th.
http://ferrisburtisfoundation.blogspot.com  for more details.

She will attend Syracuse University Graduate Music school in the fall and study with my dear friend and student, Janet Brown.

Bravi Katie and Jerry. Well done!

Eileen Farrell, where are you when we need you?

As I was driving to spend the afternoon with my friend Phyllis today, the car radio suddenly presented me with one of today's most famous DIVAS singing a Duke Ellington song. And by SINGING, I mean slaughtering. I had to shut off the radio! This particular Diva (who shall remain nameless) has issued this kind of recording in the past with equally unsuccessful results. It is a caricature of how an opera singer sings a popular song.

I asked Phyllis if she, when she used to sing Cole Porter songs, did anything unusual when moving from art song and opera to 'pop'. She told me that she just invested herself in the words and sang the song. And very well, I might add.

That seems difficult to do for some of today's opera singers who insist on doing cross-over albums. Years ago Kiri Te Kanawa put out an album with Nelson Riddle that boggled the mind. In singing 'Blue Skies', I'm sure that she started singing very nicely in her usual range only to have Mr. Riddle say, 'Lower, Kiri, lower Kiri, lower', after which they took it down about a seventh, making her sound like Mel Torme.

Eileen Farrell was the singer who could bring this off in spades. She could sing the 'Immolation Scene' on Tuesday and 'I've got a right to sing the Blues' on Wednesday, and be totally convincing and glorious in both.

Lorraine was able to do this. Shortly before her death I suggested to her that she do this kind of album. We had just listened to Farrell singing Wagner and pop and I said to her, 'Honey you could do that superbly'. Well, life was cruel and she never got the chance to make that album, but it would have been spectacular.

I just saw Stephanie Blythe sing 'June is bustin' out all over' in the PBS NY Phil presentation of Carousel the other night. She also does a program dedicated to Kate Smith, who could have done opera if she had wanted. Stephanie was great.

Phyllis and I also talked about the current rage to bring little known middle European singers to this country ignoring our own very excellent American variety. Phyllis will be teaching again at Tanglewood this summer for the 50th season. She said she has had hundreds of fine young singers go through her class only to have a tough time getting hired.

'Made in the USA' should be the motto of US symphony conductors and opera producers. Not that we don't welcome Europeans and Asians, but let's give the home team some support!