skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Continuing our musical marathon, David and I saw Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley in concert at Barrington Main Stage tonight. No rest for the wicked!
I saw Marin in a very good revival of Kiss Me Kate in 1999. I had seen the original in 1950 with Alfred Drake and Patricia Morrison. I have a soft spot in my heart for Marin since she is a 'gal' from Kalamazoo, which makes her almost a native of Battle Creek, my home town.
Jason Danieley played the role of Tom in a reading for producers of Nancy Ford's wonderful musical Blue Roses, which is based on Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie. I saw this performance in New York City a few years ago. He was great.
So is the show! I wish I could convince Julie Boyd to present it at Barrington Stage. It would be perfect for Stage 2!
Tonight's concert was a compilation of songs from shows each of them has done, singly or together. They were accompanied by Joseph Thalken, pianist, Pete Donovan, bassist, and Rich Rosenzweig, drummer. Songs like 'A Cockeyed Optimist', Hello Young Lovers', and 'So in Love' are favorites of theirs and of mine. They did a lot of songs by Kander and Ebb who have never been my favorite song writers. But since each has appeared in shows by these song writers, it is obvious why they chose this repertoire.
Marin has a really great 'Broadway' voice, capable of soaring the heights or being down to earth. Her recent illness and chemo-therapy are not evident in her energy level or the way she sings.
Jason has a good natural voice but tends to put a 'Broadway' edge on it, especially on high notes.
This is my definition of a singer holding a note, especially a high note, without allowing the natural vibrato to be a part of the sound. It puts a sharp edge on the sound which can become unpleasant when used to excess. Judy Garland did this sort of thing as she aged and would hold a note with a very straight sound until the end when she would allow what I have termed in one of my books on singing, a 'Terminal Vibrato' to occur. As deadly as that sounds, allowing the voice to relax into a vibrato at the end of the straight note makes it somehow acceptable. Her daughter Liza used the same device with less success.
Marin is able to use the 'Broadway' sound when she wants to without the unpleasantness that occurs in Jason's voice. Otherwise he can sing very well when he wants to.
We have one more evening of theatre to go! Capital Steps on Wednesday night!
David and I returned last evening from an exciting four days at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival. This included four operas and a vocal recital. Quite a musical feast.
And speaking of feasts, the first opera/musical theatre we saw was Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler. This has been one of my favorite pieces of musical theatre for a long time. I saw the original production on Broadway with Len Cariou and Angela Lansbury as well as the Boston version with Dorothy Louden as Mrs. Lovett.
This version was well cast as far as the singing and acting went. Greer Grimsley sang a strong Sweeney but could have been more menacing, Luretta Bybee was a perfect Mrs. Lovett, equaling Angela Lansbury in every way, Anthony Hope was sung by Harry Greenleaf, a wonderful young tenor and Johanna by Emily Pogorek, an equally fine soprano.
Harry Greenleaf
The only disappointment was the set and costuming. Two enormous flats painted Beige with a sort of six foot tall chair rail at the bottom. Mrs. Lovett was in a teal waitress outfit that would look right at the old Woolworth's soda fountain counter, then in act two, in an evening gown. Others in the cast were sometimes in costumes appropriate to 1847 when the book was written and which choice was made in the original production. There was no raised platform for Sweeney's barber shop, meaning that when he cut the throats of various people, instead of being slide down through the floor to the oven, got up and walked away after they were supposedly dead. The Scenery designer obviously never saw the original production.
Friday afternoon we saw an amazing recital by Stephanie Blythe. I had never heard her in person before and she blew me away literally! What an enormous voice. Her program consisted of a song cycle, Vignettes: Ellis Island, by Alan Smith, who was her collaborator at the piano. This was followed by a sort of community sing led by her called Sing, America.This sounds a little hokey, but she brought it off in great style with an enthusiastic audience joining in the fun. She is a lively sensitive performer who, in my opinion, can do no wrong!
Stephanie Blythe
That evening we saw The Crucible by Robert Ward and Bernard Stambler, based on the play of Arthur Miller. This is a powerful work, contemporary but tonal, that details the Salem witch trials of the 17th century. All the singing and acting was exceptional, especially Brian Proctor, Jamie Barton, and Jay Hunter Morris. Glimmerglass must have someone with an incredible ear doing the casting. They also have a marvelous troupe of apprentices who perform many of the roles in their productions.
Saturday evening brought La Bohème of Puccini. Michael Brandenburg as Rodolfo has the power and range for the role but I would prefer a lusher voice in this role. Raquel Gonzalez started the evening with a very fast flutter in her voice which eased up as the opera proceeded. Hunter Enoch was excellent as Marcello and Rhys Lloyd Talbot was good, if a little light weight for Colline.
Rachel Gilmore
Sunday matinée was The Thieving Magpie by Gioachino Rossini and Giovanni Gherardini. Lots of great coloratura singing especially by Rachel Gilmore and Dale Travis. For some reason Musa Nggungwana chose to sing very lumpy runs as the Mayor. Perhaps he was directed to do so for reasons of dramatic character, but it was not good singing.
Dale Travis
The whole weekend was a delightful time to wallow in opera and hear a number of very good singers. I wish all the best to the young artists who are just at the beginning of their careers and are showing so much promise. Sing On!
Last night began a series of musical adventures that David and I will enjoy over the next few days. It started with Barrington Stage's raucous production of Gilbert and Sullivan's The Pirates of Penzance.
This gem of an operetta has been around for many years. I saw the D'Oyly Carte production in London years ago. This famous company used to come to the New York City Center on 55th Street as well, so I may have seen it there as well.
Will Swenson
Last's night's production was based on the version done in New York City in the 1980's which starred Linda Ronstad. The cast included Philip Boykin as a large and large-voiced Samuel, Jane Carr as a wonderful, matronly Ruth, Will Swenson as a handsome, dashing Pirate King, David Garrison as the Major-General (who, as Anna Russell tells us, does a little dance and an encore of 'A Modern Major-General', whether we want him to or not), Alex Gibson as the Sergeant, Scarlett Strallen as a sweet voiced Mable, and Kyle Dean Massey as the confused, charming Frederic.
Scarlett Strallen
All of the singing and acting were admirable, though Mable did miss a couple of her high notes.
David Garrison
The wonderful plot involves the unfortunate Frederic, whose nurse maid Ruth, apprentices him to a Pirate, misunderstanding her instructions to apprentice him to a Pilot. He is to be indentured until his 21st birthday. Since he was born on February 29th, this will technically make him 63 before he gains his freedom. Well- you get the idea. Only Gilbert and Sullivan could come up with this conundrum.
Kyle Dean Massey
The brilliant choreography was by Joshua Bergasse and the direction by John Rando. It made for a delightful evening of theatre.
Jane Carr
On Thursday we will drive to the Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown, NY to hear Sweeney Todd, The Crudible, La Bohème, The Thieving Magpie, plus a recital by Stephanie Blythe. Whew, I'm tired already.
We return to Berkshire County to hear Marin Maisie and Jason Danielly at Barrington Stage on Monday. A wonderful pile-up of musical theatre!
More later....
