MSM DOES STEPHEN SCHWARTZ

Defying Gravity--the Magical World of Stephen Schwartz (photo by Anna Yatskevich)

Year after year, the students of the American Musical Theater Ensemble of the Manhattan School of Music present an evening of entertainment that rivals any evening you might spend on Broadway.

Last night's DEFYING GRAVITY presented the songs of Stephen Schwartz in a clever revue format, conceived and directed by Carolyn Marlow. The concept involved extracting songs from his large oeuvre and weaving them together with dialogue that posited interesting relationships among the members of the cast, comprising a dozen talented young performers, as adept at dancing and acting as they are at singing.

There was an arrogant male figure (Joseph Sacchi) and an insecure one (Luke Sikora), and a bunch of gals just bursting with pizazz. There was a big guy with an operatic voice (Christopher Lilley) and a skinny one (Frank Humphrey) who needed a lesson in "Style" from The Magic Show. 

Composer Stephen Schwartz has written a slew of captivating  award-winning musicals for the stage and for film--even having scored some Disney films. His tunes are memorable and the lyrics capture the zeitgeist beautifully. Having gotten on board too late for anything but Wicked, we will have to do a library search to get exposed to more of his writing, since the taste we had last night served to whet our appetite.

The voices were all excellent and the performers adept at creating believable characters. We particularly enjoyed Allie Altieri in the wistful "Lion Tamer" from The Magic Show and her moving account of "Just Beyond the Riverbend" from the film Pocahontas. Mr. Humphrey did his best work in "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin. The two artists sang these two songs simultaneously. (We don't know how they worked this out so successfully).

In "Style" the pair, pretending to be awkward losers, were coached by the very stylish Gabriela Moscoso and Christopher Lilley, both of whom had the moves. It's always humorous to see talented people pretending to be clumsy.

Ms. Moscoso was featured in a lot of numbers and impressed us with her high octane personality and expressive acting. She led Anna Mayo and Juliana Levinson in the wonderful "Sweet, Sweet, Sweet" from The Magic Show, and had a great solo in "Spread a Little Sunshine" from Pippin. 

Mr. Lilley commanded the stage in "Simple Song" from Leonard Bernstein's Mass (for which Schwartz wrote the lyrics) accompanied by Mr. Humphrey and some lovely flute playing from Aaron Patterson, who was just as fine on the clarinet as he accompanied the lovely Grace Callahan in "Blame it on the Summer Night" from Rags, for which Charles Strouse wrote the music. There was a fine bright ring in her upper register. We also enjoyed the duet "All for the Best" from Godspell, in which she was joined by Anna Mayo.

Ms. Mayo was lovely in "Since I Gave My Heart Away" from Gepetto while Nicole DeLuca and Joseph Sacchi did a graceful ballroom dance. There was a theme running through the revue that Ms. DeLuca, whose character was headed for a stint on Broadway, got nothing but negativity from her boyfriend, portrayed by Joseph Sacchi, as an arrogant philanderer, trying to keep his woman down on the farm, in pre-liberation mode.

Mr. Sacchi's solo "Proud Lady" from The Baker's Wife was excellently done. He got his comeuppance from the ladies of the cast in "Turn Back, O Man" from Godspell; they sure strutted their stuff and waved their feather boas!

There were some beautiful harmonies in "Serenade" from The Baker's Wife and even more harmony in five parts in "In Pursuit of Excellence" from Children of Eden.  

Juliana Levinson expressed some lovely sentiments in French in "Chanson" from The Baker's Wife.

Luke Sikora portrayed an insecure fella who finds his bearings during the show. There was nothing insecure about his performance however. His "everyman" in "Extraordinary" from Pippin was great and his "Dancing Through Life" from Wicked was even better.

The excellent musicians were not in the pit but were upstage. Music director and pianist Shane Schag was joined by guitarist Sean Richey, bassist Connor Schultze, percussionist Guilhem Flouzat and the aforementioned Aaron Patterson, a virtuoso on flute, clarinet and saxophone. Orchestrations were by Mike Webster with some special arrangements by Warren Helms.

The set and lighting by Shawn Kaufman were simple, involving staircases on either side with a walkway extending the width of the stage up above. The risers of the stairs were illuminated with tiny colored lights and the backdrop was washed in intense colors. It was simple but effective.

Colleen Durham's choreography was well suited to the skills of the students.  We particularly enjoyed a dance with black bowler hats that made us think of Bob Fosse.

Whether these students elect a career on the opera stage or on the Broadway stage, they do seem destined for success.

(c) meche kroop

MORE ON COUNTESS ALMAVIVA

Elizabeth Bouk, Marie Masters, Christopher Lilley, Marianne Farrell and Min Gu Yeo

Hiram Titus' music is new to us, and we will begin by saying that we yearn to hear more of his instrumental music. As performed by the excellent Metamorphosis Chamber Orchestra under the baton of Christopher Fecteau, Artistic Director and Founder of Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble, it made quite an impression. We can surely understand why Maestro Fecteau chose to conduct last night. The music is very lush in its orchestration and varied in its moods--one might call it colorful and dramatic. We were not surprised to learn that Mr. Titus composes for movies.

That being said, we would not be in a hurry to hear any more of his operas. We will say that there were several lovely arias in his 1980 opera Rosina. In the first act, the character Cherubino sings a lovely ballad accompanied by guitar (Matheus Souza) which led into a duet with Rosina, also quite lovely. And in Act II, Count Almaviva and Cherubino sang a duet about women that we enjoyed.

Nonetheless, the conversational dialogue is, well, excessively prosaic. Barbara Field's libretto does not lend itself to a singable vocal line.  Part of the problem lies in the rhythm of the English language. One thinks of the few exceptions--Shakespeare, Sondheim, W.S. Gilbert.

In spite of this handicap, the cast performed well. The story is invented but found its way into Dell'Arte Ensemble's Beaumarchais theme by virtue of its dealing with characters invented by the 18th c. polymath, who wrote the trio of plays which inspired Rossini, Paisiello, Rossini and others.

Several years have passed since Cherubino was sent off to be an officer in the Count's regiment. He returned to Seville and eloped with the Countess who was fed up with the Count's philandering. As the opera opens the couple is living in poverty in Madrid with Cherubino trying to sell his paintings. They have a newborn and are in love and happy, troubled only by the aggressive landlady. The Count comes to Madrid to find Rosina, along with his latest conquest, the very young Amparo. Rosina (the Countess) must choose between the two men--or must she? Sometimes women must choose their own pathway, even in the 18th c.

As the Countess (Rosina), soprano Marie Masters made a fine showing with her ample voice and warmth. We remember her well from last year's Falstaff as Mrs. Ford. As Cherubino, tenor Christopher S. Lilley impressed us with his fine singing and acting. His Cherubino was a real charmer! We recall enjoying his performances at Manhattan School of Music on several occasions.

As Pilar, the aggressive landlady, mezzo-soprano Kerry Gotschall added greatly to the comic relief. Sporting a moustache (!) and clumping around the stage, she created a marvelous character. In Act I, she had some great lines--"The rent's been spent". The scene in Act II where she virtually attacks the blindfolded Mendoza, Cherubino's art dealer, was a real hoot. He had come to seduce Rosina who was playing a trick on him by substituting Pilar. 

If the opening scene referenced Act I of La Boheme, this scene suggested the final act of Nozze di Figaro! The art dealer was well performed by Korland Simmons who produced some rich laughter in his sneezing scene which reminded us of the sneezing scene in the Paisiello Barber.

As Count Almaviva, Min Gu Yeo's superlative baritone was hampered by a strong accent that made much of his dialect incomprehensible. English is sufficiently difficult to sing when it is one's native language! He was also made to disguise himself with a very silly moustache and cast opposite a woman who was more than a head taller than he--his new mistress Amparo. It felt awkward not knowing whether this was done intentionally for laughs or not.

As Amparo, we really liked Elizabeth Bouk, whose Komponist in Utopia Opera's Ariadne auf Naxos we recently reviewed. Her mezzo-soprano is clean and pleasant to hear and she has a winning stage presence which made us care about this 18-year-old not-so-innocent. We liked her aria about her origins in Barcelona, daughter of a fish monger and a sailor, trying to advance herself in this world. 

Erin Cressy directed and Meganne George was responsible for the minimal but workable set. Costume Designer Carly Bradt finally provided costumes suggestive of 18th c. aristocracy for the women while the men wore street clothes.

It was a real pleasure to see the entire season of Beaumarchais on four consecutive nights.  Thanks Dell'Arte Opera Ensemble!

(c) meche kroop