HARRY, HOAGY, AND HAROLD UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

Christine Price, Amanda Lynn Bottoms, Mikaela Bennett, Gerard Schneider, Dimitri Katotakis, and Kelsey Lauritano

It was the final "Sing for Your Supper" cabaret of the season presented by Steven Blier at Henry's Restaurant--and thus a bittersweet evening, as his singular students from Juilliard head off to fulfill their summer engagements and/or studies. They will be spreading their talents far and wide, leaving the Big Apple with a Big Bite taken out of it.

In January, on the stage at Juilliard, we enjoyed a program entitled "Harry, Hoagy, and Harold" (review archived) that was fully staged with plenty of room to show off Mary Birnbaum's directorial skills. Last night we heard some of the same songs and several new ones. Harry Warren (whom Maestro Blier considers to be quite overlooked), Hoagy Carmichael, and Harold Arlen wrote enough songs for dozens of evenings like this one. In many ways, we enjoyed last night's cabaret even more than the stage version. Cabaret as an art form works best up close and personal. 

We can't tell how many times tenor Miles Mykkanen has opened these programs with Richard Rodgers' "Sing For Your Supper" but the song belongs to him and he belongs to the song. He puts his own personal and slightly naughty stamp on the clever lyrics.  What a sensation! No less a sensation than his recent star turn as Tamino in Juilliard's Die Zauberflöte.

We know that at least two of the six performers last night started their singing lives as "Broadway babies" but what about the other four? They have credited Maestro Blier with giving them the jazz style and the jazz beat. To have heard these young artists on the opera stage and then to see them tackle cabaret, without any of the phony cross-over sound that we so dislike, never ceases to astonish us.

Mikaela Bennett performed Harold Arlen's "Sleepin' Bee" from the not very successful 1954 musical House of Flowers; we enjoyed it far more than Barbra Streisand's recording. The piano arrangement by Maestro Blier took our breath away.

Her duet with Amanda Lynn Bottoms "Two Ladies in the Shade of the Banana Tree", from the same musical, was terrific. We have heard them perform this before and would happily hear it again. Lyrics by Truman Capote.

Ms. Bottoms gave a beautiful solo of "That Old Black Magic" which is so familiar--but she made the Mercer/Arlen song sound completely new.  

Kelsey Lauritano, whose recent graduation recital was so impressive, revealed her cabaret background with "I Yi Yi Yi! I Like You Very Much" from the 1941 Gordon/Arlen musical That Night in Rio.  (This was what we referred to in our review as having seen her dance with fruit on her head.) All we can say is "I Yi Yi Yi! We like YOU very much". The entire cast joined for this Latin celebration.

Soprano Christine Price, having just starred as Pamina in Juilliard's production of Die Zauberflöte, showed another side of her talent in a moving performance of the Washington/Carmichael song "The Nearness of You". We loved the way she floated the final note.

She joined Gerard Schneider, who was on hand with his ukulele and his guitar, and entertained us royally with a scene from the 1943 Harburg/Arlen Bloomer Girl. In "Evelina", the hero serenades the eponymous Evelina, thinking she is a servant in the household.  It was cute and funny, thanks to the talents of Ms. Price and Mr. Schneider.

Mr. Schneider also performed a lovely solo of "At Last" from the Gordon/Warren 1941 musical Orchestra Wives, putting his own spin on it.

Baritone Dimitri Katotakis serenaded us with "Skylark", the well known song by Mercer and Carmichael. Mr. Blier told the audience that he only considers two songs to be "perfect". This was one and the other is by Gabriel Fauré!

The ensemble had a few numbers in which to show their ensemble spirit, beside the aforementioned "I Yi Yi Yi". They performed "Cheerful Little Earful", the Ira Gershwin & Billy Rose song with music by Harold Arlen.

They closed the evening with a Mercer/Carmichael tune "In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening" from the 1951 musical Here Comes the Groom.  

And there was an encore with some lovely harmonies to relish--the Mercer/Arlen tune "Bye Bye Baby" which left the wildly enthusiastic audience in a state of midnight bliss.

(c) meche kroop

JOHN + MARIO = MAGIC

Mario Antonio Marra and John Brancy

When the judges of the Marilyn Horne Song Competition chose baritone John Brancy and pianist Mario Antonio Marra as their 2013 winners they chose extraordinarily well.  This pair made magic yesterday in their recital at the National Opera Center.  When Mr. Brancy performs Robert Schumann's Dichterliebe at Carnegie Hall (no doubt he will have that opportunity), we will sit there smugly knowing that we heard it in the intimate environment that the work demands.

Mr. Brancy is a born storyteller and sings from a place deep within; he sings in an expressive manner that never panders to the audience but rather invites the audience to join him on his profound inward journey.  Unlike Schubert's song cycles, Dichterliebe is an inner journey.  There is no leierman, no miller, no brook, no frost on the window.  There is just the singer and his tale of a love lost, indeed lost rather early in the cycle. 

The remainder of the cycle relates the varying emotions he feels as he works through the loss; we experience with him the stages of anger, grief, bitterness, despair and ultimately acceptance as he confines his old songs to an hyperbolic coffin given a burial at sea.  Mr. Brancy and Mr. Marra plumbed every emotional depth leaving us feeling emotionally wrung out but artistically satisfied.

We welcomed the respite of intermission to restore our equanimity.  Three songs by Dvořák followed and we recalled an evening at Juilliard when we spent an evening listening to and growing accustomed to the sound of the difficult Czech language.  The effort spent in learning to sing in Czech yielded a big bonus for the listener since the songs are beyond lovely.

The first two were settings of Greek poems about mothers and sons.  In the first, a woman is learning of her son's successes in destroying Turkish pashas and armies and the second related the tale of a shepherd who disobeys his mother's advice and plays his pipes for the Nereids.  A third song entitled "Cypresses" was about the pains of love and had some gorgeous melodies typical of the composer's nationalistic bent.

Following this we heard the premiere of Force, an impressive work commissioned by Gary Portadin--a collaboration between composer Chris Kapica, poet Robert Corsini and Mr. Brancy.  In a universe of ugly and meaningless contemporary poetry which has been set to equally ugly and meaningless music, this work shines as brightly as Jupiter in the night sky.  The theme of man overcoming a mechanistic world and achieving identity through creative self-definition is a worthwhile subject for exploration.  Mr. Corsini's poetry rhymes (!) and scans (!!) and Mr. Kapica's music expresses and augments the ideas both the mechanistic ones and the spiritual ones, challenging the listener without hurting the ears.  Mr. Brancy's performance seemed to come from a very profound place.

The program concluded with three 20th c. American songs that were given the same attention and respect as lieder.  In each case Mr. Marra played with the songs in his own superb arrangements that tickled the ear.  In Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You" Mr. Brancy's beautiful baritone caressed each word as Mr. Marra's digits caressed the keys of the piano.  We heard some truly gorgeous floated top notes.

Jerome Kern's "The Folks Who Live on the Hill" was given a jazzy treatment by Mr. Marra in beautiful counterpoint to Mr. Brancy's sincerity.  Cole Porter's "Night and Day" offered a fine sense of fun with twinkles in the eyes. 

As an encore, Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer" was sung in tribute to Marilyn Horne.  How many times we have listened to her sing this treasure on You Tube!  It was the perfect end to a magical recital.  We will fall into bed with some beautiful dreams of a well-spent evening.

© meche kroop