NYFOS HONORS SONDHEIM

Steven Blier, Theo Hoffman, Greer Grimsley, Luretta Bybee, Meredith Lustig, Ron Raines, and Pamela Myers

It was just one wonderful treat after another at the NYFOS Gala at Weill Recital Hall last night. The packed house was the right audience for the generous selection of songs by Stephen Sondheim with the illustrious Steven Blier at the piano, charming the audience with tidbits about each song and the show from which it was drawn.

As is customary with NYFOS events, there is no boundary drawn between types of songs and who gets to sing them. The best part about these evenings, beside Mr. Blier's delightfully witty narration, is that the music is sung by superb singers in their natural unamplified voices. This strengthens the assertion that there are only two types of songs--the good and the bad. Mr. Blier chooses the good ones; they tell us stories.

Stephen Sondheim is inarguably the best composer of musicals of our time. The astuteness of his lyrics and the complexity of his music never ceases to amaze. There is no subject he has been afraid to tackle--not even assassinations and cannibalism.

It is hard to say which is our favorite show but A Little Night Music and Sweeney Todd are both right up there at the top and were well represented last night. The program opened with "Two Fairy Tales" which was written for the former show but somehow never made it. Performed by Meredith Lustig and Theo Hoffman (of the Los Angeles Opera). it involved a kind of "she said-he said" situation with ironically contrasting and alternating lines. The two artists were completely delightful.

Ron Raines and Pamela Myers were similarly delightful in the waltz "You Must Meet My Wife" with Ron as Fredrik, waxing rhapsodic over his (surprise!) virginal bride and Pamela as Desiree cracking wise.

Sweeney Todd was well represented with the too-clever-by-half "Have a Little Priest", with Greer Grimsley as the eponymous Sweeney Todd matching rhymes with Luretta Bybee's Mrs. Lovett. What incredibly adroit wordplay!  Ms. Bybee got to sings Mrs. Lovett's romantic fantasy "By the Sea", and the forceful "Epiphany" was given a powerful and dramatic delivery by Mr. Grimsley.

The show also had a tender ballad in which Tobias sings "Not While I'm Around" in which he expresses his protective caring for Mrs. Lovett. Mr. Hoffman sang it with appropriate depth of feeling. And yet another duet "Pretty Women" sung by Mr. Raines and Mr. Grimsley. 

Follies was represented by Ron Raines singing Ben's song "The Road You Didn't Take". It made us wish to see a revival of the show which we have never seen. We never saw Evening Primrose either but "Take Me to the World" was quite moving as performed by Ms. Lustig and Mr. Hoffman.

A song from Company was performed by Pamela Myers who originated the role of Marta, a woman who is in love with New York City. "Another Hundred People" captured all the energy and vitality of our city.

And there was a song about the beach as well--"The Girls of Summer" from Marry Me a Little, winningly performed by Ms. Lustig.

Not every Sondheim show was a smash hit and Road Show was re-written a number of times, never achieving great success; but it did contain a wonderful song called "Talent" in which the character Hollis Bessemer expresses his dream of creating an artist's colony in Palm Beach. Mr. Hoffman's performance was superb.

The evening ended with the entire cast joining Ms. Myers for Hattie's song "Broadway Baby" from Follies.  It was a superfine evening that we wished would never end.  We could have listened to Sondheim songs all night!

(c) meche kroop

WE'RE JUST WILD ABOUT HENRY....AND STEVEN

Steven Blier and Friends at Henry's Restaurant for NYFOS After Hours

Joining a packed house, we joyfully shared in the celebration of the 25th Anniversary of Henry's Restaurant on the Upper West Side. The beloved Steven Blier has been presenting cabarets at that venue for the past five years, curating an always astonishing collection of songs performed with what he accurately calls a "torrent of talent", mainly chosen from among the singers he has coached. Like any torrent, this one swept us along.

For his 27th cabaret, there was no program.  Mr. Blier, whose skills as a raconteur rival his pianistic artistry, narrated from the piano. The introduction, a charming ditty by Rodgers and Hart called "Sing For Your Supper" was performed by three women we had not heard before--soprano Meredith Lustig and mezzos Catherine Hancock and Carla Jablonski.  We always expect tenor Miles Mykkanen to do the honors but the three lovely ladies put their own individual spin on the song with some captivating girl-group harmonies.

Happily, we got to hear Mr. Mykkanen later in the program as he put his particular spin on  "I'm Not Getting Married Today" from Sondheim's Company.  It is Mr. M.'s particular gift that he can sing both male and female parts with equivalent pizazz. He also performed "The Only Music That Makes Me Dance" from Jules Styne's Funny Girl.

Tenor Ben Bliss and baritone Theo Hoffman (two singers we always love to hear) were hilarious in "Everyone Eats When They Come to My House", a Cab Calloway song that was new to us.  Its rhymes are too clever by half and exactly the sort of thing for which the English language was made.  We wanted to hear it again right on the spot!

The amazing soprano Julia Bullock, who could keep us raptly involved if she sang the phone book, sang Irving Berlin's "Harlem On My Mind" with a sensibility of the period, evoking feelings of nostalgia for the places one leaves behind.  Mr. Blier gave us some juicy jazz riffs on the piano.

Terrific tenor Theo Lebow sang a Scandinavian song about the sea.  We hope we can be forgiven for not detecting whether it was Swedish, Norwegian or Danish; whatever it was, it was a strong masculine song and he sang it beautifully.

Mr. Bliss made "Maria" from Bernstein's West Side Story new again and spun out the final note with great finesse.  Baritone Jonathan Estabrooks was delightful in "A Rhyme for Angela" from the Kurt Weill/Ira Gershwin show The Firebrand of Florence.  If you never saw the show, it's worth looking up the plot which is about the escapades of Benvenuto Cellini. Berlioz' opera was not that titillating.

Not every song was modern.  Ms. Lustig, Mr. Lebow and Mr. Estabrook joined forces for an a capella Renaissance song purportedly composed by Henry VIII!  This being an evening of celebrating Henry, why not?

The program ended with Mr. Estabrook singing Bob Merrell's "Henry, Sweet Henry" with lyrics customized for the happy occasion.  The eponymous Henry of 105th and Broadway was a most gracious and welcoming host for the evening's festivities.  With good food, good drink, good music and such an outpouring of love, the evening was a total success.

(c) meche kroop