NYFOS AT HOME AT HENRY'S

Steven Blier, Amanda Bottoms, Theo Hoffman, Tiffany Townsende, James Edgar Knight, Alex McKissick, Aaron Mor and Hannah McDermott at Henry's

We love NYFOS in the Winter; We love NYFOS in the Fall; We love NYFOS in the Springtime when it drizzles; but there is no NYFOS in the Summer when it sizzles, at least not here in NYC. So last night's cabaret at Henry's was a bittersweet moment since all the singers we love from Juilliard are going their separate ways.

NYFOS at the Kaufman Center is a somewhat serious affair with opportunities for learning, although there is plenty of fun to be had.  NYFOS at Henry's Restaurant on the Upper West Side is strictly fun. Gifted young artists perform songs you already know and love--WITHOUT AMPLIFICATION!!! Mr. Blier has coached and brought these young artists to pitch perfect performance. Tonight's theme (there is always a theme) was "Great American Songwriting Teams".

Speaking of fun, Aaron Mor's delivery of "The Sheik of Avenue B" complete with Yiddish accent, was priceless. This Kalmar & Ruby song sends up the Sheik of Araby from silent film days.  Think Fanny Brice and Yiddish theater!

On a more serious note, Amanda Bottoms performed the Rodgers & Hart paean to urban loneliness--"It Never Entered My Mind". It's a soulful song and Ms. Bottoms invested it with a great deal of soul.

A late song by The Brother Gershwin "I Was Doing All Right" was sung much better than "all right" by Hannah McDermott in jazzy style.

The romantic "You and the Night and the Music" by Dietz & Schwartz was beautifully sung by Alex McKissick in both English and (surprise) Spanish!  This was new to us and we loved it.  Spanish is just so much more romantic than English!

Tiffany Townsend sang "Blue Grass", also by Dietz & Schwartz, from Inside USA, a song associated with Pearl Bailey. It had a nice bluesy feel to it.

From Sid Caesar's Little Me, James Edgar Knight performed "Real Live Girl" by Coleman & Leigh. This gave him ample opportunity to display his prodigious comic chops.

Given more serious material, Theo Hoffman sang "Blue", William Bolcom's setting of some intense text by Arnold Weinstein, dealing with the positive impact on the latter's life by his practice of meditation with a well known guru. Autobiographical material is difficult but Mr. Hoffman rose to the challenge and succeeded.  This was no less that we would expect from this gifted baritone.

Maltby & Shire's "I Want it All" from Baby is a jazzy number sung by three women in an obstetrician's office. The performance was somewhat hampered by poor diction and only the words of the "hook" were comprehensible. We thought it might be because of our seating way off on the side but we'd had no problem understanding the male performers.

We particularly enjoyed the ensemble numbers.  The opener was the upbeat "Lucky Day" by DeSylva, Brown & Henderson.  Although it dates from the Roaring Twenties there is nothing dated about the sentiment.

For "Wrong Note Rag" from Comden & Green's My Sister Eileen, the company enjoyed four-handed piano with Leann Osterkamp joining Steven Blier.

Similarly for "Ascot Gavotte" from Lerner & Loewe's My Fair Lady, one of our very favorite Broadway numbers. The song pokes fun at the British aristocracy and is delicious in its wit.

The evening ended with Leiber & Stoller's "Love Potion #9" but there was more to come with an encore by Comden, Green & Bernstein--"Some Other Time" from On the Town. 

Mary Birnbaum directed the show and Adam Cates choreographed. It wa a fine and fitting ending for NYFOS' fifth season at Henry's. We are already looking forward to next year.

(c) meche kroop

GREAT AMERICAN SONGWRITING TEAMS

Kelsey Lauritano, Theo Hoffman, Tiffany Townsend, James Edgar Knight, Alexander McKissick, Aaron Mor and Hannah McDermott

Steven Blier, Founder and Artistic Director of New York Festival of Song, is a major presence at Juilliard and a favorite among the students of the Ellen and James S. Marcus Institute for Vocal Arts.  At last night's performance, it was easy to see why.  Mr. Blier prepares the program with the students, accompanies with great panache and serves as charming host and raconteur, introducing the songs with interesting tidbits.  This is the 10th edition of NYFOS@Juilliard and it was a celebration of collaboration.

In the case of presenting some of America's great songwriting teams, he gave the seven students he worked with a great amount of latitude in choosing two solos each wished to perform.  The rest of the evening comprised duets and ensembles.  The entertainment value was top-notch.  Much credit goes to Mary Birnbaum for the stage direction and Adam Cates for the choreography.

Mr. Blier made two points with which we are in total agreement.  He described the mutual support of Juilliard students for one another and the lack of envy.  We have witnessed the same phenomenon with pleasure and have often spoken with "outsiders" about it.

The other point he made is that working on "popular" songs is an experience that carries over into the young singers' performance of opera.  Yes indeed.  They get to "let loose" and exercise their dramatic skills in a supersized delivery.  Of course, it is also true that their operatic experience affects their performance in American musical theater.  They perform using all their operatic training to project without the use of amplification. That in itself is a treat for us in the audience who can't stand amplification and love the sound of a human voice.

Verbal clarity was quite good for the most part with some singers getting every single word across.  Tenor James Edgar Knight made a huge impression with "Captain Hook's Waltz" from Comden and Green's 1954 Peter Pan.  The music is tuneful, the lyrics are funny and Mr. Knight used his background in musical comedy to create a wonderful character.  He created a totally different character in "Real Live Girl" from Coleman and Leigh's 1962 Little Me.  Kelsey Lauritano's silent reaction to his country bumpkin character was a masterpiece of acting.

Ms. Lauritano gave a soulful reading to "It Never Entered My Mind" from Rodgers and Hart's 1940 Higher and Higher.  We liked the touch of irony and bitterness. She showed her funny side in "My Father the Gangster" from Bolcom and Weinstein's 1990 Casino Paradise which was not just funny but a moving lament.

Another song from that show, "The Establishment Route" permitted Andrew McKissick to draw some laughs as he donned a wiseguy persona.  He showed his versatility by performing "You and the Night and the Music" from Dietz and Schwartz' 1934 Revenge With Music.  He hammed it up to great effect when he switched to Spanish.

Theo Hoffman excelled in the same team's "Blue" from their 1996 Cabaret Songs and balanced that serious song with the light-hearted (and unpublished) "Luckiest Man in the World" from George and Ira Gershwin's 1933 Pardon My English. Ms. Lauritano was his gum-chewing bimbo, another acting triumph. Mr. Hoffman also excels in verbal clarity and threw himself totally into his supporting roles in the ensembles.

Tiffany Townsend delighted the audience with some bluesy renditions of "Blue Grass" from Dietz and Schwartz' 1945 Inside U.S.A. and was even better in "I Ain't Here" by Leiber and Stoller.

Hannah McDermott performed the romantic "I Was Doing All Right" from the Gershwin brothers' 1937 The Goldwyn Follies and got to show off her funny side in "Arthur in the Afternoon" from Kander and Ebb's " 1977 The Act.  She was a very funny foil to Aaron Mor's delivery of "We Can Talk to Each Other" from Maltby and Shire's 1976 Starting Here, Starting Now.  

Mr. Mor waxed rhapsodic about the couple's communication without allowing Ms. McDermott to get a word in.  There was a surprise ending. Mr. Mor was hilarious telling the 1922 tale of  "The Sheik of Avenue B" by Kalmar and Ruby, which he delivered with a funny Yiddish accent.

Aside from the sensational solos, we enjoyed the staging of "No Other Love" from Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1953 Me and Juliet in which Mr. Knight was auditioning Ms. Townsend in a charming duet. 

Several ensembles rounded out the evening with our hands down favorite being Lerner and Loewe's "Ascot Gavotte" from the 1959 My Fair Lady, in which the singers had a grand time portraying the pretentious British upper classes--sneers and plummy accents included.  The men were very funny in "Little Tin Box" from Bock and Harnick's 1959 Fiorello.  The women were no less funny in "I Want It All" from Maltby and Shire's 1983 Baby.

The cast was wise to choose songs that are less often heard.  The audience was roused to torrents of applause in appreciation for a very entertaining evening.

(c) meche kroop

LIEDERABEND AT JUILLIARD

Martha Mingle and Theo Hoffman

We couldn't imagine a better way to spend "cocktail hour" than attending a Liederabend at Juilliard.  It is a golden opportunity to hear the stars of tomorrow. Indeed we have a rather substantial list of artists whom we first heard at a Juilliard Liederabend who are now onstage at the Metropolitan Opera and other renowned venues.

Last night we heard eight promising artists--four singers and four collaborative pianists--in a program of 20th c. English art songs.  Our 19th c. ears have never taken to 20th c. English or American songs but last night's recital brought us closer to a state of appreciation that we have ever experienced.

For this we credit the superb diction of all four singers whose phrasing and performance style made sense of the poetry.  Additionally, the composers on the program selected excellent texts to set.  Who would not love Thomas Hardy, W.H. Auden and Dante Gabriel Rossetti! Their poetry scans and rhymes and is well suited to musical elaboration.

Most impressive was baritone Theo Hoffman who formed a perfect partnership with pianist Martha Mingle.  They delivered a highly polished performance of three songs from Ralph Vaughan Williams' The House of Life.  Rossetti's poetry is highly romantic and Mr. Hoffman sang the songs with an economy of gesture but a lavish application of word-coloring and depth of expression.  Ms. Mingle seemed to breathe with him in a stunning duet.

We enjoyed Hannah McDermott, whose lovely mezzo voice we have admired before. Her time spent with Steven Blier's New York Festival of Song cabaret evenings has served her well and she uses her personality effectively to get a song across.  Last night's performance of four of Benjamin Britten's Cabaret Songs was delightful. Pianist Kathryn Felt joined her for the lilting "Tell Me the Truth About Love"--we loved the way she sang the phrase "Brighton's bracing air" with a charming buzz on the "br"s.  "Calypso" was given the proper propulsion but our favorite was "Johnny", her account of a lively girl dealing with a grumpy boring boyfriend.

Tenor David Smolokoff performed Gerald Finzi's setting of Thomas Hardy's A Young Man's Exhortation.  "The Dance Continued" was deeply felt but our favorite was the bittersweet "The Sigh" in which a man has been unable to forget or understand why his now-deceased wife emitted a deep sigh when he first kissed her.  We enjoyed the mystery.  Ava Nazar's piano was particularly lovely in the searching melody of "The Comet at Yell'ham".

Heard for the first time was soprano Tiffany Townsend with Hea Youn Chung as her piano partner.  These Finzi songs from Hardy's Till Earth Outwears are mournful ones--filled with nostalgia and memories of lost loves.  Anyone who's read Hardy's wonderful novels will have recognized his voice.  Ms. Townsend sang them with lovely phrasing, word coloring and excellent diction.  Our favorite was "Life Laughs Onward".

It will be so rewarding to observe these young artists as they continue their training at Juilliard.  Last night's program was coached by Andrew Harley.  Well done!

(c) meche kroop