Happy 100th Birthday, Judy! - A Musical Celebration (Carnegie Hall)

By Harry Forbes

On the occasion of what would have been Judy Garland’s 100th birthday, here it seemed was the lady once again bringing the house to its feet multiple times this past Saturday at the venue of her legendary triumph back in 1961. 

Of course, it wasn’t really the late Garland herself but rather a phenomenal British performer named Debbie Wileman. Nor for that matter, was it the Stern auditorium on which stage Judy actually performed that legendary night six decades ago, but the adjoining and prestigious concert hall underneath.

Still, the sold-out house greeted Wileman’s first entrance as if it were the second coming of Judy herself and her performance didn’t disappoint. She opened with Stephen Sondheim’s “I’m Still Here,”  a song which, needless to say, Garland didn’t live to perform. The recreation of Garland’s vocal timbre was uncannily accurate right from the start. The “Follies” song also opens Wileman’s tie-in CD, consisting almost entirely of songs Garland never actually sang, wonderfully orchestrated, conducted and produced by Grammy Award-winning Steve Orich, with Wileman channeling the inimitable Garland style on each track. 

Michele Lee, Renee Taylor, and Tracie Bennett (who played Judy in “End of the Rainbow” on Broadway) were among the celebrities cheering on Wileman, as was former Garland beau John Mayer who received a warm introduction from Wileman before she sang one of the memorable songs he wrote for Garland: “I’d Like to Hate Myself in the Morning.”

The UK-based singer and actress created a social media sensation on Facebook when she posted songs by Garland and other singers during the pandemic. The Zankel Hall performance marked her New York debut after performances in London. In addition, her U.S. tour included Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, Provincetown, and Los Angeles. 

Impressive as her homemade videos are, seeing her in person is even more remarkable. The strong-voiced Wileman is quite the phenomenon, summoning Garland better than any impressionist I’ve ever seen. And with plenty of stage presence of her own.

What sets Wileman further apart from many of the Garland impersonators of the past is the genuine quality of her voice, the solid musicianship of her approach, and the sensitive interpretation of the lyrics. She was given superlative accompaniment from Music Director Ron Abel, and a first-rate band including Jack Cavari (guitar), Robert Cookman (synthesizer), Ritt Henn (Bass), Ben Kono (saxophone), Ray Marchica (drums), and Kurt Marcum (trumpet). 

On her first entrance, one thought she might  “do” Garland all evening, but wisely, after the first couple of numbers, she spoke with her own English accent in a charming and down-to-earth manner, only sporadically mimicking Judy for some spoken patter. And as with her singing, her impression of Garland’s speaking cadence was spot-on accurate. 

The program was most sensibly laid out with Garland evergreens alternating with some of the new songs featured on the album. This is the Garland of the 1960’s, the voice a bit frayed at the edges, but strong and dynamic. Wileman captures Garland’s unique timbre so well that the occasional word, phrase or stage movement that slightly misses the mark stands out. But those moments were surprisingly rare. 

Wileman gave us a satisfying taste of what Garland’s “Mame” might have sounded like if she had gotten the role she coveted. Wileman offered splendid versions of “It’s Today” and “If He Walked into My Life.” And, arguably, even more impressive were Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” and Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday” and “Got to Get You Into My Life” sung quite plausibly in the Garland style. There was also a quite brilliant arrangement of Patsy Cline’s “Crazy” with a musical counterpoint of “You Go to My Head.” The most intimate number was “A Foggy Day,” sung to Abel’s piano accompaniment, feelingly vocalized.

By the time, she belted out the “You Made Me Love You/“For Me & My Gal”/”Trolley Song” and “Almost Like Being in Love”/”This Can’t Be Love” medleys, two of Garland’s Carnegie Hall classics, Wileman and Garland seemed to be truly one. And the satisfyingly predictable “Over the Rainbow” encore, sung as authentically as all the rest, clinched the transformation. (Incidentally, Wileman recorded that song for her album on the MGM studio where Garland sang the song for “The Wizard of Oz” soundtrack.)

(Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue; June 25th)

Photo credits:

(top): Joseph Marzullo

(bottom) Hernan Rodriguez

International Vocal Competition Winners Shine at Zankel Hall

By Harry Forbes

Winners of the International Vocal Competition took the stage at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on Sunday afternoon, after a hiatus of four years.

The competition, under the auspices of the Gerda Lissner Foundation in association with the Liederkranz Foundation, comprises three divisions: the Lieder Song Vocal Competition, an Operetta and Zarzuela Division and a General Division. The Gerda Lissner Foundation was created in 1991 by Mrs. Lissner, a decades-long Metropolitan Opera subscriber, to provide financial support for young opera singers. In all, $98,500 was awarded in prize money.

The concert’s first half, accompanied by pianist Mary Pinto, began with the Lieder winners which included soprano Yvette Keong’s impassioned rendition of Rachmaninoff’s “To Her,” and an exquisite rendering of Stephen Foster’s chestnut “Beautiful Dreamer.” She was followed by baritone Gregory Feldmann whose warmly expressive baritone shone on William Grant Still’s “Citadel” and Franz Schubert’s “Auf der Bruck.” 

Unfortunately missing from this section because of “covid restrictions” was mezzo-soprano Alma Neuhaus

The first half finished up with what amounted to a mini zarzuela recital, as all three of the top winners in the Operetta and Zarzuela competition chose selections from the richly melodic but (in this country) relatively unknown Spanish operetta genre. Soprano Evelyn Saavedra, characteristically dressed in red with a matching flower in her hair, offered a stylish account of the familiar “De España vengo” from Pablo Luna’s classic “El Niño Judio.”

Charismatic baritone Kevin Godínez followed with a strong “Junto al puente de la peña'' from Jose Serrano's “La Canción del Olvido,” earning an especially rousing ovation. 

And first prize winner in that category, Ethel Trujillo, authoritatively performed two selections, “La Petenera” from Federico Morena Torroba’s “La Marchenera” and “Me llaman la Primorosa” from Gerónimo Giménez’s “El Barbero de Sevilla.”

The program’s second half, accompanied by pianist Arlene Shrut, spotlighted the General Division winners. The set began with, in fact, another operetta selection, “Ô petite étoile” from Emmanuel Chabrier’s “L’étoile.” Shannon Keegan’s warm mezzo sailed over some intrusive traffic noise and she was unfazed by premature applause.

Soprano Teresa Perrotta delivered a forceful “Come scoglio” from Mozart’s “Cosí fan tutte.” with almost mezzo like resonance. 

Baritone Eleomar Cuello, who had just flown in from Spain earlier in the day, was none the worse for wear as he delivered a beautifully vocalized “Mein Sehnen, mein Wähnen” from Korngold’s “Die Tote Stadt.” 

And finally, top prize winner Eric Ferring, who had just sung Arturo at Saturday’s matinee of “Lucia di Lammermoor” at the Met, showed his versatility by bringing his sweet high tenor to Des Grieux’s “En fermant les yeux” from “Manon” followed by Handel’s virtuosic “Il tuo sangue” from “Ariodante.”

Throughout the concert, both Pinto and Shrut offered sensitive and incisive accompaniment. 

The occasion was sadly missing two of its mainstays, Stephen De Maio and Brian Kellow, both of whom passed away since the last concert. Both men were eulogized most movingly by the afternoon’s host, Midge Woolsey. “Think of the difference they made in all our lives” she said of De Maio and Kellow. Throughout the concert, Woolsey provided unflagging charm and enthusiasm, introducing each singer and putting their selections in interesting context.

As a finale, all nine of the singers joined forces on the choral “Sunday” number from Sondheim's “Sunday in the Park with George.” A lovely way to wrap up a Sunday afternoon!

As you could hear remarked by the exiting crowd, if what we experienced was any indication, the forecast for opera’s future looks bright indeed.

(Judy and Arthur Zankel Hall, Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue; gerdalissner.org; May 22)

The Little Prince (Broadway Theatre)

 By Harry Forbes

Make no mistake. Considerable artistry has gone into the large-scale adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s  ever-popular 1943 story. But there’s no denying this French import, which has already played Paris, Sydney, and Dubai,  is a singularly odd candidate for Broadway.

Neither a play nor a musical, the production most closely resembles a ballet, albeit one with some Cirque du Soleil-type aerial stunts. There are a couple of songs, but mostly dialogue recitation rather tiresomely delivered by librettist and co-director Chris Mouron in heavily French-accented English (titles helpfully supplied on the side of the stage).

At first I thought the androgynously outfitted Ms. Mouron would be voicing the titular character which would make sense for a child’s voice, especially as The Little Prince is, in fact, portrayed by the strapping adult Lionel Zalachas in a yellow jumpsuit. But no, Mouron also speaks for The Aviator (Aurélien Bednarek), and all the others encountered by The Little Prince in his interplanetary travels. Besides the monotony of the conceit, the narration and dialogue excerpts hardly serve to make the plot comprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with the story.

The program breaks down the “scenes” by character but unless you’re consulting the running order in the dark, you might still, from time to time, find yourself at a loss. 

Upon reflection, the production might have been a more logical fit for Lincoln Center or even BAM. In an earlier age, a producer like David Merrick would occasionally import an international success, but if he were here today, I’m sure he would think twice about the commercial possibilities of this particular property. As it is, there were walkouts at my performance. Nor did I see many children in attendance (it was an evening performance), but I would guess that even kids familiar with the book would fidget. 

Though there have been countless adaptations of Saint-Exupéry’s novella, I believe the last Broadway attempt must have been the notorious 1982 flop, “The Little Prince and the Aviator,” with a score by John Barry and Don Black, which closed without opening after 20 previews.  

Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe had, of course, written a very appealing score for Stanley Donen’s 1974 movie version which was not a success either. (Disappointingly, a recent York Theatre semi-staged presentation of the Lerner & Loewe songs was scrapped over a pesky rights issue.) On the other hand, Rachel Portman’s commendable operatic version won deserved plaudits. And the BBC filmed version aired on PBS, proved it is possible to make a viable stage property from the delicate source material.

The strongest elements of the production at hand are those impressive aerial stunts (Flying by Foy), the corps de ballet (choreography by Anne Tourné who also directed), and the non-stop projections by Video Designer Marie Jemilin. Terry Truck’s percussive score, albeit prerecorded, has a certain hypnotic appeal. In all fairness, there are moments of great beauty, both visually and balletically, amidst the stretches of tedium.

The cast of actors and acrobats are all first-rate, including Zalachas (a master of the aerial straps, when he’s not standing on a big black ball, symbolic of The Prince’s tiny asteroid) and Bednarek. Also outstanding is Laurisse Sulty as The Rose. But all the principals have their strong moments including Joän Bertrand as The King; Antony Cesar as The Vain Man; Marie Menuge as The Drunkard; Adrien Picaut as The Businessman; Marcin Janiak asThe Lamplighter; Srilata Ray as The Snake; Dylan Barone as The Fox; and William John Banks as The Switchman. There’s an impressive post-curtain call turn by Antony Cesar.

Mid-show audience applause at my performance was very tentative, as it was never quite clear whether one is actually supposed to clap or simply silently observe the action as between movements at a symphony. But the audience did break forth with well-deserved appreciation for the hard-working ensemble at the end. 

(Broadway Theatre, Broadway and 53rd Street; Telecharge.com or 212-239-6200)

Photo by Joan Marcus: (l.-r.) Laurisse Sulty (The Rose) and Lionel Zalachas (The Little Prince) 

Zauber der Bohème (Austrian Cultural Forum)

By Harry Forbes

Back in 2020, I covered a press conference announcing the launch of an exhibit in Vienna under the auspices of the University of Music and Performing Art’s Exilarte project. Exilarte is dedicated to “preserve, rehabilitate and display the work of Austrian composers, musicians, and music researchers who deemed ‘degenerate’ by the Nazi regime. The exhibit presented a comprehensive overview of the superstar opera couple of the 1930s, Marta Eggerth and Jan Kiepura, who because of their mixed Jewish heritage, had to flee Europe for New York after the Anschluss.

Among the ancillary activities promised at the time was a restored version of the couple’s most famous film and a worldwide hit, “Zauber der Bohème (The Charm of La Bohème),” which was being outfitted with new English subtitles. (There’s a decent print you can see here on YouTube, but only with those dodgy “auto-generated” English subtitles.)

So in partnership with the Exilarte Center, New York’s Austrian Cultural Forum presented the film on February 24 for one night only at their 52nd Street headquarters, and it proved worth the wait. Introduced by ACF Director Michael Haider, the movie was all the more involving on the big screen, and the subtitles were, of course, a boon to a non-German audience.

After the screening, it’s no exaggeration to say there wasn’t a dry eye in the packed house. The film showed the couple at their best, as they played up and coming singers in Paris cast in Puccini’s opera whose real life story mirrors the opera’s plot. Though, as such, the narrative’s tragic climax is completely predictable, the impact is not a whit lessened. 

What struck me anew about the pair, apart from their impressive singing, was first, what a truly fine film actress Eggerth was, playing beautifully to the camera, and effortlessly telegraphing every emotion with subtlety. It is such a shame that her two MGM films with Judy Garland only barely scratched the surface of that talent. And Kiepura was such a likable and natural presence with his irrepressible exuberance, much like Lawrence Tibbett in his early Hollywood films, one could easily see why he was idolized by thousands. 

Very much adding to the specialness of the evening was the presence of the couple’s son, pianist Marjan Kiepura, and his wife Jane Knox-Kiepura, archivist for all things Eggerth/Kiepura related. After the film, they joined Haider for an intriguing panel discussion, though it took them several minutes to compose themselves after experiencing the film. Haider started things off by explaining how little by little their names appeared less and less in the press as the Nazis rose to power, despite their immense popularity, finally disappearing altogether. His fascinating remarks segued into Kiepura offering an intimate view of life at home with his illustrious parents who were always down-to-earth “real” people.

Adding to the frisson of the event was the fond remembrance of the many events Eggerth herself hosted at the Forum in years past. She died in 2013 at the age of 101 singing with remarkable skill right to the end. There's more to learn about Eggerth on the podcast "Marjan's Musical Soirees."

(Austrian Cultural Forum New York, 11 East 52nd Street; 212-319-5300 or www.acfny.org)

Cheek to Cheek: Irving Berlin in Hollywood (The York Theatre Company)

By Harry Forbes

For its first mainstage show post-pandemic, the York has mounted a surefire crowd pleaser: a breezy, utterly delightful overview of the great composer/lyricist Irving Berlin’s made-for-Hollywood output. 

And though the show’s title references one of Berlin’s most familiar standards, show buffs needn’t worry that the songs will be selected from his oversaturated greatest hits. The creators have wisely provided a good deal of rare material to keep things interesting. And even the better known songs -- performed as well and cleverly as they are -- sound freshly minted (thanks to Fred Lassen’s vocal arrangements and orchestrations and Rob Berman’s dance arrangements). The result is just about the finest musical playlist of any show currently in town. 

Instead of “Easter Parade” from the film of the same name, for instance, we get “Drum Crazy” and “Better Luck Next Time.” Instead of “White Christmas” from the 1954 film, we hear three other numbers. From the lesser-known 1939 Sonja Henie vehicle “Second Fiddle,” the band does “When Winter Comes” and four of the cast do “I Poured My Heart into a Song.” There’s even a song intended for the 1960s-era film “Say It With Music” that was unfortunately shelved when MGM changed management. 

“Cheek to Cheek” skips over the film adaptations of his stage work, so don’t expect “Annie Get Your Gun” or “Call Me Madam,” and I take that as a further plus.

Under the ever creative guidance of director/choreographer Randy Skinner, who also conceived the show, nearly every number takes flight. Over a decade ago, Skinner worked magic in similar territory when he choreographed the Broadway production of “Irving Berlin’s White Christmas.”

And with six immensely likable performers -- Phillip Attmore, Jeremy Benton, Victoria Byrd, Kaitlyn Davidson, Joseph Medeiros, and Melanie Moore -- equally adept at singing and dancing, the fast-paced 80 minute show flies by. There are so many showstoppers and the cast is so uniformly good that it’s almost impossible to single anyone out. 

But just a few highlights: Bird offers a lovely “Reaching for the Moon” cut from Berlin’s first film in 1930, and returns late with other nicely vocalized ballads. Attmore and Benton have an exciting go at Ethel Merman’s “My Walking Stick” from “Alexander’s Ragtime Band.” Medeiros and Bird lead the company in the wittily choreographed “Back to Back” from “Second Fiddle.” Moore scores with a lovely “Isn’t This a Lovely Day?” and pairs winningly with clarion-voiced Attmore for “The Piccolino.” Davidson and Benton beautifully handle the revue’s title song “Cheek to Cheek’ with Davidson delivers a touching solo, “ Love, You Didn’t Do Right By Me,” and Benton offering a heartfelt “I’ve Got Plenty to Be Thankful For.” Medeiros makes several bespectacled appearances as Berlin and has a nice solo moment with the Oscar-nominated “Change Partners.” 

Expert book writer Barry Kleinbort ties the numbers together with just enough interesting narrative to tell Berlin’s story in unhackneyed fashion. Never bogging down the musical proceedings, he peppers the script with interesting facts such as Berlin’s negotiating control of how his songs were used, a percentage of the gross, and eventually title billing as he went from United Artists to RKO to Fox to MGM, and so on, and lightly touching on personal matters such as Berlin’s devotion to family and his bouts of depression.

The show plays out beautifully on the St. Jean’s stage, roomier than the York’s regular venue at St. Peter’s which is currently being restored after a major flood. York Artistic Director James Morgan has designed an attractive paneled set, lighted by Jason Kantrowitz, allowing for historic projections while the six band members, including Music Director David Hancock Turner, sounding quite wonderful, have a spacious performing space upstage. 

Nicole Wee’s costume designs are attractive and danceable, and the unobtrusively satisfying sound design is by Julian Evans.

(Theater at St. Jean’s, 150 East 76th Street; OvationTix.com or (212) 935-5820; through January 2)

Photos by Carol Rosegg:

(Top): (left to right) Joseph Medeiros, Victoria Byrd, Phillip Attmore,Melanie Moore, Jeremy Benton, Kaitlyn Davidson.

(Below): (left to right) Joseph Medeiros, Melanie Moore,Jeremy

Benton, Kaitlyn Davidson, Phillip Attmore.

Myths and Hymns: Flight (MasterVoices)

By Harry Forbes

It’s been fascinating to observe how performing arts organizations have presented their works online during this protracted pandemic period. Apart from unearthing archival taped performances, some continue with the by-now rather prosaic Zoom approach; others, like the Irish Repertory Company, have shown great resourcefulness in expanding the boundaries of virtual performance. 

Now MasterVoices (the former Collegiate Chorale) has come up with something most decidedly in the latter category, scoring high marks on the creativity scale.

Under the overall supervision of Artistic Director Ted Sperling, they’ve come up with a compelling and artistically outstanding reimagining of Adam Guettel’s 1996 “Myths and Hymns” song cycle, which played the Public Theater in 1998 with the title “Saturn Returns,” and directed by Tina Landau. The piece was written between Guettel’s breakout hit, “Floyd Collins” and the acclaimed “The Light in the Piazza.”

“Myths and Hymns” -- its text largely derived from Greek mythology and a Presbyterian hymnal, -- explores, in Guettel’s words, “a desire to transcend earthly bounds, to bond with something or someone greater.”  MasterVoices will be presenting the works in four “chapters,” the first of which, with its theme of “Flight,” premiered on Wednesday. 

With a starry cast of MasterVoices regulars including Anderson & Roe, Take 6, Annie Golden, Julia Bullock, Renée Fleming, Joshua Henry, Capathia Jenkins, Mykal Kilgore, Norm Lewis, Jose Llana, Kelli O’Hara, and Elizabeth Stanley, the six videos of this first chapter were made under the respective direction of Greg Anderson, Sammi Cannold, Lear deBessonet, Khristian Dentley, and Sperling himself, along with assorted visual artists and arrangers. 

The singing is, I think, mostly live except for some outdoor sequences which necessitated lip-syncing. Guettel’s music is dizzyingly complex, but that’s no obstacle for the highly skilled singers assembled here. Don Sebeskky and Jamie Lawrence’s original orchestrations are used. 

The 28-minute presentation begins with a jovial welcome from Sperling, and gets off to a lively musical start with virtuoso duo piano team Anderson & Roe on “Prometheus” (nifty camerawork here, as throughout the series).

Then, “Saturn Returns: The Flight” essentially lays out the overarching yearning theme, as Henry sings “I don’t know what I hunger for” 

The jazzy “Icarus” follows, with Lewis as a modern-day father cautioning an overly ambitious son (Kilgore). 

The dreamy “Migratory V” follows with Fleming, O’Hara, and Bullock harmonizing as they marvel heavenward at the wonders of flight observing the birds above.

Original Public Theater cast member Annie Golden narrates the story of Pegasus (Jenkins)  throwing off his rider (Llana, another Public Theater veteran) when bitten by a gadfly (delightfully  goofy Stanley). Guettel himself appears on guitar in the opening moments. 

The chapter ends with a wonderfully joyful “Jesus the Mighty Conqueror” (with its resurrection motif) virtuosically vocalized by the Take 6 a capella sextet. 

The other chapters will roll out as follows: February 24 (Work); April 14 (Love); and May 26 (Faith).

This first chapter of “Myths and Hymns” can be viewed on MasterVoices’ YouTube channel, and also at mastervoices.org.

The stereo sound is superb, and diction is exemplary, though I felt the experience could be enhanced by proper subtitles, as YouTube’s automatically generated captions are not quite complete.

Screengrabs (top to bottom):

Renée Fleming

Anderson & Roe

Norm Lewis

Elizabeth Stanley

Madeleine (VHRP Live!)

By Harry Forbes

Alyce Mott’s enterprising company dedicated to all things Victor Herbert risked alienating the operetta regulars by presenting not one of his extravagantly melodic musicals or operettas, but rather his virtually tune-free 1914 one-act “modern” opera.  The piece had debuted at the Met in 1914, sharing the bill with, of all things, “Pagliacci” starring Enrico Caruso, by all accounts, an ill-advised pairing. 

Mott had already broken similar adventurous ground with her spectacular presentation of his 1911 grand opera, “Natoma,” in 2014. But in truth, “Madeleine” was an even more daring venture, as unlike the lush “Natoma,” the work was conceived as an opera in the manner of Richard Strauss or Wolf-Ferrari. There are virtually no stand-alone arias, a fact decried by music critics in 1914. Rather, the whole piece is laid out in conversational structure, heavy on recitative. It’s very much a play set to music.

Herbert’s source was, in fact, a French play by Decourcelles & Thibaut, “Je dine chez ma mere” (I Dine with My Mother), which he had read in the original language, declaring it was just the property for which he was looking for his next project. He translated it himself, but then set actor/playwright Grant Stewart to the task of crafting the actual libretto. Critics complained about the thinness of the source material, yet even Richard Wagner was said to be an admirer of the original play.

The plot, such as it is, concerns a famous opera diva Madeleine Fleury (Claire Leyden) who, at the start, is happily anticipating celebrating a New Year’s Day dinner with one of her many admirers. These include Chevalier de Mauprat (Thomas Woodman), François, Duc d’Esterre (Andrew Klima), and struggling artist Didier (Jonathan Hare), the last a dear childhood friend. She is attended by her maid Nichette (JoAnna Geffert), and other servants including Germain (Keith Broughton), a footman (Shane Brown), and a coachman (David Seatter). Everyone -- including an offstage baron -- ends up declining Madeleine’s invitation and all for the same reason: a tradition of dining with their mothers. When lastly, Didier reminds her of their happy times together as children, Madeleine, who till then had been behaving very peevishly about her friends’ perceived disloyalty, softens, and decides she’ll dine alone after all...with the restored portrait of her mother with which Didier has just presented her. A lovely melodic theme, associated with the portrait, ends the roughly 55-minute work.

What made the slight plot so compelling on this occasion were the lively and intelligent staging by Mott, a fine cast, a particularly absorbing performance by Leyden who pulled out all the stops vocally and dramatically, and an excellent group of musicians playing, not an arrangement, but a savvy reduction of Herbert’s original. Of course, the Met’s orchestra numbered 57 players. But with conductor Jestin Pieper and music director and pianist William Hicks at the fore, leading a violin, cello, bassoon, and harp, the sound was still richly textured. 

One was able to appreciate Herbert’s superb orchestration, with its myriad leitmotifs, about 20 in all, for different characters as well as some inanimate objects such as a necklace. So even when stage action was at its most minimal, the orchestra was alive with colorful detail and, yes, drama, with the result anything but static. 

Leyden brought splendid conviction to the part of the lonely and increasingly angry heroine, in addition to lustrous vocal sheen from her opening offstage cadenza to her final poignant moments in front of her mother’s portrait. Her singing of “A Perfect Day,” the sole traditional aria in the piece (and one demanded by Met star Frances Alda), was exquisite. It is a demanding part, as Madeleine is almost never offstage, but Leyden never flagged. 

The cast was altogether on top of Herbert’s difficult score, and the dramatic demands of the text. Klima was especially good conveying the Duke’s eager demeanor as he presents Madeleine with some new horses for her stable, but then extreme discomfort when he finds himself the butt of her wrath. Hare was likewise outstanding as he awakened tender memories in the unhappy heroine. And Geffert was also very persuasive as Madeleine’s devoted maid.

Of the original, critic Richard Aldrich had written: “...the character of the English diction heard in the performance, was not such as to bring the literary quality of the text home to the listeners, or make it matter much what that quality was.” 

Such was happily not the case here. Some high-lying sections notwithstanding, diction was remarkably clear throughout. 

The piece proved conclusively another strong affirmation of Herbert’s amazing versatility. That he could write so impressively in the operatic idiom, so stylistically different from those 45 light musical theater pieces he created between 1894 and 1924, continues to astonish. 

The 18th century setting of the original was not reflected in the costumes, and the piece might as well have been taking place in modern day. But Leyden looked smashing in her burgundy gown, Geffert was decked out in maid attire, and evening dress sufficed for the rest.

The presentation was bookended by an enlightening discussion with Mott, Pieper, and Hicks about the musical aspects of the opera, and a Q&A with the whole cast.

At its premiere, “Madeleine” was admired more for its craftsmanship than truly taken to heart either by audiences or the music press, but based on this admirable mounting, I believe critical consensus today would be far different.

The production certainly vindicated Mott’s faith in it, and post-show audience buzz was positive. Melody in Herbert’s traditional vein, however, will return on May 5th and 6th with VHRP’s “Mlle. Modiste,” which will conclude VHRP’s impressive French-themed season.

(Victor Herbert Renaissance Project Live!, Christ & St. Stephen’s Church, 120 West 69th St.; www.vhrplive.org; March 3 and 4 only)

Photos by Jill LeVine:

Top to bottom:

Remember our childhood together

Didier, Madeleine

Jonathan Hare, Claire Leyden

A Lover’s Greeting

Andrew Klima as the Duc d’Esterre, Claire Leyden as Madeleine

The New Victor Herbert Orchestra takes a bow

Jestin Pieper, conductor; Christopher Lee, violin; Lisa Alexander, bassoon; Clay Ruede, cello; William Hicks, music director and pianist; hidden with Harp, Susan Jolles.

Madeleine dines with her mother

Claire Leyden

The Company of Madeleine

L-R  Jestin Pieper, David Seatter, JoAnna Geffert, Jonathan Hare, Andrew Klima, Claire Leyden, Thomas Woodman, Keith Broughton, William Hicks, Shane Brown, Jordan Liau, Alyce Mott

Iolanthe (New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players)

By Harry Forbes

New York’s longest running professional Gilbert & Sullivan company returned to the Kaye Playhouse for its 45th season with a work artistic director Albert Bergeret names as his personal favorite, the 1882  “Iolanthe.” 

His affection for the piece was evident in his conducting, and as usual with NYGASP, the performance was musically top-notch. Bergeret uses singers who are among the very best in town. 

The leads were aptly cast. James Mills made an impeccable Lord Chancellor, and handled the fiendish Nightmare Song with crisp articulation (though the four partial “encores” were more than a tad excessive). Angela Christine Smith was an imperious Queen of the Fairies with impressively sonorous low notes. Matthew Wages and Cameron Smith as the twittish Lords Mountararat and Tolloller respectively were very funny in their Wilde-like exchanges about who most deserved the hand of shepherdess Phyllis (Laurelyn Watson Chase in her final performance as NYGASP’s leading soprano), and Wages offered an especially resonant “When Britain Really Ruled the Waves.” 

That showstopper came soon after David Wannen’s well-received rendering of Private Willis' solo, again very richly sung. 

Amy Maude Helfer made a moving Iolanthe, the titular fairy exiled for marrying a mortal (the Lord Chancellor) years earlier, and David Macaluso was solid as her shepherd son Strephon, a fairy (down to his waist). 

The ensemble was also strong, including the balletic fairies and the imperious peers who made an impressive entrance down the right aisle in their opening, “Loudly Let the Trumpet Bray.” The first act finale with the peers and the fairies singing in counterpoint is arguably the finest in the G&S canon, and it was excitingly performed here. 

Besides conducting with his customary authority in the pit, his forces satisfyingly filling the warm acoustic of the Kaye, Bergeret directed a mostly traditional performance. My own small carp is that a bit too much slapstick in the staging occasionally undermines the overall classy approach. David Auxier served as co-director and choreographer.

Jack Garver’s sets lighted by Benjamin Weill -- an Arcadian landscape in Act 1, and the Palace Yard, Westminster in Act 2 -- and Gail J. Wofford’s costumes, including the peer’s colorful ceremonial robes, were nicely executed. Scenically, I enjoyed the waterfall effect in the first act. 

The house was full and the audience highly enthusiastic. You can catch a glimpse of the production here on YouTube. 

I look forward to the company's forthcoming productions of “The Mikado” (12/27-30 & 1/4-5) and “The Gondoliers” (4/18-19).

(The Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, E. 68th Street between Park and Lexington avenues near Lexington); www.nygasp.org or 212-772-4448; Oct. 26-27 only)

Photos: William Reynolds

Ohio Light Opera 2019 Season

By Harry Forbes

Fans of musical theater and operetta will not find a richer, more concentrated banquet of their favorite entertainment than that offered by a company based in the quiet college town of Wooster, Ohio, which every summer -- for eight weeks -- offers an impressive array of 58 performances of seven productions. As if that weren’t enough, for one of those weeks, the regular offerings are supplemented by lectures and some extra musical material. Even though OLO eschewed the official symposium of the past five years, there were still plenty of show-related talks handled by the in-house creative team, extra concerts, and other goodies.

The mainstage offerings this season were a heady mix of European operetta, Gilbert & Sullivan, and Broadway musicals, among them two choice rarities: Welsh composer Ivor Novello’s 1945 London megahit, “Perchance to Dream,” which originally ran for 1,022 performances, fueled by its matinee idol creator’s adoring public, and the breakout song, “We’ll Gather Lilacs,” which resonated deeply with wartime audiences; and the American premiere of Hungarian composer Emmerich Kálmán’s “Der Teufelsreiter” (The Devil’s Rider), an infrequently revived work (even in Europe) dating from 1932. 

Of the Broadway musicals, familiar works like “South Pacific” (the company’s second mounting), and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s “Into the Woods” (OLO’s first Sondheim and the most modern classic musical in the repertoire thus far) were joined by urtext productions of George and Ira Gershwin’s “Girl Crazy” (1930) and Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s “Music in the Air” (1932), each more musically complete than even their respective (and admirable) mountings in New York’s Encores series. We were assured not a measure of dance music was cut in either of those shows. 

Some familiar faces were missing this season, but the company was strong, and impressed with its versatility, most performers playing multiple roles, and moving effortlessly from principal player in one show to ensemble in another.

Steven A. Daigle, the company’s tireless artistic director, directed five of the seven productions, nailing the style of each perfectly. “Into the Woods,” for one, was profoundly moving, much like his superb “Candide” last season, though opinions were divided on the wisdom of opening the show with the cast in modern dress slowly entering from the audience, and gradually transforming into their fairytale counterparts. But I felt it worked well, underscoring the significance of myth and storytelling in everyone’s life. 

Several of the roles were doublecast, and at my performance, Kyle Yampiro and Tanya Roberts excelled as the Baker and his wife, with fine work by Chelsea Miller as Cinderella, Sadie Spivey as Little Red Ridinghood, Hannah Holmes as the Witch, Brad Baron as the Wolf, Benjamin Dutton and Aidan Smerud as the Princes, and Julie Wright Costa as Jack’s Mother. 

Costa was equally outstanding in “Perchance to Dream,” also directed by Daigle. As crusty Lady Charlotte, imperious aunt of the highwayman hero Graham Rodney, and the part originated by Margaret Rutherford, she delivered her sardonic lines with much the same withering sarcasm as Maggie Smith on “Downton Abbey.” And it must be said that Novello’s unabashedly romantic book is uncommonly literate, however unlikely the fanciful situations. 

This is one of those multi-generational works, like “Maytime” and “Les Trois Valses,” where true love isn’t resolved until the third act. The ancestral connections are a bit convoluted, as the characters are not necessarily descendants of the earlier romantic protagonists. So too at times, it’s a bit perplexing to know for whom to root, as the sweet characters embodied by Sarah Best (Lydia, Veronica, Iris) are the most sympathetic, while at least one of those played by Chelsea Miller (Melinda, Melanie, and Melody) is rather manipulative and scheming, if short of being an outright villainess. Still all is resolved most movingly by the end with a logic that would seem to owe much to one of J.B. Priestley’s metaphysical tales. (Priestley is, in fact, referenced in the dialogue.)

Jacob Allen was not exactly the darkly rakish heartthrob embodied by Novello, but he had the full measure of the script, and like the rest of the cast, did justice to Novello’s dialogue. (English accents were convincing, too.) Though I had seen a production of “Perchance to Dream” many years ago in London, with the late film star Simon (“Young Winston”) Ward as the not particularly charismatic lead, I had forgotten how much the property is really a dramatic play with songs. But when they come, they are choice. 

Best and Yvonne Trobe (in the role originated by Novello favorite Olive Gilbert) harmonized stunningly on the big “Lilacs” tune, while Best delivered “Love Is My Reason,” “A Woman’s Heart,” and her part of the rapturous “Victorian Wedding” sequence with warm tone and customary sensitivity. (Though I didn’t catch her performances, Best also essayed Nellie Forbush in “South Pacific” and The Baker’s Wife in “Into the Woods.”) 

Miller’s rendering of Roma Beaumont’s famous numbers, “When I Curtsied to the King” and “The Glo-Glo” (amusingly staged along can-can lines by choreographer Spencer Reese), were equally accomplished. My favorite number, the catchy “Highwayman Love,” was excitingly vocalized by Trobe, who impressively nailed each of her varied parts this season. Trobe’s other vocal moments included a pastiche Victorian ditty called “The Elopement,” performed in tandem with the incredibly versatile Kyle Yampiro as the Vicar.

Steven Byess conducted the score ravishingly. Along with “Into the Woods,” this Novello musical packed the biggest emotional wallop.

“The Devil’s Rider,” directed by Daigle from his own translation, and again conducted by Byess, proved a fascinating and tuneful paean to Hungarian independence, and featured a particularly dashing, solidly acted, and vocally strong performance by Benjamin Dutton as the eponymous Count Sándor, a real-life historical figure who had the temerity to woo Leontine, the daughter of the Austrian Prince Metternich, after having his horse make a daring leap over the carriage carrying the princess and Empress Carolina Pia. (Amusingly, the Empress believes she herself was the object of Sándor’s flirtatious stunt.)

It was quite a marathon role for Dutton and he knocked it out of the park, even managing some athletic dancing with Tanya Roberts’ fairytale pretty Leontine during their duets. Dutton, a standout in last season’s “Cloclo,” also impressed as Cinderella’s Prince in “Into the Woods” and Lt. Cable in “South Pacific.” 

The script was not by Kálmán’s usual librettists, Julius Brammer and Alfred Grünwald, as the team had had a falling out, but rather Berlin-based Rudolph Schanzer and Ernst Welisch, and there seemed to be a greater-than-usual quotient of expository dialogue. But the music, when it came, was stirring and tuneful, loaded with foxtrots, tangos, waltzes, and marches, all played here with pizzazz.

Tanya Roberts resplendent in her period costume, sang with her customary luster, though the part itself lacks agency. Kyle Yampiro, Tim McGowan, and a particularly delightful Sadie Spivey livened matters as the comic secondary leads. OLO veteran Boyd Mackus had reams of dialogue as Metternich, but at least dispatched it with admirable briskness, and Yvonne Trobe, whose other roles this season were mostly in the comedic vein, was the model of regal elegance as the gracious, if deluded, Empress. A DVD release of this super-rare work is planned for next summer.

Under the baton of J. Lynn Thompson, “The Pirates of Penzance,” a revision of the company’s 2014 production, was directed by company veteran Ted Christopher (who also played the Sergeant of Police) in high style. Chelsea Miller made a spectacular Mabel, as her Cunegonde in last season’s peerless “Candide” seemed to portend. She made “Poor Wandering One” sound something akin to Hoffmann’s high-flying Olympia. Boyd Mackus was a model Major-General, playing with appropriate bluster. Hannah Holmes made a fine Ruth, and demonstrated here and elsewhere how she’s really come into her own in this, her sixth season. Abby Kurth (Holmes’ sister), Yvonne Trobe, and Sadie Spivey excelled as Mabel’s friends. And the reliable Brad Baron was funny indeed as a Pirate King in the Kevin Kline mold. 

Baron is so adept at comic roles -- this year, he also played the aforementioned Wolf and Slick Fothergill in “Girl Crazy” -- that it was all the more impressive to see him as such a commanding Emile de Becque in “South Pacific,” singing “Some Enchanted Evening” and “This Nearly Was Mine” with rich tone and Ezio Pinza-like gravitas. Jocelyn Hansen was the capable Nellie, but the other rafter-raising vocal performance was that of Michelle Pedersen, as fine a Bloody Mary as I’ve ever seen. Also outstanding were Kyle Yampiro, ideally cast as Luther Billis, and Ted Christopher in the non-singing role of Captain Brackett. Jacob Allen directed the complex show proficiently.

“Music in the Air,” wherein a young couple (Adam Wells and Sadie Spivey) from a small Bavarian town become romantic pawns to a squabbling big city (Munich) theatrical couple -- playwright (Brad Baron) and his leading lady (Tanya Roberts) -- received an exemplary production which included every bit of underscoring against the sprechstimme styling of Hammerstein’s script, a groundbreaker in its day with its seamless integration of words and music, and one that thematically echoed his later show with Richard Rodgers, “Allegro,” in illustrating the values of small town decency versus the pitfalls of the big city.

The show is filled with Kern chestnuts, stylishly conducted by Wilson Southerland: “I’ve Told Ev’ry Little Star,” “And Love Was Born,” “One More Dance,” “In Egern on the Tegern See,” and above all, “The Song Is You.” Roberts and Baron had a fine over-the-top time with the amusing extended sequence in which they act out their new operetta.

Daigle’s staging was, once again, right on target, and the story of hopeful dreams and ultimate disillusionment unfolded authentically. Ted Christopher and Spencer Reese were affecting as, respectively, Sieglinde’s music teacher and composer father Walther Lessing, and music publisher Ernst Weber, who poignantly reconnects with his boyhood friend Walther and small-town values. Garrett Medlock as the show-within-the-show’s music director, had a powerful scene where he was compelled to lay down the harsh realities of show business to stage-hopeful Sieglinde’s father. 

Company member Spencer Reese continues to up OLO’s game with his imaginative choreography, and his handiwork was evident in all seven productions, from the delicious bits in “The Pirates of Penzance” that made the overly familiar numbers seem so very fresh to the spirited hoofing in “The Devil’s Rider.” But it was in “Girl Crazy” that he really outdid himself, providing more dancing than in any previous OLO production, topping even his own dance-heavy “Anything Goes” from 2017, which broke the previous record in that regard. The post-curtain call Broadway-level tap fest was really thrilling. 

“Girl Crazy,”  the show that famously put Ethel Merman on the map, and also starred Ginger Rogers, received a bang-up production with Reese himself as the pampered East Coast playboy sent by his father out west where he promptly turns the family property into a glitzy dude ranch, and falls in love with the only gal in town, post office worker Molly. Hannah Holmes was likable in the Rogers role, handling her parts of “But Not For Me” and “Embraceable You” with assurance, and joining the rest of the cast in that electrifying tap dancing finale.

Yvonne Trobe, who impressed with her classical soprano in “Perchance to Dream,” took on the belting Merman role, and socked over first-rate renditions of the lady’s famous songs in that show: “Sam and Delilah,” “Boy! What Love Has Done to Me!” and, of course, “I Got Rhythm.”

Guy Bolton and John McGowan’s script was fairly nonsensical, but nonetheless amusing, and with one Gershwin evergreen after another, who’s to complain?

Under Byess’ baton, the orchestra sizzled. The original production boasted Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Jimmy Dorsey, Red Nichols, and Gene Krupa in the pit, but the OLO forces really showed they could cut loose too. 

Reese had the right period style as playboy Danny, and Alan Smith was effective as his treacherous rival Sam. Kyle Yampiro was very funny as displaced New York City cabdriver Gieber Goldfarb who, over the course of the evening, got to channel everyone from Maurice Chevalier to Mae West in drag, the latter to replace some un-pc Yiddish-Indian schtick in the original. Garrett Medlock, Tim McGowan, Diego Roberts Buceta, and Vincent Gover harmonized winningly in the oft-reprised “Bidin’ My Time.”

Moving on to the extra items during the special “lagniappe” week, for so it was informally dubbed, there was a splendid orchestra-only concert entitled “Without Words,” and featuring nine lengthy orchestral medleys from operettas and musicals. It was a fine idea to give the spotlight to the 28-piece ensemble which performed so superbly throughout the season. These medleys, featured in salons and cinemas, and contemporaneous with the original productions, are sometimes the only surviving orchestrations, though as emcee Michael Miller pointed out parts exist for virtually all of the shows sampled here and thus these works could someday be accorded full OLO productions. 

The concert began with a medley from Victor Herbert’s “The Only Girl,” and continued with such choice items as George Gershwin and Herbert Stothart’s “Song of the Flame,” Lionel Monckton’s “The Quaker Girl,” Ivan Caryll’s “The Pink Lady,” and Sigmund Romberg’s “Rose de France.” 

A couple of days later, the annual “Songs from the Cutting-Room Floor,” featuring excised numbers from the mainstage shows, as well as other related material from such shows as Porter’s “Fifty Million Frenchmen,” Novello’s “Valley of Song,” and the London “Die Fledermaus” adaptation “Nightbirds,” allowed more members of the OLO troupe to display their formidable talents.

Standout performances included Charles Austin Piper’s “Give Me the Land” from “Silk Stockings”; Logan Barat’s “Donkey Serenade,” added to the MGM film of “The Firefly”; Ivana Martinic and Adam Wells’ “If I Never Waltz Again” from “Marinka” (Kálmán’s Broadway musical which, in fact, recycled many of the tunes from “The Devil’s Rider”); Sadie Spivey and Tim McGowan’s “I’d Be Happy Anywhere with You” from Romberg’s “Her Soldier Boy”; Aidan Smerud’s “Tired” from Kalman’s “The Little Dutch Girl”; and Diego Roberts Buceta, Austin Rubinoski, and Piper’s rousing “Hail! Hail! The Gang’s All Here,” freely adapted in 1917 from “With Cat-Like Tread” from “The Pirates of Penzance.” But everyone was so good, it’s almost unfair to single out anyone.

Wilson Southerland accompanied all on the eighty-eights.

As if all this weren’t enough, Miller presented two fascinating video presentations, one an overview of some choice company performances from the past. Among the highlights were a simply hilarious scene from Offenbach’s “The Island of Tulipatan” with Anthony Maida and Alta Boover; two tantalizing numbers from Kálmán’s “Sari,” featuring Lucas Meachem, Tim Oliver, and Sarah Jane McMahon; company founder James Stuart in “The Sorcerer”; Julie Wright Costa’s fiery turn as Aldonza in ‘Man of La Mancha”; Anna-Lisa Hackett and Evan McCormack in a delicious “Madame Pompadour” duet; and a stirring rendition of “Yours Is My Heart Alone” by the late, much-loved tenor Brian Woods. Many of the clips were low tech, but the sheer talent shone through vividly.

The other video presentation was a comprehensive overview of movie musical dubbing. Along with such famous examples such as Marni Nixon dubbing for Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn, and Natalie Wood, there was a dizzying potpourri of dozens of lesser-known examples, some quite surprising such as Mary Martin supplying the singing voice for Margaret Sullivan, all capped off by the presentation of a handful of Hollywood operetta trailers. 

Of the seven pre-show talks, Daigle and Miller’s joint presentation on “The Devil’s Rider” (both the show and its fascinating historical background); Wilson Southerland on “Music in the Air”; assistant director Ian Silverman’s backgrounder on “Girl Crazy”; and Spencer Reese’s talk on “Into the Woods” were particularly illuminating. But all the lectures, including those offered by Steven Byess, Jacob Allen, and Ted Christopher, provided insights on the works, performances, and the company itself.

Under the leadership of Daigle, Executive Director Laura Neill, and Board Chair Michael Miller, OLO continues to function at an impressively high level, giving us carefully curated revivals of shows which -- some exceptions like “The Pirates of Penzance” and “Into the Woods” aside -- simply can’t be seen anywhere else. Attendees were already heard eagerly anticipating what next season’s show selections might be. And who could blame them?

(The Ohio Light Opera, The College of Wooster, 1189 Beall Avenue, Wooster, OH; 330-263-2345 or ohiolightopera.org; through August 11)

All photos by Matt Dilyard

Top to bottom:

Girl Crazy: Hannah Holmes & Company

Into the Woods: Cast

Into the Woods: Kyle Yampiro, Alan Smith, Tanya Roberts

Perchance to Dream: Jacob Allen, Chelsea Miller

Perchance to Dream: Julie Wright Costa, Yvonne Trobe, Sarah Best

The Devil’s Rider: Yvonne Trobe, Benjamin Dutton

The Devil’s Rider: Tanya Roberts, Benjamin Dutton

The Pirates of Penzance: Brad Baron & Company

Music in the Air: Adam Wells, Tanya Roberts

Music in the Air: Adam Wells, Tanya Roberts, Spencer Reese, Brad Baron, Ted Christopher, Sadie Spivey

Girl Crazy: Spencer Reese, Hannah Holmes

Perchance to Dream: Sarah Best, Jacob Allen

The Pirates of Penzance: Boyd Mackus & Company