Two theatre companies open their season

The Lyric Stage has opened their 2016-7 with a hit! Company, book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, opened on Broadway in 1970. While some of the references are a bit dated, the concept of marriage and relationships is as fresh as ever. The basic plot, if it can be called that, revolves around Bobby, a single 30-something in New York, all of whose friends are married and want to get him married. The play explores the marriages of his friends through short vignettes, as well as Bobby’s angst at his status. The cast includes many of the Boston theatre scene regulars, and are uniformly strong. The singing is top-notch and the dance numbers clever. Among the funnier scenes are the barely-controlled karate bout between Sarah (Kerri Wilson) and Harry (Davron Monroe) and Amy’s (Erica Spyres) bad case of cold feet just before her wedding to her long-term boyfriend, Paul (Tyler Simahk). The opening play at the New Rep, Regular Singing, is more of a mixed bag. The fourth and final play by Richard Nelson in his Apple Family Plays takes place over a single evening. The personae are four adult siblings, three sisters and a brother, gathered in the family home where the ex-husband of one of the sisters is dying upstairs. Apparently a visiting afternoon for friends has concluded and the siblings, along with one sister’s husband, are talking. They are joined by an uncle, a once-famous actor now in the early stages of dementia. The family dynamics are explored in more detail than we really care about, and since the evening occurs on the 50th anniversary of JFK’s assassination, references to that event are dragged in. The cast is a strong one, and some of the dialog is witty, but it is hard to care too much about the characters.

Beautiful music in magnificent buildings

Last week we were at the Buzzards Bay Musicfest, a compact summer event with five concerts held over four evenings and an afternoon, all presented in the spacious comfortable auditorium at Tabor Academy. This week we attended an event very nearby but at the opposite end stylistically: the Newport Music Festival. This was the festival’s 48th season, and it presented 61 concerts over 17 days. The venues included the renowned mansions of Bellevue Avenue, churches and museums. The venues are both a strength and a limitation. Who could not enjoy listening to gorgeous music in the main hall of The Breakers? At the same time, use of these facilities meant you were sitting in folding chairs most of the time, making backaches a hazard. It also meant that the repertoire was almost exclusively chamber music, as none of the venues had the space for a full orchestra as well as an audience. The music presented was almost exclusively from the giants of 18th 19th and early 20th century composition: Brahms, Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Mozart dominated. There was very little from contemporary composers or early music. One interesting novelty was an evening featuring a Chinese master of the pipa both as soloist and filling in the violin part of a quartet. Another inventive presentation was Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #3 with a second piano playing the orchestral part. The music was uniformly high quality, and the event well-worth putting on your calendar for next year.

Beautiful Music by the Sea

For classical music enthusiasts, summer is festival time. All around the country, from Marlboro to Wolf Trap, musicians and listeners gather. One of the finest festivals is held right here, in the seaside town of Marion. The 20th annual Buzzards Bay Musicfest just concluded another successful week. The festival is held at Tabor Academy’s Hoyt Hall, with comfortable seating, AC and excellent acoustics. The concerts are free to all, supported by donations from the community. The musicians, many of whom have been coming for all 20 years, are national-caliber, hailing from major orchestras around the country. They live with host families in town and present a variety of performances. This year we had two orchestral concerts, the opener featuring a Hummel bassoon concerto, Beethoven’s Piano Concerto #1 and his 8th Symphony and the closing performance Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante and Haydn’s Drum Roll Symphony. The second and third concerts featured chamber music, modern and classic. A particularly interesting piece of programming was to feature two works for harp, winds and strings: Ravel’s Introduction and Allegro on one day and a recently commissioned work by Canadian composer Mozetich, Angels in Flight, on another. The harp was a new addition to the festival, but hopefully will return, as harpist Rita Costanzi was very well-received. The Saturday evening concert featured jazz: The Orrin Evans Quartet. This was the third year for the introduction of a jazz evening and this has proven to be the best-attended of any of the concerts. It is hard to single out any musician, as all were superb, but David Wehr on piano did brilliantly in the Beethoven and shone in the piano quintets. Violinist Charles Stegeman acted as music director and concert master, and took front stage in the Mozart Sinfonia. Mark your calendars for next July!

The Folk Festival resounds in New Bedford

The 21st New Bedford Folk Festival took place under ideal weather – not too hot – and once again showed why it is a jewel of the city. For 20 years Alan and Helene Korolenko had run the entire festival, and moans were heard around New England when they announced that last year’s was their last; the effort involved had gotten to be too much. Fortunately for folk music fans, the Zeiterion Theatre staff took up the burden of organizing the festival while Alan and Helene resumed artistic direction. The organization was superb. Past festivals had been held over the July 4 weekend, which led to conflicts with other activities. This year’s dates were the weekend after, allowing festival goers to attend more of the event. The festival was spread out over downtown New Bedford, with seven venues operating simultaneously most of the weekend. New was use of the Z – this beautiful 1200 seat theatre was a marvelous addition. It was used for the more well-known artists during the day, and served as the only site for the late evening performances Saturday and Sunday, when it was filled to capacity. Also new and welcome was a “food court” set up near the Z on Purchase street, with a wide variety of vendors offering quick meals that could be consumed between performances. The performers were the usual mix of well-known folk singers such as Cheryl Wheeler, Garnet Rogers, Ellis Paul, Kate and Livingston Taylor and John Gorka; lesser known but excellent groups from around the Northeast and Canada and local artists. One group we had never heard before but plan to follow was Miss Rosie - an energetic quintet of young musicians putting a new spin on old songs. Kudos to all involved, and may the festival continue!

Peter and the Star Catcher light up the Lyric Stage

Peter and the Star Catcher, now playing at the Lyric Stage, is a high-energy romp that is well worth an evening. The plot loosely forms a “pre-quel” to Peter Pan. We meet three orphan boys being shipped off to a tropic kingdom where they will be given to the king, who plans to serve them to his snakes. One of the boys is so abandoned that he has no name. Travelling on a faster boat to the same destination are Lord Aster and his plucky daughter Molly who are secretly carrying a trunk of “star stuff” that has magical powers for good or evil and Molly’s chaperone, Mrs. Bumbrake, hilariously played in drag by Will McGarrahan. Aware that Lord Aster has something valuable and determined to steal it is the pirate Black Stache and his bumbling henchman, Mr. Smee. The plot is less important than the witty dialog and shenanigans played to a musical accompaniment. Ed Hoopman as Stache has the best lines and hams it up hilariously. At the opening of the second act the entire cast come out dressed as mermaids to do a dance number, and later Will does double duty as another mermaid who starts the boy on his way to becoming Peter Pan. Plot twists abound, and the energetic cast never let up for a moment. Erica Spyres as Molly and Marc Pierre as Peter have great chemistry together. The show plays for another two weeks. Go see it.

H+H goes out with dramatic flare

Handel’s Saul is a classic oratorio in form, with orchestra, chorus and soloists who take their turn, script in hand, at the front, but very operatic in temperament. The story is the biblical tale: David has saved Israel by killing Goliath and returns to a hero’s welcome. King Saul is jealous and fearful of being replaced by the people’s new favorite and wants David dead. He tries to enlist his son Jonathan to kill David, but Jonathon is friends with David and unwilling to obey his father. The H+H chorus was in its usual magnificent form. The quality of the chorus is testified by the use of chorus members to take smaller solo roles, with no obvious difference the quality of the voices compared to the five featured soloists. Making a brief but joyful appearance was the Young Women’s Chamber Choir, waving ribbons and welcoming home the hero. The role of David was played by countertenor Iestyn Davies. I apologize to all fans of Richard Dyer-Bennett, but I have never enjoyed the counter-tenor voice. When David and Micha were performing duets it sounded as if two sopranos were on stage. Both sopranos had beautiful voices, though Joelle Harvey seemed a bit tentative at times. Elizabeth Atherton showed her operatic heritage with dramatic flair; when she sang her scorn of the commoner, David, scorn fairly dripped from her face. She did have a minor annoying facial tic that should be corrected. Bass-baritone Jonathan Best played the Lear-like King Saul to a T and was in fine voice. Perhaps the weakest link was tenor Robert Murray as Jonathan. His singing and acting were somewhat too low-key. The H+H orchestra, augmented with kettle drum, harp and lute, was as magnificent as expected. A fine end to the bicentennial season.

Giants Visit Symphony Hall

One of the delights of many BSO concerts is the chance to experience performances by very well-known artists, seeing in person those who you have heard on records and radio broadcasts. This was the case last weekend, when the first half of the program featured Murray Perahia, one of America's greatest living pianists, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Beethoven changed the format of the concerto from the traditional showcasing of virtuostic flourishes by the soloist to a true partnership between piano and orchestra. The first movement begins with solo piano instead of the orchestral introduction, and a dialog then ensues. Fitting a work from history's greatest composer, it is hard to say whether the solo piano or orchestral potion is more beautiful, but both were admirably performed. After intermission, Bernard Haitink conducted the BSO in Mahler's Symphony No 1. Maestro Haitink was the renowned conductor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam for 27 years and has conducted major orchestras around the world. It is hard to listen to a classical music station without hearing works he conducts. Mahler is not one of our favorite composers. Too many of his works seem to include everything but the kitchen sink, without obvious rhyme or reason. The Symphony No. 1 fits this mold, variably soft and crashing. It includes a segment of Frere Jacques done in minor mode, and klezmer-like segments. Played by a lesser orchestra we would have been tempted to leave, but with the polished performance of the BSO and the magnificent acoustics of Symphony Hall, it was an almost enjoyable experience.

NBSO Shows its Many Facets

The April 9 NBSO concert encapsulated in one evening why the orchestra is so vital to the South Coast. An add-on to the already full program was a charming piece, “Adaptations in Motion” that was written by Music Director David MacKenzie based on themes written by area 3rd graders as part of the NBSO’s educational outreach program. This past year’s Learning in Concert program focused on adaptations in motion of animals and music, and the children were asked to compose melodies describing how different animals moved. The finished piece was performed at the Young people’s Concert earlier and for us April 9. The short symphony had overtones of John Williams and delighted the audience, and I am sure thrilled its young “composers.” The next piece up was Francis Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos, masterfully played by husband and wife Jean-Efflam and Andrea Bavouzet. While Poulenc will never be one of my favorite composers, the programming of this piece clearly shows how the NBSO takes us out of our comfort zone and exposes us to new and interesting works. The first and third movements were energetic and frenetic, while the middle was almost Romantic in its melody. After one piano was removed from the stage, Jean-Efflam returned for a stunning rendition of Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The concerto was written after World War I for pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm during combat. The piece begins dark and brooding, evoking tanks moving over battle fields, and demands enormous artistry from the pianist during the solo parts. Indeed it was difficult to tell without watching that only one hand was used. Although not a “big name” in this country, Mr. Bavouzet is very well-known in Europe and an accomplished soloist and recording artist, and typical of the first-class guest artists that NBSO brings to New Bedford. After intermission we had a well-known and familiar piece of the classic repertoire: Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No 5. Beginning in a brooding, “Russian,” manner, the themes recur in following movements. A beautiful horn solo highlights the second movement. The ending is a typical “big” finale with lots of brass and percussion. This piece allowed the NBSO to demonstrate the high level of professionalism that it has achieved under Maestro MacKenzie, rivalling that of any regional orchestra. One concert remains in the 2015-16 season. Do not miss it.

Acting tour de force at the New rep

Blackberry Winter, a new play having its “rolling” world premiere at the New Rep is a one-woman tour de force. The concept is simple: Adrianne Krstansky plays Vivienne, a middle-aged woman who is primary care giver of her mother, who is suffering from advancing Alzheimer’s dementia. The actress speaks directly to the audience, describing her mother’s situation and all the attendant stresses. The playwright clearly has either been down this road or has close friends who have done so, as the descriptions ring very true to a primary care physician caring for such patients and their families. We become familiar with Vivienne’s sister and husband through her descriptions and get a picture of the assisted living facility in which her mother is staying until her condition progresses and she must go to a nursing home. The pain and conflict of the daughter are heart-rendingly portrayed by Ms. Krstansky. There is also a “play-within-the-play:” a myth supposedly thought up by the daughter to explain the origins of Alzheimer’s disease using a white egret and a gray mole played by Paula Langton and Ken Cheeseman. The talents of these two fine actors is largely wasted in their scenes, which seem pointlessly engrafted, perhaps to give the star a moment to catch her emotional breath. While depressing in its veracity, this play is worth seeing if only for the talented Ms. Krstansky.

Nice: a cornucopia of music

Nice has become our favorite city in France. Small enough that you can get to know it well, it is large enough to support a huge variety of music and theatre. Our recent stay highlighted the variety of concerts available. The day after we arrived, we took the tram up to the Nice North Forum and saw a world music event – the first half Jo Badou, a singer/percussionist from North Africa playing with a local pianist, and the second a fascinating duo – French cellist Vincent Segal and West African Ballike Sissoko, master of the koral, a harp-like instrument. We later returned to the Forum for a concert by a group of American jazz musicians from the 70’s and 80’s reunited as a group called The Cookers. Days later a short bus ride up to the Chagall Museum took us to a chamber music concert. The concert hall features magnificent stained glass windows, worth the trip by themselves. The three musicians from the Nice Opera orchestra began with a piano-violin-cello trio by Aaron Copeland, relatively short and very “modern,” with the requisite dissonance. This was followed by a magnificent Tchaikovsky trio that was everything chamber music should be. The next weekend you could visit the 14th C Church of St Augustine on Friday evening or Sunday afternoon for baroque liturgical music – the beauty of the music matched only by the magnificence of the surroundings and the discomfort of the seating. The highlight of the stay was a performance of Les Huguenots at the Nice Opera. This rococo gem of a concert hall has wonderful acoustics amid opulent seating, and typically sells out soon after seats go on-line for sale. The orchestra and singers were predictably superb, though the attempt to “modernize” the setting was of mixed success. The shift of the characters from modern to 17th C dress was distracting, as was the use of both swords and firearms as weapons. My only complaint about performances at the Opera is the use of 20+ minute intermissions, leading to very late nights. If not sated, you could drop in on any of dozens of small jazz clubs around the city or listen to the buskers found everywhere people gathered.

Cormac McCarthy at the Wamsutta

Art Tebbetts, New Bedford's troubador, finished his warm-up set telling us we were in for a real treat, and his prediction came true. Cormac McCarthy is a great entertainer in every sense of the word. His rich baritone delivered a variety of songs ranging from the poignant to the angry to the hilarious. He is an accomplished guitar player and added some mouth organ interludes. He writes most of his own material, and each song tells a story. The audience would have stayed as long as he would. Between songs, he kept the audience in stitches with one-liners and stories, some probably rehearsed and others quite spontaneous in response to the audience and environment. (Sample: "I am half Irish and half German. Have the easy charm of a German and the discipline of the Irish. When I wake up in the morning, part of me wants a drink and part wants to invade Poland.") If you get the chance, go and see him live. I’d also urge you to look at the whole Wepeckett Salon Series at the Wamsutta Club as a good way to spend a Saturday evening.

H+H goes all Beethoven

Genius is used too freely these days, as witness the MacArthur Fellows program, but there are a few true geniuses in history who have broken new paths. Einstein was one, and Ludwig van Beethoven another. Born while Mozart and Haydn were still actively working, his music blazed new levels of complexity and grandeur. He combined instruments and voice in new ways and composed music of sublime beauty. The H+H program this past weekend featured two of his works: the Piano Concerto #4, featuring Robert Levin on fortepiano, and the Symphony #6, the Pastoral. The program began with a delightful short choral work, the opening chorus from Handel's Saul, sung by a youth chorus made up of high school students from several eastern Massachusetts schools, led by Andrew Clark, and accompanied by the H+H orchestra. The youthful voices soared, and most of us felt the selection was all too brief. The concerto began with a quiet soft solo, after which the motif was echoed and reworked by the orchestra. While the instrument does not have the power of a modern piano, in Mr. Levin's hands it was a soaring voice, played to perfection. The obvious chemistry between soloist and conductor led to a perfect performance. After intermission, the Pastoral Symphony led us musically through a preparation for and visit to the countryside. The music was quiet and peaceful at times, with cuckoos and other birds singing, and crashing at others as we musically lived through a storm. The H+H orchestra was at its peak, and left us wishing for more.

A night with Janis Joplin

Some signature songs sound even better when they are “covered” than when sung by the originator. Karen Akers does a better Piaf than the little sparrow did. The same cannot be said about Janis Joplin. Her distinctive gravelly voice made all of her songs uniquely hers. Despite this, “A Night with Janis Joplin,” now on national tour, provides a great evening of entertainment. The show stars Mary Bridget Davies as Janis, telling us her life story and singing very well. The show also features four superb back-up singers who cover such luminaries as Bessy Smith, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Etta James and Nina Simone, all described as major influences on Janis. Many songs are sung first by the legendary black figure and then by Janis with her contrasting style. The backdrop and staging are well-done, with photos interspersed with 60’s style images. The singers are supported by a great band with keyboard, two guitars, bass, drums, saxophone, trumpet and trombone. The audience, most of whom were old enough to have heard the original, were wildly enthusiastic. Not the real thing, but a great night out.

A triple header hit by the New Bedford Symphony

The New Bedford Symphony under Maestro David MacKenzie has made a point of mixing the old favorites with less familiar music. Last night’s performance introduced many in the audience to Four Sea Interludes from Britten’s opera Peter Grimes, orchestrated by the composer. The opera tells the story of an English fisherman driven to suicide by the suspicious deaths of two of his apprentices, and the four Interludes served to bridge one scene to another, while telling a tale. The piece was richly orchestrated with four percussionists and a harpist on stage and a clearly emotional piece. After a scene change followed Schumann’s deeply romantic Cello Concerto, with three movements played without pause. The soloist was Carter Brey, principle cellist of the New York Philharmonic, whose playing was deeply felt and technically superb. Unusually for a concerto, the soloist and orchestra were not clearly separate, but interwove their playing, almost like a chamber music ensemble with a larger size. The NBSO strings and woodwinds filled in perfectly. Mr. Brey got a well-deserved standing ovation. The final piece on the program was Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an exhibition. There is a reason the “old warhorses” such as Beethoven’s Fifth or Dvorak’s New World remain popular: they are great music. In this pantheon must fit Mussorgsky’s opus. The death of his friend artist Viktor Hartmann prompted an exhibition of his work, and Mussorgsky wrote a piano etude describing the pictures he saw, woven together by a musical promenade taking the viewer/listener from one work to another. The piece was orchestrated by Ravel into a series of tone poems, with a finale, depicting the Great Gate of Kiev, that had echoes of the 1812 overture. The piece was again richly orchestrated. Parenthetically, I have to wonder if the Britten was programmed after the Mussorgsky, when the question came up “how can we use four percussionists and a harp in another work? The NBSO was in perfect tune with the piece, and it was a resounding success. I would also applaud Carter Brey who democratically sat in as another cellist for the concluding work.

Banjo dynamo at the Wamsutta

The Wepeckett Salon Series usually features excellent but little known musicians, but last Saturday the Wamsutta Club hosted Jeff Scroggins and Colorado, a high-energy five member bluegrass band that has performed internationally. On their way back from touring Ireland, the band found it easy to stop off in New Bedford for a gig. The band is led by two-time national champion banjo player Jeff Scroggins, and also features his 20 year old son Tristan on mandolin. Playing a mean guitar and providing most of the vocals was Greg Blake, and the band also had Ellie on fiddle and some vocals and Sebie on bass. While billed as “bluegrass,” the band featured a variety of musical styles from near-pop to traditional folk to bluegrass. Their playing was indeed energetic, and Greg’s vocal range was excellent. Ellie did a soulful rendition of “Just a few old memories” as well as providing harmony. With free parking, table service for food and drink and very reasonable prices, you owe it to yourself to check out the remaining monthly concerts.

A Grieving Mother: The Testament of Mary at the New Rep

Mary receives very little mention in the Bible; there is actually more written about her in the Koran than in the New Testament, and she was an afterthought in early Christianity. Only in the fourth century AD did she begin to be given status in the church. Because so little is written about her in the Gospels, every artist is free to create his or her own picture, in image or in words. One such is the short one-woman play Testament of Mary, by Colm Toibin now at the New Rep Theatre’s Black Box. The play was presented on Broadway, and received several Tony nominations, but had a surprisingly short run. Apparently the director did not feel the script was strong enough to hold an audience and used a dramatic staging, with a buzzard on the stage and a nude Mary at one point. The current production, directed by Jim Petosa, takes the opposite tack. There is a stone wall as a backdrop, and a single large rock on which the actress sits from time to time, and Mary. This production requires a strong actress, and Paula Langton more than fulfilled that need. Alone on stage for over an hour and a half without intermission, she had the audience captivated throughout. This Mary is a very human figure, and her story recounts the life of Jesus, with focus on the crucifiction, from the point of view of a grieving mother who does not understand what her son was doing or why he had to suffer so. She is giving her story in contradiction to that of the unnamed “visitors” intent on re-writing the story to fit their needs, doubtless two of the Apostles. The play was heavily condemned by local Catholic laity, but the play is certainly not anti-Catholic, simply the biblical story as it might have been seen by a very human mother. With a wonderful actress, this play should be on your list to see before the run ends.

H+H goes all Haydn

In an interesting conceit, this past weekend, H+H put on an all-Haydn program. In lesser hands, it would have been too much, but for them it worked. Starting with one of his early works, the Symphony number 8 is “typical” Haydn: lovely, “easy listening” classical music that one assumes was meant to entertain the guests of Count Esterhazy without asking too much of them. An interesting feature was the showcasing of several different instruments in a “concertante” style. After the stage was largely cleared we heard the Violin Concerto #3, featuring the electric Aisslinn Nosky as soloist and leader of the twelve string players. Unlike concertos from Beethoven on, the soloist was not clearly separated physically and musically from the ensemble. Ms Nosky played along with the violins during the orchestral part and then had her own moments to shine in virtuosic solos. After intermission was a brief performance: the Overture to one of Haydn’s many operas, Armida, This was, as would be expected for the genre, more dramatic than most of Papa Haydn’s opus. It also opened up a new world to me. Before today I would never have guessed that Haydn wrote 15 operas. These are rarely performed, and not because they lack quality but because in his day he was overshadowed by Mozart, and today probably because in a circular fashion, they are so little known that producers worry they will not fill the halls. The final piece of the program was one of Haydn’s later works, Symphony #84, one of the Paris Symphonies. This work, much more musically complex that Number 8, showed off Haydn’s growth over the years. A lovely performance, fitting tribute to one of H+H’s namesakes.

Sondheim fans run see this!

“Sondheim on Sondheim,” currently playing at the Lyric Stage, is a clever conceit. The music of this prodigious composer is performed by a cast of eight on stage, while a large backdrop of multiple screens plays montages of Stephen Sondheim himself telling bits and pieces of his life story and the stories behind many of his musicals. The cast is a strong one, with such familiar local favorites as Leigh Barrett, Aimee Doherty and Christopher Chew. A new face to us was Mala Bhattacharya, whose soaring soprano was delightful. Maritza Bostic, Davon Monroe, Sam Simahk and Patrick Varner were energetic young singers new to us but all held up their end. Probably best known for Sweeney Todd, Sondheim’s output is vast. He has won eight Tony awards, more than any other composer. Presented on the Lyric stage were such old favorites as Send in the Clowns and I Hear a Waltz, and many unfamiliar to us but probably known to true Sondheim aficionados. The production ran for over 2 hours, 40 minutes with an intermission, but the time flew by. Don’t miss it!

Snow-bird alert - great Florida orchestra

A highlight of our stay in St Petersburg was a “Coffee Concert” by the Florida Orchestra. Formed in 1966 when the Tampa Philharmonic and the St Petersburg Symphony merged, the Florida Orchestra performs a variety of classic and lighter orchestral music around Tampa Bay. The orchestra’s Board is headed by our own Tom Farquhar, and Barbara is also active with the group. We attended at the beautiful Mahaffey Theatre, with superb acoustics. The 2000 seat theatre was filled almost to capacity. The “coffee concerts” are intended to broaden the audience for classical music, and perform portions, such as a single movement, of symphonies and suites. We attended the Tchaikovsky Celebration, an almost two-hour concert featuring works from his entire career. Each piece was introduced by the guest conductor, Jacomo Bairos, who has the charisma of Keith Lockhart and a bright future. The orchestra had a rich clear sound, and is clearly first-class. If you winter in the Tampa Bay area, put the Florida Orchestra on your must-do list