Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Feb. 1: Spring Preview 2006

One of the reasons to do a local program of musical theatre songs instead of taking one of the few other syndicated programs of show tunes is that we can spotlight the great efforts by our region's theaters and performers. For Feb. 1, we'll give a preview of shows coming to the area, through professional cast recordings.


Best of Broadway series

42nd Street Feb. 2-5
The tap-dancin' show that gives hope to the young talents trying to make it big. Jerry Orbach starred in the original stage version. Listen to Verne Windham's music program on Feb. 3 for an interview with one of the leads in this touring production.

Oklahoma April 13-16
The Rodgers & Hammerstein show that took musical theater to a new level. Spokane native Kasey Graham is the music director for the tour, and will conduct at the Opera House.

Spokane Children’s Theatre

Little Mermaid: A Story of Aloha Feb 4-19
The classic Hans Christian Andersen tale goes Hawaiian in this treatment by Spokane actress and director Maria Caprile. The story is set in 1889 Hawaii, where the mermaid wants to be like a sister to the Hawaiian Princess Kaiulani (who left for an European boarding school in that year). The script incorporates many true aspects of the Princess's life, including her friendship with writer Robert Louis Stevenson. There are two original songs in the show, but the bulk of the production depends on hula dance (one of Maria's passions) to traditional Hawaiian chants, such as Ho'opuka E Ka La.

Beauty & The Beast May 14-June 4
Our region has seen the professional tour at the Opera House, and a semi-professional production last year in Coeur d'Alene. Spokane Children's Theater, a volunteer and community organization, tackles the show that started Disney's domination of Broadway. (Auditions are Feb. 4th and 5th.)

Lake City Playhouse

Kiss Me Kate Feb 17, 18, 19, 23, 24, 25, 26 March 2, 3, 4
Cole Porter's treatment of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, set in the context of a bad acting troupe's version. The play within a play is silly, romances entwine the cast, and Porter delivers some of his best music.

Clue The Musical May 12, 13, 14, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 26, 27
Yes, you read it right. A musical based on a board game. Figure out who done it, with what, and where. Thanks to Lake City Playhouse for providing selections from the show.


Christian Youth Theatre

A Year with Frog & Toad Feb. 24-Mar 5
Appealing music and lyrics by Robert and Willie Reale to Arnold Lobel's classic children's books turned this show into a Broadway success in 2004. The cast recording captures the original production from Minneapolis. CYT will have a total of 58 students of their theater school making up the forest animals. This is one of the best children's theater scripts and scores available today.

Seussical the Musical May 26-June 3
The show loosely constructed from elements of Dr. Seuss's books didn't do so well with the adult Broadway critics, but all agreed it made a fine children's show. While centering on Horton the Elephant, it pays tribute to the thinks you can thinks and the places you can go if you believe in yourself.

Spokane Civic Theater Studio Theater

LIFE 101 March 10-April 1
When Civic's board hired Yvonne A.K. Johnson to take the reins as Artistic Director, she brought collegue Donovan Stohlberg with her as Development and Marketing Director. Besides having a head for business, Donovan is a composer, with the show Life 101. The show's run in the 2004 Edinburgh (Scotland) Festival was well received, and now we in the northwest get our first look at it. The story, as the title suggests, follows a group of American college students in a semester in London.


Spokane
Civic Theater Main Stage

The Music Man May 19-June 18
Upstairs, Civic brings back another classic favorite, Meredith Wilson's great American small-town USA show.


Pend Oreille
Arts Council

The Mikado April 21
The comedy about a Japanese tailor who becomes an executioner pokes fun at English society. From the Arts Council's website:

Carl Rosa Opera, Britain’s oldest touring opera company, present a new production of The Mikado: a hilarious tale of love, marriage, executions and heroics. Carl Rosa’s stunning production uniquely features the glorious Oscar-winning costumes from Mike Leigh's acclaimed film "Topsy-Turvy". These were copied from the original antique costumes created for Gilbert’s production in 1885, now restored by the Carl Rosa Opera

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Recordings & Videos Sale Preview

The annual R&V Sale is set for Feb. 18 & 19 at the Masonic Temple, and donations are flooding in. The best part for us at the station is listening to the great stuff that people are cleaning out of their collections. Records, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, we take it all.

This week's Matinee focuses on the records that are in the Soundtracks section of the sale. (Incidentally, I HATE my cast recordings being lumped in with movie recordings. Musical theater doesn't use a 'soundtrack,' it's live!)

Some of the CDs that are in this year's sale:
West Side
Story: Original Broadway Cast recording
Paul Simon: Concept album of the Capeman
Bernadette Peters: Rodgers & Hammerstein, Baby Tonight, and Sondheim ETC
Audra McDonald: Way Back to Paradise and How Glory Goes

We also have a copy of "Song & Dance, The Musicals Of Broadway," a color book with three CDs, a kind of "best of" compilation (and quite a few famous jazz covers mixed in)

And if you have extra copies of something, or a showtunes CD that you're just not listening to anymore, please donate them to the sale. Come by the KPBX studios at 2319 N. Monroe St any business day.

Dec. My Favorite Things: Bob and Carmen Farley

December 14, we continued the My Favorite Things theme with Bob and Carmen Farley. These two have spent more than 30 years directing, producing, and acting in the Spokane theatrical scene.

They also have special significance to me, as they introduced me to the gentleman who would become my husband, and served as a mentor to both of us.

They invited me to their home with a microphone, and we spent more than an hour talking about the productions they'd seen, from New York original casts to the out-of-town tryouts in San Francisco. We touched on several of the shows that they absolutely love. There wasn't enough time to air a song from all of them. I will post a list of what we did air and discuss when possible. In the meantime, thank you Bob and Carmen for your love of theater, and instilling it in other generations.

Nov. My Favorite Things: ARt's Michael Weaver

Every month, we try to bring in a member of the theatrical community for "My Favorite Things," an opportunity to hear what inspires the people who make up the backbone of the arts. On Nov. 30, Actors Repertore Theatre's Michael Weaver came with some great, unique music. His list:

Three Bedroom House - Bat Boy the Musical
Remember - A Little Night Music
Old Enough to Know Better - Merman
Come Back to Me - Bryn Terfel
If - Kristin Chenoweth
Mack the Knie - Marianne Faithful
Crime of the Century - Ragtime
Hot Honey Rag - Chicago
I Went to a Marvelous Party - Noel Coward
Can That Boy Foxtrot - cut from Follies
Sit Down You're Rockin' the Boat - Guys and Dolls (Walter Bobbie revival)
World, Take Me Back - Merman
I'm a Stranger Here Myself - Ute Lemper

Friday, January 06, 2006

Jan. 18: Show Biz

Jan 18 No Business Like Show Business

There's an old adage, "Write what you know." If there's anything composers know, it's show business. The list of shows about backstage life goes on and on, and several more songs within shows tackle the subject. In honor of 42nd Street, opening soon at the Opera House, and Kiss Me Kate in late February at Lake City Playhouse, Matinee presents a collection of songs about the stage. (There are lots more that go with movies and television, I'll save those for another time)

Parade: Jerry Herman's first professional production. "Show Tune," the catchy 2/4 number, later resurfaced in Mame as "It's Today." Paige O'Hara (best known as Belle's voice) sang it on her Jerry Herman tribute album.

Applause: by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams. Lauren Bacall made her musical debut as Margo Channing, a Broadway diva eclipsed by conniving rising star Eve Harrington (Penny Fuller). With shows like this and 42nd street, I would think the actresses playing the "has been" diva must have a great sense of humor about themselves to get into the role. Anyway, the lively title song is a tribute to the power of applause, what keeps actresses like me craving to get back on the stage.

Annie Get Your Gun: The setting of the old Wild West Show gave Irving Berlin the opportunity to wax poetically about show business.

42nd Street: Another great Jerry Orbach show of show biz tunes

The Wild Party (Lippa version): the songwriting team Gold and Goldberg figuring out the recipie for success.

Ragtime: I love this interaction between Harry Houdini and "The Girl on the Swing" Evelyn Nesbitt, from the "Songs from Ragtime" CD. The show still runs very long, so they trimmed this non-essential song.

Gypsy, Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim's masterpiece about Mama Rose and her stripper daughter.

A Chorus Line: I live this every single audition.

A Class Act: This musical tells the life story of Edward Kleban, best known for his lyrics to A Chorus Line. All the songs, including the Braodway Boogie Woogie, are written by Kleban.

The Producers: Break a Leg!

Kiss Me Kate: Cole Porter's great backstage dramady.

The Frogs: Sondheim's college writing wasn't about theater per se, but the Greek setting gave him the inspiration to play with the theatrical conventions, and I do like Nathan Lane's Instructions to the Audience.

Merrily We Roll Along: Sondheim's songwriter characters get "A Hit. It's a hit! I think this is it..."

George M: Joel Gray as one of the biggest Broadway showmen ever


Something I'll have to save for another show... Amanda McBroom is reportedly a stunning cabaret singer, although I've never had the privledge to see her. I do love many of the songs she's written, including The Rose (yes, the Bette Midler song) and The Portrait. Alan Chapman wrote a hysterical send-up of the Sondheim imitators out there, which McBroom sings from the heart.

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Spokane Talent: Jan. 11

The topic for the January 11 Wednesday Matinee comes from a conversation Verne Windham had with Don Caron, the composer and pianist responsible for the music of The Basket. Caron worked with lyricist Kimberly Hinton to create an opera-like treatment of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. He'll talk with Verne about it in the second half of the show.

Don is one of several regional people with Broadway aspiration. The first half of the show features Spokanites who have gone on to perfom on the boards.

Scott Wise started out with Spokane Children's Theatre, went on to sing "I Can Do That" in A Chorus Line. Several dance roles on Broadway included Macavity in CATS (although it was hard to recognize him under the fur). He originated two speaking roles on Broadway. One was the dance instructor Billy in The Goodbye Girl with Bernadette Peters, the other was the love interest in State Fair. His latest Broadway credit was Assistant to Director and Assistant Choreographer (working with Twyla Tharp) for Movin' Out.

The biggest name right now is Cheyenne Jackson, or at least the biggest up-and-coming name. He turned heads starring in All Shook Up, and will appear in an upcoming film. He's not too big for his roots, though; he still keeps his Spokane performances on his resume.

Casey McGill dropped his big-band-style combo when Broadway called, and contributed songs and music arrangements to the 1999 show "Swing." Although he says he initially didn't want to be a performer, he created the role of 'bandleader' with ukelele in hand. At the 2000 Tony Awards presentation, he performed this opening number.

Stretching the concept a little, I'm starting the show with Thomas Hampson, "America's Leading Baritone." While he has not actually performed on Broadway, he's a world-class talent who has done an admirable job in researching and recording American song. This includes musical theater. When he came to Spokane last fall for a benefit at the Fox, I found more than half a dozen albums with good and somewhat unusual work. My opinion is that he acts far better than the average opera star, paying attention to the lyrics and not just the sound he makes.

Some other notes that can't make it onto the show:

Kasey Graham musical-directed several productions in Spokane, including "Return to the Forbidden Planet" with me. After some time in NYC, Kasey is touring as conductor for "Oklahoma!" which is coming to town April 13-16. Seems like just a few years ago he graduated from Whitworth.

Spokane native Julia Sweeney took her one-woman play "God Said Ha!" to Broadway for a month in 1996. When she came to town for a benefit at the Fox, she told Verne Windham that she'd like to do that again.

Craig T. Nelson, the Spokane-born actor who has played lead roles in Coach, The District, and The Incredibles, went on the boards in 1998 as an actor in the revival of Ah, Wilderness!

Going the other way around, a Broadway and television star who came to live in the Northwest is Patty Duke (aka Anna). Her first role was Helen in The Miracle Worker in 1960. She went on to another play called Isle of Children. After doing some community theater with Jack Phillips at Spokane Civic Theater, she got the role of Aunt Eller in the revival production of Oklahoma!

And stretching the concept a different way, a relative of a current Inland Northwesterner: John Travolta, brother of Idaho resident Ellen Travolta. I recently borrowed a copy of his first singing production, called "Over Here!" This is a 1970s vehicle for two of the Andrews Sisters. Yes, big band harmonies in the disco era. This was right before John would gain fame as Vinnie Barbarino on Welcome Back Kotter. He'd already been on Broadway during the run of Grease (Doody replacement; incidentally a young Walter Bobbie was in that cast too). On "Over Here," the voice that would later sing "Summer Niiii-hiiiiiiiiiits" croons with a big band. No kidding.

There are others who have moved to New York or have been and back, but these are the only names I know. I remember seeing a touring production of Annie Warbucks with the villianess played by a woman who had been at Spokane Civic Theater. And we wouldn't be surprised if Abbey Crawford makes a splash on the cabaret circuit in New York.

Bottom line: There are too darn few recordings of local talent singing showtunes. We have a wealth of talent here in the northwest, but not the financial wealth to record it. Then again, as we've seen in the studio, sometimes the talent doesn't translate well when reduced to simply audio. So go to any (or all) of our local theaters and check out the talent we have in our back yard.

Mamma Mia! What a fun concert!

My husband Justin used to work tech crew for rock concerts in his college days, and always wore earplugs. Last Tuesday night at the Opera House, he remembered why. As fun as the music can be, the high volume can wreak havoc on your eardrums. The ABBA concert cleverly disguised as a musical pushes the volume to the upper limits, especially when the vocalists aren't on stage (overture, entr'acte) and the encore 'concert.' In Denver, I walked past a theater hosting a touring production of Mamma Mia near the end, and the throbbing beat of that encore made its way through the walls, and I'm sure anyone out by the fountain on Stevens and Main would feel the beat too.

"Jukebox musicals" are becoming more prevelant on Broadway, but Mamma Mia is the cream of the crop. While many of the songs are bubble-gum electronica pop, the lyrics usually tell their own story. The show's book writer tapped into those individual stories to create a fun story, less flimsy than most. The 'who's the dad' story is less important than the connections between old friends, and even the relationship between mother and daughter.

Pop/rock songs need pop/rock voices, and almost every character delivered. The woman playing "Donna" is a powerhouse, both in character and in voice. Her show-stopping world-weary delivery of "Money Money Money" is smack-on. Her character loses control in the title song, opening up to those long-repressed feelings; it takes a strong actor to 'melt' like that, landing on a beat, while singing. The ABBA song I was most familiar with, "The Winner Takes It All," was beautifully sung as strength in the middle of pain; I didn't get the sense of "no self-confidence" as one lyric goes, because although she has doubts and hurts, but still is going to stick to what she thinks she needs to do. Well, they wanted to stick to the original lyrics as much as possible, and it's a quibble. Fabulous performance from the backbone of the show.

More excellent performances from Donna's best friends (and the former "Dynamos." The actress playing Tanya has also done Ulla in The Producers, and the actress uses her long leggy looks and blonde hair to effect in her numbers. Rosie (a Jean Hardie-like performance) almost steals the show with her physical gags (proof that spandex no longer belongs in this world) and the fabulous staging of Take a Chance on Me, chasing (and getting) her man. As a harmony fan, I appreciated the tight work of the Dynamos, not to mention the off-stage back-up singing of the chorus. The actress playing the daughter, Sophie, sings too nasally for my taste.

I suppose I should mention the guys, although they are truly back-seat to this show. The actor portraying Sam doesn't have that rock delivery, was visibly reaching for his notes in Knowing Me Knowing You and didn't have the technique to vary his delivery in the chorus repetitions. If there's a true weak spot in this production, it was the song S.O.S. First off, the song's lyrics are a little too light to be delivered in such a serious way. Second, Sam and Donna had two different vocal styles which didn't quite mesh. But I admit the two made a nice couple acting-wise. Harry "Head-banger" was a delight, and made a sweet sound out of "Thank You For the Music." The Austrailian, Bill (I want to call him Bruce!) only has incidental singing, and played up the Crocodile Dundee aspect of his personality.

As mentioned before, "Money" was my favorite number, not only because of Donna's singing, but the entire staging. This was the most stylized of the numbers, utilizing the chorus as residents of this Greek island, complete with women in severe dark dresses and headscarves, men in fisherman caps. They gathered around Donna in a Les Mis-style choreography (think Lovely Ladies) with grasping for money and sang the commentary "Ain't it sad," "That's too bad," etc. Hm, a chorus commenting on the action on a Greek island ... could it be ... a Grecian Greek Chorus? I love the unstated pun.

Other staging high points: the dance of the scuba-clad men in Lay All Your Love On Me (second show in a row with buff topless men!), the nightmarish fantasy sequence for Under Attack (the surprise person under the wedding veil was a funny touch), the camp of Dancing Queen and Super Trouper with all the joy of friends reliving their youth while reviving their friendship.

Surprisingly, one song I'd never heard of made me cry. "Slipping Through My Fingers" is a song of parental love and the inevitable separation each daughter has to make. Having a little girl in the terrible twos, and the literal distance between me and my own mom, it was an incredibly personal moment. This is the song on the cast album I've been turning to.

I didn't listen to much ABBA in the '70s, just the occasional songs on the radio. In the early '90s, a theater friend was a closet ABBA nut, and after loosening up with a few drinks at a cast party, was convinced to put on a record and sing along. Just like bell bottoms and spandex, ABBA's songs were one of those guilty pleasures that came back in style (to an extent). During intermission, I asked an usher (who looked about 60) what he thought. "I LOVE it! This is the best show I've ever seen!" The best show? "My favorite used to be CATS, but I never left disco," he explained. It certainly has that driving, electronica beat. The music production is the modern side of disco, with several keyboards in the pit (the only acoustic instrument I noticed in the pit was a regular guitar for "Thank you for the music"), even the conductor has a keyboard. The two drum kits are POWERFUL, it's nearly impossible to NOT tap your feet. It's electronic pop at its best, and there's a home for it. Surprisingly, that home includes the theater stage.

Just don't forget the earplugs.