Farewell to
Phantom! Closing Night in New York City
by Cyndi Ridge (Written
for the December 1996 Davis Gaines Information Network newsletter,
which has been replaced by this website. At the time it was believed
this would be Davis' last run as the Phantom. Subsequently, Andrew
Lloyd Webber brought it back to Los Angeles for a limited run at the
Pantages Theatre in 1998 and asked Davis to reprise the role, which
he did.)
October 5, Davis' last day as the Phantom of the Opera, came
fast and it was hard to believe that 5 1/2 years of masks and capes
and haunting the Paris Opera House were coming to an end. He
had two shows that day and as my plane landed on the east coast at
4pm, I remember looking at my watch and thinking that the matinee
would be over soon and then there'd be only one more chance to see
him portray the tortured soul that was Erik- and I was very happy to
be heading for my seat amongst the crowd who came to witness it.
Davis hired me to be his assistant six months into his run Phantom
run [in Los Angeles] and I realized that I had never known Davis
when he wasn't the Phantom. I reflected on the five years of
Phantomhood during my flight to New York -- the fan mail praising
his talents and sharing heartfelt stories of empathy, people
thankful to Davis for introducing them to heater or reaching their
souls, making them cry and introducing them to new friends -- the
benefits he sang at where the Phantom name and his talent helped
raise money for good causes or raised the spirits of those in need
-- meeting Mayor Bradley and being honored with a proclamation from
the city -- singing at Mayor Reardon's inauguration -- the sports
events that flew him by helicopter to sing the National Anthem and
regarded Davis as "their Phantom" -- the young children
who would tell Davis in no uncertain terms that they understood what
he did and were touched by it -- the many fans at the stage door who
showed their endless support and enthusiasm -- the symphonies that
invited him to sing and began his concert career -- growing from a
Phantom, to being known for his talent in his own right, to being
recognized on the street, to being one of the most requested concert
performers on the pops concert circuit, to being the world's
longest-running Phantom*.
What a journey. How privileged I feel to have been there.
Davis took the
stage for that final performance and his command of that stage and
character was solid and gripping. We followed him one last
time from his appearance in the mirror, through his seductive
rendition of "The Music of the Night", to the powerfully
provocative "Point of No Return", until he let Christine
go for the last time, clutching the wedding veil and singing out
into the auditorium, "It's over now, the music of the
night." We knew the impact of his portrayal of Erik was
not something we'd see again for a very long time, if ever. I cried.
A lot! And cheered even more.
Then Davis
took his final curtain call. The thunderous standing ovation
went on forever, and many in the audience had no idea it was his
closing performance! It was not announced before curtain or in
the program. Perhaps he was motivated by the fact that it was his
last show, or perhaps, as all the letters say, it was just one
of the 1,937 performances that Davis always strived to keep
interesting and moving and filled with the same energy as his very
first. I don't know. But when I saw Davis take his bow, after
a stirring speech by a cast member who let the unsuspecting audience
members in on the secret, I saw a man who, to me, seemed to allow
himself to enjoy the praise he'd earned. He seemed to be
totally enjoying the moment and perhaps also looking forward to the
next exciting step. I didn't ask Davis how he felt. I
thought that might be a private thing he needed to keep for himself.
As he spoke to
the audience, sharing his thoughts on the show, thanking the cast
and the fans for his Phantom experience, he joked around and also
touched on what a special 5 1/2 years it had been for him. And
then, saying, "There is something I've always wanted to
do," with one sweeping motion he tore most of the latex scars
off his face and the wigs off his head - revealing an unadorned
Davis. The audience went wild! Everyone knows there is a man
behind that mask and make-up, but to have Davis peel those layers
away in a second, and let everyone share with him, the actor and not
just Erik the character, that glorious final bow, was a moment no
one in the Majestic Theatre will soon forget!
*Footnote:
After the run at the Pantages Theatre in 1998, Davis' number of
performances as the Phantom went to well over 2,000. While
other touring actors have passed his number of performances in the
role, Davis remains Broadway's longest-running Phantom as of
February 2002.
KGO-AM Radio San
Francisco
Monday, April 22, 2002
Jerry Friedman Reporting
The Plush Room
Davis Gaines -- remember
him as the Phantom of the Opera? -- opened a one-week engagement at the Plush
Room, and what a beautiful voice to behold! Together with a great trio of
piano, bass and drums, he performs a dramatic evening of love songs -- some old
standards, some unfamiliar ones, some special material -- and it's a pleasure to
be in his company. His stage presence and superbly trained voice add up to
a relaxing, enjoyable performance. Unfortunately, there is only one
up-tempo novelty number, and not one song from 'Phantom'. Do catch Davis
Gaines in his first appearance at the Plush Room in the York Hotel... it's an
exquisite evening of cabaret.
'Sweeney'
a demonic delight
Acclaimed concert version airs on TV
Cellos couldn't
look more menacing than they do in the concert version of Stephen
Sondheim's "Sweeney Todd," airing at 8 tonight on KQED-Channel
9. As both accompaniment and visual backdrop for the singers of this
gleaming musical paean to bloodlust and revenge, the San Francisco
Symphony musicians are planted in the thick of things from beginning to
end.
It doesn't get
much creepier than this in Davies Hall.
"Sweeney"
was a stripped-down sensation when it was presented here in July. With a
somber George Hearn in the title role of a "demon barber" bent
on murder and the delectably noxious Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett, his
London accomplice, who bakes the victims into meat pies, this production
puts musical firepower front and center. The other principals and San
Francisco Symphony Chorus soloists burn as brightly as Hearn and LuPone.
Stage director
Lonny Price's minimal (but emphatic) stagecraft, an edited score and
some balance problems that suppress the orchestral sound in the live
recording make this a somewhat less enveloping TV account of Sondheim
and book writer Hugh Wheeler's masterpiece than the 1982 PBS original
(starring a more gleefully vicious Hearn). But "Sweeney," sung
and acted well, does its nasty, thrilling business in any form. And it's
exquisitely performed here.
First mounted on
Broadway in 1979, and subsequently reconceived for both opera houses and
chamber productions, the piece is simultaneously stealthy and
remorseless. It lures you into the horror, then plunges deeper and
deeper. Sondheim's fusion of music hall numbers, Italian operetta, the
"Dies Irae" theme, plangent melodies and a piercing factory
whistle builds a sturdy arch to the show's hellish conclusion.
Hearn's measured,
rueful approach to the role works beautifully under the filmed concert
conditions. Gazing balefully into the middle distance or turning arctic
to LuPone's cozy seductions (in "By the Sea"), he's a doomed
man who knows it. The heavy choral tread of "The Ballad of Sweeney
Todd" confirms his fate. Even the cheerful cannibalism waltz
("A Little Priest") has an air of internal foreboding as he
partners Mrs. Lovett.
LuPone, who
sounded a little wayward in the concert "Sweeney" recorded by
the New York Philharmonic last season, is irresistible here. Her slack,
ripe mouth wraps the notes with a slatternly sense of ease. If she
misses one or two, what the hell -- that's Mrs. Lovett taking her shot.
A miraculously
good Davis Gaines plays Anthony Hope, the trusting young suitor to
Sweeney's daughter, Johanna (the vibrant Lisa Vroman). Timothy Nolen
looks predatory in his flowing gray hair and sounds chillingly rancid as
Judge Turpin. Victoria Clark's Beggar Woman is a potent prophetess. Neil
Patrick Harris, all grown up from his "Doogie Howser" days, is
the heartbreaking waif, Tobias Rigg. He grows up very fast here.
Swooping around
and through the orchestra on long platforms, the costumed actors create
a kind of bustling London of the mind. All roads lead to Sweeney's
blackened heart. The TV editing is a little fussy and restless, but by
the second act the quick cuts, eerie dissolves and lurid red lighting
seem perfectly natural. It's all perfectly fitting, that is, for the
story of a man who can't stop slitting throats.
RATING: (Wild
Applause) SWEENEY TODD: Concert musical at 8 tonight on Channel 9.
CDs: Fear No More
by Ken Mandelbaum
THE FROGS/ EVENING PRIMROSE (Nonesuch/Warner
International Records)
Rrelease date October
16
The several books devoted to the work of composer-lyricist Stephen
Sondheim devote little space to his 1974 collaboration with Burt
Shevelove, The Frogs, and that's not surprising, as the piece is
neither a conventional nor full-fledged musical.
As is well known, this free adaptation of Aristophanes, with a cast
of characters including Dionysos, Pluto, Shakespeare, and Shaw, was
created to be performed by Yale Repertory Theatre in the university
swimming pool, with such Yale School of Drama students as Meryl
Streep, Christopher Durang, and Sigourney Weaver among the original
company. The Frogs has had numerous stagings since, but no major
professional New York mounting.
The brief score features just two extractable songs: The
opening "Invocation and Instructions to the Audience," familiar from
Putting It Together and several recordings, and the beautiful solo
for Shakespeare, "Fear No More" (Sondheim's setting of a speech from
Cymbeline), also previously recorded. Otherwise, the score consists
of choral interludes, less overtly melodic than most Sondheim, but
often striking.
The oddity and brevity of the score have also meant that The Frogs
has never been given complete preservation on disc. But last year's
Library of Congress birthday tribute to Sondheim included a concert
performance of the piece, and that cast has now been enlisted for the
first recording. Filling out the 47-minute CD are the four musical
numbers from the 1966 Sondheim-James Goldman TV musical Evening
Primrose. (The section of the Library of Congress salute featuring
songs Sondheim admires, in part or in full, was broadcast on the
radio, but will apparently not be released on disc as announced.)
It's good to have the complete Frogs score recorded, with Jonathan
Tunick's orchstrations, Paul Gemignani the musical director, and
several overqualified stars. Having done the Sondheim-Shevelove Roman
show .....Forum, Nathan Lane here does their Greek one. (Lane's
Sondheim credits also include the workshops of Assassins and Wise
Guys.) Lane is in fine comic fettle, bemoaning "Oh, frogs can be so
annoying!" But his only singing is that opening number, while co-star
Brian Stokes Mitchell gets to sing just a few introductory lines of
it. Thereafter, they're heard in dialogue and narration interspersed
with the chorus numbers. Davis Gaines (a cover in the original
Assassins, and Anthony in the Sweeney Todd concert airing October 29
on PBS) delivers a hushed, intense "Fear No More."
Evening Primrose is a haunting, Twilight Zone-ish piece, and
Sondheim's songs, written during a period when his work was unheard
on Broadway, are superb. Ella's "I Remember" and "Take Me to the
World" have by now been much recorded; all four Primrose numbers were
included on Mandy Patinkin's Dress Casual disc, where he was joined
by Bernadette Peters.
Having acquitted himself handsomely in those Sweeney concerts, and
about to continue his Sondheim career in this fall's Assassins, Neil
Patrick Harris is excellent here, about as fine as Anthony Perkins
was in the TV production, and far more suitable than the frenetic
Patinkin. While warm of tone and vocally admirable, Theresa McCarthy
(Titanic, Floyd Collins) isn't as distinctive as Peters on the
previous recording. (The finest renditions of the female solos remain
those by Marti Rolph and Victoria Mallory on the 1973 Sondheim: A
Musical Tribute.)
This disc fills a gap and is, needless to say, an absolutely
necessity for Sondheim completists.
Cast members (left to right) Randall Gremillion, Alysa Lobo,
Davis Gaines, Lisa Vroman, Elizabeth Ann Campisi and Neil
Hopkins
A
new musical version of "The Count of Monte Cristo"
got its first standing ovation last week. The audience
of 60 may have been modest and the venue, an Atherton
living room, well off the beaten path to Broadway. But
for the creators of this lush romantic show, which aims
to emulate "Les Miserables" and "The
Phantom of the Opera," the applause and, more
important, what it might mean, were crucial.
Being
loved is all well and good. Getting people to invest,
with a projected price tag of $10.9 million to land
"Monte Cristo" on Broadway, is the object of
the game.
In
a rare local twist on the commercial-theater ritual of
backers' auditions, a team of Bay Area artists and
producers took their act to Atherton on a homegrown
hunch. Why not start to raise the money for the show
right here,
where
it was conceived and created?
Backers'
auditions happen all the time in New York and Los
Angeles, where a seasoned pool of show business
investors wise to the daunting risks and long- shot
rewards can be tapped. But such auditions are almost
never attempted here for projects of this size and
scope. Commercial producers like Theatre on the Square's
Jonathan Reinis prefer to work with regular
"accredited" investors when he's raising money
for a project.
"Big
musicals are probably the most difficult of all
theatrical enterprises, " said Reinis, citing the
complexities of creating and retooling a show in
development. "You have to have incredibly deep
pockets."
Return
on a theater investment isn't always the sort that can
be put in the bank. For many, the gilded aura of a big
new musical may be an important part of the payoff.
"Who
doesn't want to hop on a plane and go to a London
opening-night party?" producer Regina Guggenheim
asked at the Atherton home of Jennifer and Rick Degolia.
The plan is to mount a production in the West End late
this year before moving on to New York. (The show has no
connection to the current "Count of Monte Cristo"
film.)
Targeting
an affluent Peninsula crowd makes a certain intuitive
sense. Milling with friends and fellow entrepreneurs
before the 45-minute musical precis of the show, Menlo
Park venture capitalist Tom Bredt compared investing in
a Broadway musical to backing a high-tech startup
company.
"It's
all personal," he said. "You share the
excitement of people who are passionate about an
idea."
The
analogy went further, with Bredt dismissing the counsel
of experts. "It's not what some analyst or guru
thinks. The investing community wants to know what the
customer thinks. That's what tonight is about."
Bredt's
wife, Polly, put it this way: "You look for
something that makes you tingle."
Wineglasses
and champagne flutes in hand, the guests polished off a
last goat cheese mini-souffle or caviar cube and took
their seats. Peter Maradudin, an ebullient Bay Area
lighting designer who hatched the idea for this show
nine years ago, introduced the six singers positioned at
music stands, labeled the new work-in-progress "the
next great musical" and retreated to the foyer.
Maradudin
co-wrote the book and lyrics (his first) with old
Stanford classmate and theatrical novice Lynn Stewart.
The music is by Brad Carroll, a composer and
writer-director-musical arranger for Walt Disney
Entertainment.
Ten
songs from the score were cunningly arranged, with
spoken narration in between, to suggest the range and
emotional impact of Alexandre Dumas' 19th century saga
of love, injustice and revenge. Davis Gaines and Lisa
Vroman, co- stars of "The Phantom of the
Opera" during its long run in San Francisco, locked
gazes, fingers and finally lips in the opening lovers'
duet for the hero, Edmond Dantes, and his beloved
Mercedes.
"We
were meant for each other," they vowed in Carroll's
caressing musical phrases. "I know that like I know
my name."
There
were snarling solos, a comic catalog of French luxuries
("That looks like saffron in the sorbet"),
more love duets and a dramatic monologue from Gaines
("Angel of Vengeance") that raised some yelps
of delight from the suburban crowd.
"It
feels like a no-brainer," Carol Walker gushed after
the performance. "It's poetry." Gaines had
really gotten to her. "I feel so drawn to
him," she said, "I'm not ever sure I can have
a conversation with him."
Lisa
Gordon wasn't so taken with what she'd heard. "I
got a little bored. I thought a lot of the music was
similar." She'd want to know the casting before
deciding to invest or suggest the idea to others.
"Phantom"
vet Vroman loves the fact that her character "isn't
20 years old the whole show," adores working with
Gaines and has a special interest in the music -- the
composer is a Los Angeles housemate. But with a busy
concert schedule and other projects pending, she can't
commit to a hypothetical London run of "Monte
Cristo" 10 or 11 months from now.
The
atmosphere in Atherton, both before and after the music,
was one of enthusiasm tempered by reality.
"No
one invests in theater thinking they're going to make a
fortune," noted Terri Tiffany, who does
public-relations work for her namesake jewelry company.
"But
this is very exciting."
"You've
got to see it in workshop," said John Traub, who
works in the semiconductor industry and is also an
American Musical Theatre of San Jose board member. That
not-for-profit theater company invested $500,000 in a
failed production of another Dumas-based musical,
"The Three Musketeers," last year.
The
bluntest downside view came from a member of the
"Monte Cristo" creative team. "It kills
you to take their 2,000 or 5,000 pounds," said
director Martin Platt of the small investors he's
courted in London, "and then have a show close the
first week."
The
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requires that
all investors be apprised of such risks. There are also
rules about the sums that can be raised for a new show
at various steps along the way. The "Monte Cristo"
team has spent $160,000 of "front money."
Maradudin,
a 42-year-old newcomer to the commercial realm, is now
conversant with these and various other mazes a big
musical must traverse. None of it appears to have dimmed
the itinerant lighting designer's enthusiasm for an idea
he first conceived in a "dinner party bull
session" and then pursued, working alone in hotel
rooms for years on the adaptation of an 1,100- page
novel already unsuccessfully made into musicals by
others.
Maradudin's
energy and unfailing smile may help light the inevitable
dark patches that lie ahead.
"Peter
is the most optimistic person I know," says
lyricist Stewart. He hoped to raise $1 million or more
from last week's audition. A workshop at the San Jose
Repertory Theatre in March is the next step.
Watching
the performers from the foyer in Atherton, Maradudin and
producer Guggenheim stood side by side, like parents at
a talented child's first performance. Each of them held
a champagne flute but didn't drink. The celebrating
would come later.
S.T.A.G.E. Show to Benefit AIDS Funds By Los Angeles Times
Petula Clark, Tyne Daly, Betty Garrett, Sally Struthers and Davis
Gaines are among the cast slated to perform in the 18th annual Southland
Theatre Artists Goodwill Event, "Dream, the Lyrics and Music of
Johnny Mercer," March 8-10 at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at Cal
State L.A.
S.T.A.G.E. has raised nearly $4million for groups supporting people living
with HIV and AIDS. This year, proceeds will benefit AIDS Project L.A., the
Neil Bogart Memorial Fund and Laguna Shanti of Orange County. Tickets are
$30-$200. (323) 656-9069.
Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times
May
2, 2001:
The LA Times recap of the Kings game from 4/30/01
included this paragraph on Davis' rendition of the National Anthem:
At
Kings Games, the Commoners Play Hard Too By
REED JOHNSON, Times Staff Writer
What
the Kings really have needed is a good-luck talisman. Currently
auditioning for the role is Davis Gaines, best known for playing the title
role more than 2,000 times in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Phantom of the
Opera." At Kings games, Gaines has become the voice behind "The
Star-Spangled Banner," his soaring tenor a rallying cry akin to Kate
Smith's booming vibrato when she serenaded the "Broad Street
Bullies" Philadelphia Flyers teams of the '70s to glory.
On Monday, Gaines sent the sellout crowd of
18,478 into near-pandemonium. They didn't quiet down until former King Rob
Blake stunned his ex-teammates with a goal less than five minutes into the
game.
"Sweeney Todd" at the Ravinia
Festival
Chicago Sun-Times August 27, 2001
There was the aura of a
dark, cultic ritual at work in the spellbinding concert performance of
"Sweeney Todd" presented Friday night at the Ravinia Festival.
Much of this had to do
with the sheer galvanic force of the massive chorus, orchestra and star-studded
roster of soloists assembled on the pavilion stage, and on the blistering power
and caustic humor of Stephen Sondheim's seminal 1979 musical itself.
Dressed in black, and
moving among the musicians on a precarious network of raised ramps, a vast
contingent of performers brilliantly conjured the masses of Victorian London's
mean streets--the innocent and the guilty, the conspirators and victims,
madwomen and hucksters,--with all the vigor and pathos of a Charles Dickens
novel.
But the excitement
surrounding the production--staged with Brechtian force and directness by Lonny
Price, and conducted with fury and precision by Andrew Litton--was palapable in
the audience for this one-night-only event even before the first ghoulishly
melodramatic organ chords and piercing, guillotine-like screech of metal
signaled the start of the tale of the "demon barber of Fleet Street."
Speaking to a packed house
at the Martin Theatre just prior to the show, Sondheim explained how crucial it
was for young composers to hear their works performed by top professional
orchestras and singers. Yet now, at the age of 71--with his reputation as the
preeminent force in American musical theater for the past four decades
undisputed--he clearly feels the same hunger. And his exhilaration at this
rendering was palpable as he took a bow at evening's end. "Sweeney,"
the first of five Sondheim shows to be staged in this manner at Ravinia between
now and Sondheim's 75th birthday, seems to hold pride of place in the composer's
own heart.
The show itself, rooted in
the Grand Guignol tradition of Victorian-era pulp fiction, is a chilling
exploration of poisoned innocence transformed into a frenzy of murderous
revenge, and of capitalist ambition and the brutal struggle to survive turned
into deadly enterprise. It begins with the story of how perverse and powerful
men destroyed the lives of a young barber and his beloved wife. But as the
corpses of the vengeful barber drop from his chair to become the best and
fastest-selling meat pies in London, the whole thing grows into a great howl
against a system that literally and figuratively turns people into cannibals.
And it was the ferocious tension between innocence and experience, good and
evil, and idealized love and twisted passion that animated the Ravinia
production.
Two decades after stepping
into the role of Sweeney during the musical's original Broadway run, and
subsequently earning an Emmy for his television portrayal, George Hearn turned
in an incendiary performance in the title role. Though riveting throughout, it
was the way he grabbed the bravura aria, "Epiphany," by its bloody
neck--and tore at every raw shred of emotion and violent energy it
contains--that will remain etched in memory.
Adding sizzle to the fire
was the incomparable Patti LuPone as Mrs. Lovett, the opportunistic widow and
baker who schemes to become Todd's contentedly middle-class wife--a plan almost
as comical as it is demonic. LuPone, in fantastic vocal form, brought precisely
the right manic energy to the role, dancing zanily on the insane logic of her
character's plans, whether musing on the various flavors of her human pies
("A Little Priest") or fantasizing about her proper retirement
("By the Sea"). Opera veteran Sherrill Milnes also was in top
form--both wonderfully unctuous and revoltingly kinky as Todd's nemesis, Judge
Turpin, the righteous pervert who plans to marry his guileless, sheltered ward,
Johanna (exquisite vocal pyrotechnics by Heidi Grant Murphy in "Green Finch
and Linnet Bird"). In stark contrast, there was Davis Gaines as the aptly
named young sailor, Anthony Hope, whose beautiful voice matched his character's
purity of soul, and Neil Patrick Harris (TV's Doogie Howser), tremendously
touching and engaging as the tragic street waif Tobias Ragg. Hollis Resnik, the
sole Chicago talent in a major role, brought her usual dynamic presence,
impeccable diction and perfect timing to the role of the Beggar Woman, Sweeney's
mad wife.
Adding incalculaby to the
roaring thunder on stage was the chorus of 40 actor-singers, members of this
year's Steans Institute for Young Artists). The impact of their sheer numbers,
as well as their fierce vocal and dramatic attack, was stunning. So was the
vivid, voluptuous playing of the Ravinia Festival Orchestra, more than 50
strong.
The sell-out crowd
suggests that the Ravinia audience is hungry for this kind of grand musical
theater, and that the festival should consider scheduling a full weekend of such
performances next summer.
Hedy Weiss, theater
critic
Concert
review, 'Sweeney Todd' at Ravinia
By Richard Christiansen
Chicago Tribune Chief Critic
In the ripeness of his
years, Stephen Sondheim has reached the ideal state that he wishes for every
composer of American music theater.
Appearing before a
worshipful audience at the Ravinia Festival, the ground-breaking grand master of
the American musical bemoaned the lack of opportunity for young composers, who
need "to hear their work performed by professional voices with professional
musicians," a condition he believes is essential if they are to develop in
their work.
Sondheim himself has had
that opportunity for almost 40 years, collaborating with the best of Broadway
talent. Beginning with "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the
Forum" in 1962, the first produced show to use both his music and lyrics,
he has contributed such musicals as "Company," "Follies,"
Pacific Overtures," "Sunday in the Park with George,"
"Passion" and "A Little Night Music" to the American
theater. Once described as a cult figure, he is now recognized as a classic
composer, his musicals repeated in scores of productions throughout the world
every year.
Even for such an elevated
hero as Sondheim, however, the concert staging of his "Sweeney Todd"
at Ravinia this weekend represents a new level of vocal and orchestral
professionalism.
Friday night's performance
of the musical in the pavilion, preceded by Sondheim's talk in the smaller
Martin Theatre, was part of a new "music theater initiative" launched
by Welz Kaufmann, Ravinia's president and chief executive officer. Sunday's
staged reading of "A Shine on Your Shoes," a new musical put together
with the songs of composer Arthur Schwartz and lyricist Howard Dietz, and
Mondays' solo concert by Patti LuPone in the Martin also are part of that
schedule.
"Sweeney Todd,"
however, was the weekend's big blowout, so grand in its scale and so imaginative
in its staging that it virtually re-invented the work that Sondheim calls his
"song opera."
First presented on
Broadway in 1979, "Sweeney Todd" won eight Tony Awards, including best
musical, a feat that was not enough to make it a financial success. When it
later toured to Chicago in a mid-winter engagement at Arie Crown Theatre of
McCormick Place, it was a box-office disaster.
Perhaps this was because
Sondheim's music and Hugh Wheeler's libretto on "the demon barber of Fleet
Street," a man so maddened with revenge that he takes out his rage by
slitting the throats of his customers in 19th Century London, were too dark and
forbidding for a Broadway audience.
Since then, however, the
musical has become a revered staple of the Sondheim repertoire, often re-staged
in chamber productions and, on a bigger scale, in international opera houses.
(Lyric Opera of Chicago will present it in the 2002-03 season.)
Certainly, it has one of
Sondheim's most ambitious, most complex scores, everything from the poignant
"Not While I'm Around" and the lilting "Pretty Women" to the
buoyant "A Little Priest" and the foreboding "No Place Like
London."
The Ravinia production was
an encore performance of a wildly acclaimed concert version, originally staged
last May by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and re-produced for three
performances last July with the San Francisco Symphony. (This version was taped
for an Oct. 31 Halloween TV performance on the Public Broadcasting System.)
Missing from this concert
staging, though smartly costumed by Gail Brassard, are the scenery and stage
effects of the gloomy Industrial Revolution wasteland that, in director Harold
Prince's original production, was the background for Sweeney Todd's tale.
On the other hand, this
version had the benefit of the rich, full sound of the Ravinia Festival
Orchestra, 53 members strong and grandly conducted by Andrew Litton. Most
important, it had the innovative staging by director Lonny Price, who deployed
his principal characters and 40-member chorus of local singers to sensational
effect.
The opening "Ballad
of Sweeney Todd," with the chorus advancing from its perch at the rear to
form a wall of dark menace and overpowering sound in the very front of the
stage, set a heart-stopping pattern for the rest of the evening. James Noone's
stage design, which gave the singers a series of stairs, ramps and performance
islands scattered throughout the orchestra, and Phillip Monot's spectacular
lighting, which shone sudden bursts of blazing white and hellish red on the
action, made the concert perhaps even more theatrical than the fully-staged
version.
As in New York and San
Francisco, George Hearn, who starred with Angela Lansbury in the show 20 years
ago in Chicago, was the demonic Sweeney, and LuPone was his accomplice, Mrs.
Lovett, the dimwit chef who grinds up his victims, serving them as the chief
ingredient of her meat pies.
LuPone, sporting what
sounded like a New Jersey Cockney accent, has some of the best stage moves in
the business, using them, and her big voice, to rollick with Sweeney as they
celebrate their thriving meat pie business. Hearn, now in his late 60s, was in
superb, stupendous form for this occasion, vocally and dramatically precise and
powerful.
Davis Gaines, as the
romantic sailor Anthony Hope, and Neil Patrick Harris, as the simpleminded
Tobias, both from the New York production, were joined here in a fine supporting
cast by Sherrill Milnes, marvelous as the evil Judge Turpin, and Hollis Resnik,
as the crazed beggar woman who becomes a key element in the story's melodramatic
finale.
Ravinia plans four more
annual concert stagings of Sondheim's work, ending in 2005 in his 75th year.
They will have to go some to top this almighty "Sweeney Todd."
Aug 1, 2001 - Davis
Gaines, Reno Jazz Orchestra's Sensational Artown Finale
Swinging his way through his
third season as a Reno Artown Festival headliner, Broadway singing star Davis
Gaines joined forces with one of the best jazz bands extant, the 21-piece Reno
Jazz Orchestra, for a closing Reno Artown concert that was sensational. What a
marvelous way to end this year's month-long festival.
Before a vast audience of thousands jammed into the Wingfield Park Amphitheater
Tuesday night (7/31/2001), Gaines and the Reno Jazz Orchestra pulled out all
stops for an evening of soaring song and hip and hipnotic orchestra playing that
has to go down in the annals of such summertime outdoor events as memorable.
From the orchestra's powerhouse second-half opener, Gordon Goodwin's "Sing,
Sang, Sung," to Gaines's quiet closing, "All My Tomorrows"
accompanied solely by pianist Carol Anderson, the emotional highs of the
concert's big moments and the poignant solitude of its intimate moments provided
the kind of roller coaster ride of thrilling ups and downs that makes a concert
connect in magical ways with an audience. If Tuesday's concert was the stuff
that dreams are made of, and it was, it was also the kind of remarkable evening
of music making that can only be brought to life by exceptional performers who
mirror life's shared moments and reflect them back to enthralled listeners.
Gaines, who rose to stardom playing the title role in the San Fransisco
production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom of the Opera," sings
with a liquid sound that allows him to wrap his voice around lyrics and phrases
for personal insights with words and a rapturous spinning of melodic lines that
is seductive, vintage artistry of the most riveting kind. Where can one find a
more finely spun interpretation of "Night and Day" or a more affecting
picture of loneliness than "Saturday Night is the Loneliest Night of the
Week" than with Mr. Gaines?
And so it went through over a dozen popular standards, each one a mini drama of
life, an art song of revelation. From the drive of "I've Got You Under My
Skin," one of the program's four Frank Sinatra arrangements, to the
sophistication of "Begin the Beguine" and the exhilaration of
"Come Fly With Me," everything Gaines and the band sang and played
took on a reinvented fresh new life of their own. Larry Blank is Gaines's
conductor. Carol Anderson is the singer's pianist. And - at least Tuesday night
- the Reno Jazz Orchestra was the Gaines band of choice. All furnished their own
superb ingredients making Tuesday's concert a rare showcase for some of popular
music's ultimate moments.
The Reno Jazz Orchestra, lead by superstar drummer Tony Savage, is one of the
very best big bands in the business. Made up of musicians who once manned house
bands in the heyday of Reno's big-name entertainment years (for such stars as
Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Tony Bennett, Marlene Deitrich, Elvis Pressley,
Sammy Davis. Jr.), the boys in this band are equal to any in the world. The
orchestra generates an exceptionally big sound. At any given moment it can erupt
with vulcanic explosions of rhythmic drive. And if those two things weren't
enough, it plays with a technical command that's just sensational.
Add to the excitement of hearing Gaines and the Reno Jazz Orchestra together,
the elegant new Siena Hotel Spa Casino's catering of the concert's gourmet food,
plus a heavenly, flawless Reno evening under the stars, and who could ask for
anything more?
It's estimated that over 150,000 people attended some aspect of Reno's sixth
annual Artown Festival. Here's to the people who had the massive job of booking
it, letting people know about it, keeping it glued together and making it run
like clockwork. Congratulations to Karen Craig, Artown's Executive Director,
Beth Macmillan, Artown's Festival Manager, Tim Jones, Artown's Associate
Director and Katie Perkins, Artown's publicist, for making this year’s Reno
Artown Festival another smashing success.
For information on future Artown festivals and events call 775-322-5443
Simply
wonderful
Sondheim's masterpiece 'Sweeney Todd' gets the performance it
deserves in concert
Stephen Sondheim
looked radiant when he joined the cast for the curtain call at
"Sweeney Todd" on Thursday, almost overwhelmed by the
wildly cheering standing ovation that erupted throughout Davies
Symphony Hall. Or perhaps he was simply as overcome as the rest of
us by the stunning concert performance of a masterpiece.
It wasn't only the
definitive vocal and character work of George Hearn as "The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street" and the formidable Patti LuPone
as Mrs. Lovett, who turns his victims into meat pies. Nor was it
the richly textured contributions of the supporting cast, led by
former "Phantom of the Opera" co- stars Lisa Vroman and
Davis Gaines.
It was the sense of
witnessing a now legendary musical theater landmark stripped of
Harold Prince's still vividly memorable staging to reveal a work
of, yes, staggering genius. If you can beg, borrow or steal a
ticket for tonight's one remaining show, don't pass up the chance.
Presented by the
San Francisco Symphony's Summer in the City program, co- sponsored
by the city Art Commission, the show reprises the New York
Philharmonic's concert staging last year in celebration of
Sondheim's 70th birthday -- also featuring LuPone and Hearn and
directed by Lonny Price. With its full orchestra and Symphony
Chorus, it isn't quite the eerily intimate grand guignol the
composer-lyricist had in mind when he wrote the "musical
thriller," but it comes closer than Prince's epic-scale
production on Eugene Lee's transplanted iron foundry set.
Price's minimalist
staging is brilliant, making use of the orchestra as the London
through which the characters wend their way. He creates striking
effects with the movement of the chorus, Greg Brunton's stark
lighting shifts and flashes of red against the rich blacks of Gail
Brassard's Victorian costumes.
The simplicity of
presentation highlights the central elements: the brilliance of
Sondheim's score with its "Dies Irae," Berlioz and
Prokofiev refrains blended with horror-film and English
parlor-song motifs; the muscular economy of Hugh Wheeler's book,
based on Christopher Bond's adaptation of a penny dreadful story
that had been kicking around London for 150 years; the lyrics that
range from Sondheim's wittiest ("The Worst Pies in
London," "A Little Priest") to some astonishing
lapses (that "I feel you . . . I'll steal you" ballad is
dying to be rewritten).
The score isn't
complete. Part of Sweeney's contest with the barber Pirelli (a
stalwart Stanford Olsen) and much of Mrs. Lovett's suspenseful
parlor song duet with the Beadle (a golden-voiced John Aler) have
been cut. But that loss is richly repaid by the restoration of the
evil Judge Turpin's leering, self- abasing "Johanna,"
sung with chilling intensity by Timothy Nolen. And every note is
gorgeously shaped by the soloists, the chorus directed by Vance
George and a superb orchestra conducted by Rob Fisher.
Hearn is, if
anything, an even stronger, more deeply vengeful and eerily
obsessed Sweeney than in the touring version that played the
Golden Gate 20 years ago, his voice every bit as commandingly
rich. LuPone creates a Mrs. Lovett distinct from but worthy to
stand beside Angela Lansbury's monumental original, blithely
mendacious and desperately loving, her supple voice unearthing and
exploring new riches in the score.
Neil Patrick Harris
is brilliant as the haunted, pitiful Tobias Ragg. Victoria Clark
is a rivetingly mad Beggar Woman. A boyishly fervent Gaines and
starry-eyed but determined Vroman breathe new life into the
imperiled young lovers. Stripped to its core, this
"Sweeney" is as sharp as a razor.
Saturday, July 21,
2001
San Jose Mercury News
Hearn's `Sweeney
Todd' barber is breathtaking
By Lesley Valdes
At 71, Stephen Sondheim is getting the attention he is due, and the
composer is giving back excitement to the classical music establishment.
He has an ambitious
repertoire project at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and a highly
regarded recording of the New York Philharmonic's ``Sweeney Todd: The
Demon Barber of Fleet Street.''
It was the San Francisco Symphony's turn Thursday night to handle the
national treasure with a version of ``Sweeney Todd'' that took advantage
of most of New York's previous production. George Hearn sings the
murderous barber; Patti LuPone plays Mrs. Lovett, the maker of human meat
pies; Lonny Price directs.
A sold-out house of 2,500
roared its approval when the evening was over -- a good thing, since the
production was being recorded for television, video and DVD.
George Hearn's performance
as the tragic barber is so right that it takes the breath away. His
interpretation -- singing, muttering or screaming out defiance -- displays
such exceptional vocal control that saying it compels is almost an
understatement.
LuPone doesn't sing so much
as bark and croon the comic part, but her Cockney accent is good and her
timing is almost perfect. She's a cheesy, sleazy Mrs. Lovett, which works
interpretatively. But amplifying her voice -- which is done for all the
principals -- was a mistake at Thursday's volume levels. The ear can
cringe when LuPone belts out duets with Hearn, and there's work to be done
on the patter songs that, even for this crass character, need a little
nuance.
Lisa Vroman, who sings
Johanna, the barber's daughter, is a favorite in this city, but it's hard
to hear the attraction. Her voice has a brilliant timbre, but there isn't
much variety to her singing.
That's not the case with
Davis Gaines, who plays Johanna's heartthrob, Anthony, with fine phrasing
and ardent tone.
Timothy Nolen's singing
made for a terrific Judge Turpin.
As the judge's beadle, John
Aler appears too nice, but his lyric tenor is precisely what is needed for
the high-flying part.
Stanford Olsen, who plays
the competing barber, Pirelli, strained for his high notes.
Neil Patrick Harris,
however, made an eloquent Tobias Ragg, the orphan who sniffs out the
rotten ways of Mrs. Lovett and her barber.
Victoria Clark is a crazy
beggar woman.
The necessary clutter that
infects concert versions of musicals and operas has been inventively
rearranged for this semi-staging at Davies Hall. Stage director Lonny
Price's mobile solutions work quite well. The orchestra, about 30 players,
is wedged into several places on stage, fitted like a jigsaw puzzle around
the singers.
Rob Fisher ably conducts
the strings from the center in front of a central walkway and ramp that
winds around the stage and permits the soloists and chorus to make their
points from several spots. It is worth remarking how well the San
Francisco Chorus members march across these narrow ramps to act their
parts.
Sondheim gets cranky when
critics write that he composes American operas. His standard retort: If
it's played in an opera house, it's opera; in the theater, a musical.
But ``Sweeney'' has all the
elements of Bernstein's ``West Side Story,'' Menotti's ``Amahl and the
Night Visitors'' or even Puccini's ``La Bohème.'' It has catchy tunes
with melodic and harmonic sophistication, a superb paring down of story
into dramatic ensembles, and smart lyrics. Of course, Sondheim wrote the
lyrics for ``West Side Story'' as well as his own works.
``Sweeney Todd'' was
acknowledged a masterpiece when it won the Tony Award in 1979. It's still
proving that assessment was spot-on.
Music Reviews
Theatre.com News
November 2, 2000
Sweeney
Todd: Live at the New York Philharmonic
(New York Philharmonic Special Editions NYP2001/2002; Limited Availability
Now -- see below)
For those not
fortunate enough to attend the three critically acclaimed, all-star
concert performances of Sweeney Todd at the Philharmonic this past
May, pause here, scroll down to the bottom of the screen, order this
recording, then scroll back up and continue reading. Yes, it's that good.
Those who saw the concert will undoubtedly want it too.
So many superlatives
have been showered on this masterwork by the master musical dramatist (and
the oft-neglected book writer Hugh Wheeler) over the past two decades that
I'll confine my remarks to personal memories. When I first heard Sweeney
years ago, I was immediately bowled over by the scope and scale of the
score. There's the crashing, descending figure that heralds Sweeney's
entrance in the opening number; the chilling "At last! My right arm
is complete again!" at the end of "My Friends"; Anthony's
soaring "Johanna" (one of the best arguments against those who
think Sondheim incapable of writing a simple, memorable tune); the
sinister counterpoint in "Pretty Women"; "Epiphany" --
my God, "Epiphany!"; and the comical lyrical gymnastics of
"A Little Priest." And that's just Act One! Then there's the
beautifully interlocking puzzles of "God, That's Good!" and
"Johanna" (quartet); the creepy/sweet "Not While I'm
Around"; and the horror of "I have no time!" and
"Benjamin Barker!" in the last murders. And finally, the ending,
in which each major musical motif in the show is reprised -- in reverse
-- so that by the time Toby slits Sweeney's throat, we've come full circle
to the beginning of another cycle of insane murders. Who else but Sondheim
would take the time to figure out that puzzle in a musical melodrama?
Having been produced
by several major opera companies, Sweeney was a natural for the
Philharmonic, but as Sondheim (and orchestrator Jonathan Tunick) have
always maintained that it's not an opera, it's essential that the ideal
cast include mostly musical theatre performers. First there's George
Hearn, singing the hell out of the title role he first performed twenty
years ago and proving that, in Sweeney's words, "life has been
kind" to his voice. He invested the part, one of the most vocally and
physically challenging in the musical theatre canon, with majestic pathos
and mania. One certainly doesn't pine for the originally scheduled by
ailing Bryn Terfel at all, though it would be interesting to hear his
interpretation someday. Then there's Patti LuPone, whose excellent comic
timing, unusually good diction, and great belt voice almost made one
forget that Mrs. Lovett was written for Angela Lansbury.
Although the
concert's lack of real costuming gave away the Beggar Woman's secret,
Audra McDonald proved herself a fine actress in addition to her marvelous
voice. Davis Gaines was a silver-voiced, guileless Anthony, and
Neil Patrick Harris (forget Doogie Howser) was a perfect Tobias. As for
the opera folk, Heidi Grant Murphy (Johanna) mercifully delivered
"Green Finch and Linnet Bird" not as a shrieking aria, but as a
sweet ditty. Paul Plishka and John Aler were a fine pair as Judge Turpin
and his Beadle, and Stanford Olsen's Pirelli was suitably over-the-top.
The New York Choral Artists provided the ideal chorus, with excellent
character and diction.
Conductor Andrew
Litton gave a nuanced, if somewhat restrained, reading of the score. The
orchestra was enthusiastic and made up for in precision, tonal color, and
dynamic contrast what they sometimes lacked in affinity for the Broadway
sound. Tunick's peerless orchestrations, although not altered (though with
customary Broadway pit reed doublings distributed among many more
non-doubling players), translated very well. The standard joke is that
orchestration is an eight-week job that has to be done in four weeks. The
sheer length of Sweeney would normally require months, but Tunick
did it in...that's right: four weeks. Think about that when you listen to
this recording.
RCA’s 1979 double
disc original Broadway cast album, featuring Lansbury and the wonderful
Len Cariou, is a recording no theatre fan should be without. The 1982
video of the national tour, with Lansbury and Hearn, is also a must,
though frequently out-of-print. The 1995 double-CD of the Catalan
production in Barcelona is fun but probably not essential. The
Philharmonic's concert was the third anniversary Sweeney concert in
the past two years. Kelsey Grammer and Christine Baranski starred in Los
Angeles, and Cariou and Judy Kaye performed in London. Gaines performed
the role of Anthony in all three, and Harris was Tobias in L.A. as well.
By all accounts, New York's was the superior concert. Thanks to minor
cuts, this new double-CD, 125-minute recording makes for a most
comprehendible listening experience. The Philharmonic's recording of Follies
in 1985, which includes amazing performances, is considered by some to be
too removed from the drama of the original show. That isn't remotely the
case here. The cast may not have been performing (or even rehearsing) the
show for long, but they were fully invested in the whole show, not just
their star turns.
Lonny Price did a
fine job staging the concert inventively in extremely limited rehearsal
time, but the real heroes on the recording are producers Tommy Krasker,
Lawrence Rock, and Barbara Haws, and mixer Joel Moss. They were able to
construct seamless performances from the three concerts, with superb
balance and no noise. The very few flaws were due to microphone placement
and actor movement -- completely unavoidable in a live recording. The
Philharmonic's own Special Editions label has outdone itself on packaging,
including a 130-page booklet with essays from Sondheim and most of the
participants, bios, a complete libretto (of the concert version), and
extensive color photos.
At a press
conference on October 18, New York Philharmonic Executive Director Zarin
Mehta pledged that if the initial run of 10,000 copies look like they’re
going to sell out, the Philharmonic will do a second pressing. This would
be highly unusual, since most theatre albums sell 2,000 to 10,000 copies
at most, and that only with wide release. It would indeed be a mark of the
classical audience’s acceptance of Sondheim as a “serious” composer.
One small
clarification: although I have had the good fortune to work with Sondheim
on several projects, I had nothing to do with this concert or recording.
And no, I don't get more work for writing positive reviews. In fact,
Sondheim expects honest evaluation.
But you don't need
to take my word for it about this album--just listen to the live audience
response. But keep in mind that Krasker had to fade out in order to fit
the score onto two discs. The night I was there, "Epiphany"
stopped the show for five minutes. And the ovation at the end -- the
applauding, stomping, and shouted bravos decidedly uncharacteristic for
the average Philharmonic audience -- went on for twenty minutes --
not bad for a show written to scare people.
The recording is
available directly from the Philharmonic for $45.00 by calling (800)
557-8268 or click
here, then click on "E-Store" on the left side. It is also
currently sold only at the Tower Records near Lincoln Center for $33.99 on
sale. Call (212) 799-2500 and press 6 for cast recordings.
Reno
Gazette Journal
July 22, 2000
GAINES STARS WITH
THE RENO PHIL AT LEGACY'S 5TH BIRTHDAY BASH
Thousands filled
Reno's North Virginia Street Friday night (7/21/2000) for the Silver
Legacy's fifth anniversary bash. Conducted by Barry Jekowsky the Reno
Philharmonic was the event's centerpiece. The evening's star was
"Phantom of the Opera" star Davis Gaines. Gaines, who has
appeared in the title role of Andrew Lloyd Webber's long-running musical
over 2000 times, leaves no doubt whenever he performs as to why someone
might select him to sing and act in a major show. That was as true last
night - he was sensational...
From a strictly musical perspective, Gaines stunning arrangements,
Jekowsky's stick-like-glue ability to accompany and the orchestra's
willingness to follow made Gaines's after-intermission set the evening's
only trully artistically viable portion of the program. The snap-to
change in the orchestra when Gaines's special materials were played
indicated some care was taken (perhaps by demand) so the star could do
what stars do and that's make sure their portion of the show leaves an
audience begging for more. And that's what happened, earning two standing
ovations.
Singing smoothly, snappily, rhythmically and ever so dramatically Mr.
Gaines's pliable, chameleon kind of voice changes colors with lyrics, the
usually taken directions with musical lines and does fascinating things
with phrases making each song he sings not just perfect renditions of
great tunes, but mesmerizing mini dramas and most certainly his own.
Opening with a fanfarish "After Today" from "Dr. Doolittle,"
then visiting soaring and mildly earthy versions of "I've Got You
Under My Skin" and "Here I Go Again," then haunting
renditions of "If Ever I Would Leave You" and "All the
Way," the Gaines ability to entrance with the raw and polished talent
that sells songs just grabs an audience and holds it in the suspension of
an enchanted moment that's stage magic only a few performers possess. If
that weren't enough, a magnetic "Music of the Night" and a
thrilling "Ol' Man River" cap the Gaines segment. Both are
terrific.
The purely orchestral portions of the program suffered by comparison.
Jekowsky's pops programming isn't very inventive and what is played is too
under-prepared to give outdoor revelers much of a hint as to what a fine
orchestra sounds like. Jekowsky is infinitely musical, but his pops
programs are more fizzle than sizzle. The perfunctory play through
of such offerings as "Jelico Ball" ("Cats"),
"Memory" ("Cats"), Gigi Symphonic Suite, South Pacific
Overture, Beauty and the Beast Suite, to name but a few in a program
containing several works too many, is barely okay. Closing the concert
with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture is a good idea that works best, if the
overture sounds as though it's been rehearsed.
It's safe to presume my reaction to the orchestra's playing is a minority
report. The thousands of people within earshot of the concert seemed to
love every second of everything that came its way. One thing for sure for
all, Davis Gaines is one helluva fine singing actor.
With some alterations last night's Silver Legacy concert will be repeated
tonight (7/22/2000) at the Tahoe Donner Golf Course at 8 p.m. For
information regarding Reno Philharmonic events call 775-323-6393.
Music
Review
Fort Worth Star Telegram
April 14, 2000
GAINES ELECTRIFIES BASS HALL
By Perry Stewart
You don't need Three Tenors when you have one Davis Gaines.
Broadway's most frequent Phantom of the Opera has a range embracing pop,
country, folk and very probably genres not yet named. And, of course, he is a
rhapsodic interpreter of musical theater from Jerome Kern and Cole Porter to
Stephen Sondheim and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Gaines flashed these abundant credentials with a flourish last night in the
first of four Bass Performance Hall concerts with the Fort Worth Symphony Pops
Orchestra. He captured the crowd early on with 'Listen to My Heart,' which is at
once poignant and electrifying and a fine canvas for the singer's soft vibrato.
His stroll down Broadway yielded 'If Ever I Would Leave You,' which has vocal
and dramatic build that Robert Goulet could only dream about. With 'It Only
Takes a Moment,' Gaines performs an actual scene from 'Hello, Dolly,' turning
into Cornelius, the shy store clerk.
To be truthful, Gaines always acts when he sings. His 'Where Is the Life That
Late I Led?' from 'Kiss Me, Kate' is a robust, swaggering and regally witty
example.
His trademark 'Music of the Night,' from 'The Phantom of the Opera,' was
predictably stunning. Broadway veteran Don Pippin, who conducted Gaines' segment
of the concert, guided the symphony through a brand new arrangement of the
number. The orchestra bent to the task with some immaculate string and woodwind
playing.
Gaines concluded his 70- minute portion with 'This Is the Moment' from 'Jeckyl
and Hyde,' then offered an encore of 'Old Man River,' which demonstrated a
remarkable vocal range and brought a chorus of bravos.
The symphony and musical director John Giordano opened the program with the
final movement of Dvorak's 'New World Symphony,' producing a fulsome, balanced