Theater Savion Glover Prays Broadway Cabaret Stars Praise

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12/12/2015Theater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, Cabaret Stars Praise | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10f69f2-1668-4af1-8bcc-5524ebe497e7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&1/5Theater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, CabaretStars PraiseTheater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, Cabaret Stars PraiseSAVION GLOVER -- OM ** out of **** BROADWAY BY THE YEAR 1990-2014 *** out of ****So much theater is here and then gone in the blink of an eye. Has it really been two and a half years sinceNewsies opened on Broadway? It closes in August and will rank as one of the few shows (just over 100) inhistory to run for more than 1,000 performances. And yet it seemed to arrive yesterday. That's even truer forone-time events, limited runs and those precious shows that simply don't run nearly as long as they should.Before I review a limited run of Savion Glover's latest and a one-time event that is already history, here are threeevents coming up.DUBLINERS: A QUARTET -- ONLINEMost great theater occurs in a few major cities like London and New York as well as on tour. But no matterwhere you are in the world, this Saturday or Sunday you can watch a free live streaming performance of theradio play Dubliners: A Quartet. Held at the Greene Space -- a downtown performance space and home forWNYC and WQXR -- it's an evening of music and song and adaptations of four short stories taken from JamesJoyce's classic work Dubliners. This work has already inspired a lovely stage musical and director JohnHouston's moving final film. And since the live performances of August Wilson's Century Cycle at the GreeneSpace was one of last year's theatrical highlights, you shouldn't miss this. And you don't have to. Anyone can goonline and watch a live streaming of the event Saturday night or Sunday afternoon. If you miss that, they'll bereleasing it as a podcast and on-demand video in July. Go here for more info and to see how you can join in thisevent for free.THE AMBASSADOR REVUE AT TOWN HALLIf you're lucky enough to be in NYC this weekend, Friday night features a one-night only performance of TheAmbassador Revue, the toast of Paris in 1928. Porter had a Broadway hit that same year appropriately calledParis, a show that featured "Let's Misbehave" and "Let's Do It." That success overshadowed his revue andPorter never looked back...and The Ambassador Revue never played in America till now. Bringing it to life isTom Wopat, Jason Graae and Amy Burton among others, led by the marvelous Vince Giordano and theNighthawks, specialists in the music of the 1920s and 1930s and the band I'd choose to perform at my wedding.Let's hope someone is recording this one. Go here for ticket info.THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL THEATER AWARDSThe Ambassador Revue is a rare chance to glimpse musical theater's past. If you want to glimpse musicaltheater's future, head to the National High School Musical Theater Awards on Monday June 30 at 7:30 pm onBroadway at the Minskoff. Winners of competitions held all across the country get to perform on a Broadwaystage and compete for the big prize, nicknamed the Jimmy. I attended a recent event that was the culmination ofnationwide contests where teens performed monologues by August Wilson and it was great fun. You can checkout the nominees (or to be more positive, the winners of their region) right here or hear them strut their stuff onMonday night.12/12/2015Theater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, Cabaret Stars Praise | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10f69f2-1668-4af1-8bcc-5524ebe497e7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&2/5Now on to the reviews.SAVION GLOVER -- OM ** out of **** JOYCE THEATERIf the guest I brought to this performance were writing the review, it would be far less pleasant. "Savion Glover'sa genius! Why should he be bothered to entertain the audience?" asked my friend scathingly. Indeed, severaldozen people left during this spiritual journey called Om, which is the antithesis of the delightful, crowd-pleasingSTePz, one of my favorite shows of 2013. Indeed, the show seemed intent on making this private meditation asdifficult as possible for those attending.It began late, even though the show starts with a darkened auditorium and a lowered curtain while a lengthy jazzrecording (Kenny Garrett's "Calling," apparently) played for five or ten minutes. Eventually, the curtain rose to abeautiful setting: a stage filled with candles and yellow lights, scattered with photos of Glover's spiritual fathers,be they dance legends or religious figures like Gandhi. Five rectangular platforms were grouped towards thefront, two roughly near each other at the center, one on stage left and two at an angle on stage right. Glover wason one of the two roughly at center and never moved from it for the entire evening. The lighting stayed dim, hetapped with his usual fluidity and grace and precision and power, and the evening progressed.At first, we were given a few changes: more dancers arrived and took their places on the other platforms, somesongs and chants were played, ranging from a spoken-word piece quoting Psalm 23 to selections from otherfaiths, a quick cross-cultural survey that captured the world-wide yearning for spirituality and faith. Another tune -- which I couldn't identify -- might have been a spiritual or blues (Odetta? Maybe?). For a brief passage early on,all the dancers performed in unison. But then the music focused slowly on a piece (from India, I assume) thatlasted for 30 or 40 minutes. Glover's long-time collaborator Marshall Davis Jr. had more extensive work to due,especially on one concise duet but he left the stage for lengthy periods. The other dancers had literally nothingto do, posing in place, assuming spiritual or meditative poses, hitting a chime, moving briefly and then posing forminutes at a time and so on. Especially unfortunate were the disciples who came out and sat at their feet likeadoring acolytes.As the one piece of music went on and on -- Glover dancing with his usual inventive brilliance -- the static natureof the evening wore on you. It was almost rude if not self-indulgent to see so many talented dancers allowedonly the most cursory moments to perform but otherwise be simply decorative. It was like a jazz combo filledwith talented artists but most of the concert included only a drum solo while the other artists simply stood thereand watched.And yet I feel inclined to take Glover at his word. Perhaps this was a meditation best left in the rehearsal room orhis private dance space, but surely it was sincere if misguided. He has often spoken of his increasing fascinationwith the percussive, rhythmic, musical nature of tap. And this evening focused on it like never before. Thesubdued lighting and almost entire lack of movement left you little else to focus on but the sound of his tapping.And it did indeed achieve moments of engaged, focus brilliance. I've listened to recordings of Fred Astaire with ajazz combo, singing his songs and then soloing on tap, which sounds silly. (Just listening to someone dance?)But it makes sense when it's so musical and well-thought out...and lasting for brief passages in a song thatusually lasts three or four minutes at most.Glover was surely preaching to the converted here. But the best ministers know how to vary their sermons andmix in humor and stories and wisdom with the strong stuff of salvation and sin. With Om, Glover ended uptalking to himself, leaving those hoping for uplift with the awkward feeling that he's already been saved and inthe Rapture and we've been left behind.BROADWAY BY THE YEAR 1990-2014 *** out of **** TOWN HALL12/12/2015Theater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, Cabaret Stars Praise | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10f69f2-1668-4af1-8bcc-5524ebe497e7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&3/5Impresario Scott Siegel caps off his celebration of Broadway By The Year with this recap of key songs from thepast 25 years of musical theater. If it wasn't as great as the three earlier editions, well, surely that's because thepast 25 years haven't been nearly as good as the 1930s and the 1950s and the 1970s. You can choose the bestsong from Andrew Lloyd Webber's Aspects Of Love or Lysistrata Jones or Miss Saigon, but they're still notgoing to be very good, are they? Time and again, as they worked their way from 1990 to 2014's Beautiful, yousaw Siegel wisely ask a Broadway or cabaret star to tackle a tune that may have appeared in a Broadway showin the past two and a half decades, but actually originated from a much more fertile time period in the past.Hence he cleverly padded the evening with "The Acid Queen", "Fools Fall In Love," "Sing Sing Sing," "TheWinner Takes It All," "Stormy Weather" and "Fever." Great songs that were born in the last 25 years? Nope. Andthank goodness.If you're not familiar with Broadway By The Year, it's an ongoing series. Traditionally, they tackle one year fromBroadway and a rotating cast of Broadway greats, rising talent and cabaret stars perform some of the best gemsof the year along with lesser-known fare that has unjustly slipped from view. This year, Siegel celebrated theseries' ongoing vitality by tackling 100 years with 100 stars over four nights. They'll do it again next year, sinceof course the riches of Broadway make this an easy parlor game to play without having to scrape the barrel...atleast until you hit the 1990s and noughts, apparently.Like any evening of this sort, the evening was mixed bag, though Siegel's venture always brings out thecockeyed optimist in me. Misfires like Lucas Steele's misguided spin on ABBA's "The Winner Takes If All" fromMamma Mia and Natalie Toro's melodramatic spin on "With One Look" from Sunset Boulevard were easilyoutweighed by the pluses. Two dance pieces were lots of fun, though oddly they almost followed one another inthe first act. Still, Mark Stuart and Mindy Wallace were fun in "Libertango" and Jimmy Sutherland was anexcellent last minute replacement on "Sing Sing Sing."Siegel always helps you make some discoveries, thanks to showcasing the talent he finds in another of hismany ventures, Broadway's Rising Stars. (The next one presents the cream of the crops from the top artsprograms and takes place July 14 at Town Hall.) For me, the ringer was the performer with the wonderfullyabsurd name of Oakley Boycott. She was a gangly, notably tall and eye-catching presence when the BroadwayBy The Year chorus took a spin through "Seasons Of Love" from Rent. But she really wowed when doing thecomic number "He Vas My Boyfriend" from the ungainly Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein. Boycott nailedthis number (easily the best in that show), milking every laugh like a seasoned pro.When they turn Robert Altman's movie Popeye into a Broadway musical, Boycott simply must play Olive Oyl.(Speaking of casting of future shows, Jeremy Morse tackled "Santa Fe" from Newsies but I spent his entireperformance thinking, this guy has to play Mickey Rooney...or at least the lead in a revival of Babe In Arms. )Another find -- for me -- was Jenn Gambatese, who sang "You Walk With Me" from The Full Monty with a lovelyvoice and a direct simplicity that was disarming. She's starred in the Broadway musicals Tarzan and All ShookUp and clearly deserves better. And cabaret performer William Blake was a tonic, a truly unique voice thatstraddles the line between male and female. But this is no crooning, ambisexual Chet Baker; he's a wickedlyforceful personality who enlivened "Fever" by daring us to laugh with him as he sashayed and powered his waythrough that Peggy Lee standard.Adam Jacobs of Aladdin proved he's got the goods, giving his all to a so-so number from Miss Saigon, whichremains as uninteresting to me as Les Miserables is strong. And Rory O'Malley was very funny with "I'm NotThat Smart" from The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. But the ladies were strongest: JeannetteBayardelle did acrobatics through "Fools Fall In Love," NaTasha Yvette Williams did indeed stop the show withthe always pointed and hilarious "Stop The Show" from Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, and Terri White was ano-nonsense, astringent delight with "Stormy Weather."But as so often happens, I'll be thinking longest about Bobby Steggert and his effortlessly charming performance12/12/2015Theater: Savion Glover Prays; Broadway, Cabaret Stars Praise | Evernote Web https://www.evernote.com/Home.action#n=d10f69f2-1668-4af1-8bcc-5524ebe497e7&ses=4&sh=2&sds=5&4/5of "What More Can I Say?" from Falsettos. That William Finn musical is clearly ready to be revived -- at least inconcert -- and who better to tackle the role of Marvin then Steggert? If they can't get Giant to Broadway (andthey should), hopefully Steggert will get a chance to shine in this show. For the lucky few who caught the latestedition of Siegel's event, they got the chance to see Steggert perform a great number from Broadway's past andperhaps, just perhaps, see a glimpse of what might be in the very near future.THEATER OF 2014Beautiful: The Carole King Musical ***Rodney King *** Hard Times ** 1/2 Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead ** I Could Say More * The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner ** Machinal *** Outside Mullingar *** A Man's A Man * 1/2 The Tribute Artist ** 1/2 Transport ** Prince Igor at the Met ** The Bridges Of Madison County ** 1/2 Kung Fu (at Signature) ** Stage Kiss *** Satchmo At The Waldorf *** Antony and Cleopatra at the Public ** All The Way ** 1/2 The Open House (Will Eno at Signature) ** 1/2 Wozzeck (at Met w Deborah Voigt and Thomas Hampson and Simon O'Neill) Hand To God *** Tales From Red Vienna ** Appropriate (at Signature) * Rocky * 1/2 Aladdin *** Mothers And Sons ** Les Miserables *** 1/2 Breathing Time * 1/2 Cirque Du Soleil's Amaluna * 1/2 Heathers The Musical * 1/2 Red Velvet, at St. Ann's Warehouse *** Broadway By The Year 1940-1964 *** 1/2 A Second Chance ** Guys And Dolls *** 1/2 If/Then * 1/2 The Threepenny Opera * 1/2 A Raisin In The Sun *** 1/2 The Heir Apparent *** 1/2 The Realistic Joneses *** Lady Day At Emerson's Bar & Grill *** The Library **

Theater Savion Glover Prays Broadway Cabaret Stars Praise

📄 Theater Savion Glover Prays Broadway Cabaret Stars Praise

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