Broadway legends answer fans' questions

Are there any better performers than Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin? I don't think so.

The Broadway legends, currently starring in "An Evening with Patti Lupone and Mandy Patinkin," answered questions for Broadway.com's "Ask a Star" segment.

It's a holiday gift - click here to enjoy!

It's beginning to sound a lot like a Bublé Christmas...

OK, truthfully, it's sounded like Christmas for a long time. The radio stations around here have been featuring all-holiday playlists since before Thanksgiving (maybe a bit too early, even for my tastes!).

This is a wonderful time of year for music afficianados. Whether your interests are classical, pop or traditional, there's always something new to sample. And this year, Michael Bublé has given us a CD that has a little of everything. From the traditional "It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas" to the New Orleans-inspired "Blue Christmas," with gorgeous renditions of "Silent Night" and "Ave Maria," it's definitely a keeper. And of course, it's got plenty of that Buble big band swing.

Enjoy:





UPDATE: Just came across this on Billboard.com: Michael Bublé Makes Adult Contemporary Chart History. He's monopolizing the top two slots on the chart with "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas." The article also states that in its first six weeks, "Christmas" has sold 1,038,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album is one of just seven to sell more than a million copies this year. And that number could increase by another 400,000 when the charts are refreshed on Friday. 

What are your favorite holiday tunes? 

'Broadway Goes Hollywood' to benefit Worcester children's agency

Next weekend, a group of talented singers (and one amazing pianist) will perform "Broadway Goes Hollywood," a concert of songs from Broadway musicals that were made into films. The concert is a fundraiser for The Carriage House, a grief support center for children run by Children's Friend Inc. of Worcester. All services provided by the center are free so the fundraiser is crucial to helping children who have lost an immediate family member.

The singers (who donate their time) are active in the area music world, and may be easily recognized by central Massachusetts concert- and theater-goers: Tom Lynch (yup, my dad), Paulette Labarre, Richard Munroe, Mike Gondek, Elisabeth Gondek, and Alison Zangari.

For more information or tickets, check out the Children's Friend website (you can also learn there about all of the wonderful things they do).

Need something to entice you? Check out this selection from their last concert.



And, because I'm a bit partial, one more...

Irish song — A matter of history

A few years ago, I was introduced to The Irish Tenors. Created in the same vein as The Three Tenors (Pavarotti, Domingo, Carreras), this endeavor brought together three of Ireland's finest voices to sing the music of their homeland. Their concerts feature many, many songs that proclaim a desire for freedom and/or tell the story of brave Irish men and women. Their shows are mainstays of PBS pledge drives (and yes, "Danny Boy" is always sung).

It was around that time that I took a real interest in my family's Irish heritage. I haven't figured out who in our Lynch clan made the first trip out of Ireland, but I've done a lot of reading up on the history of Ireland and her people.

And one thing that has struck me is the amount of music that has come out of such a tiny country (about the size of Indiana) -- and how much of that music actually documents its history. In fact, I wonder if any other country has produced such a large repertoire of music that also serves as a historical record? The rebellion of 1798 seems to have particularly inspired poets and songwriters. But of course the writers, proponents of freedom, weren't just documenting events (and creating legends) — they were drumming up support.

As people traveled between counties or even between countries — like the first Irish who emigrated to America in the 19th century — they brought the songs with them, songs that told of the horrors endured by the Irish at the hands of the British. American brethren would then send support (i.e., money, particularly in the case of the 1916 Easter Rising).

Wikepedia even has a page devoted to Irish ballads, with a long list of political/soldiering songs, divided by rebellion: 16th and 17th centuries, 18th century, 1798 rebellion, 19th century, Napoleonic wars, The Great War (World War I), 1916 rising, War of Independence and Post-Treaty Republicanism, The Troubles (including U2's classic "Sunday, Bloody Sunday") ... wow, those Irish sure had to fight a lot. (And this doesn't even include the Norman invasion and the heavy-handed rule by Elizabeth I.)

One of my favorite songs I first heard sung by the Irish Tenors' remaining founding member, the fabulous Anthony Kearns, is "Boolavogue." The song relates the story of the 1798 Battle of Vinegar Hill — when the doomed Father John Murphy led his group of rebels against the British troops.




For the people of Ireland, these songs are deeply ingrained in their very being. They aren't a people to forget their history, and they sing these songs in their pubs and in their homes — and in their sporting venues. "The Fields of Athenry," a folk ballad set during the Great Irish Famine about a man who has been sentenced to prison in Botany Bay, Australia, for stealing food (from the wealthy, oppressive British) to feed his family, is actually an unofficial anthem of the Irish National Rugby Union. (Check out the fans singing along.)

Even though the Republic of Ireland won its freedom in 1921, and the Troubles in Northern Ireland came to a peaceful end in 1999, I doubt Ireland's balladeers and poets will stop recording the country's events in song. It's only a matter of time before the country's current economic trouble is immortalized... oh... wait...



I created the slideshow at the top of this blog entry as a visual complement to my words. The music is "Red Is the Rose," by The Irish Tenors, and "Boolavogue," by Anthony Kearns. 

Crazy jealous

One of the student bloggers here at Clark just wrote how, for his internship in London, he was able to attend the opening night of Crazy for You in London last week.

Well, color me green, because I am JEALOUS.

Here's a bit of what he saw:




I saw Crazy for You twice when it was in New York, and it really is one of my favorites, because it's what musical theatre (in my humble opinion) should be — entertaining, light, and fun. The show is not out to make you think and it's not there to ponder any of life's big questions. It's there for one reason -  to make you smile.

In today's world, that's enough.

Mediocre? I don't think so.

Tony Bennett's latest CD, Duets 2, intrigued me if only for the wide range of artists he has chosen to work with. Lady Gaga and Andrea Bocelli on the same disc? Awesome.

The track that's gotten the most attention is Bennett's marvelous (from what I've heard) duet with the late Amy Winehouse, who apparently was an amazing interpreter of jazz standards. It's too bad she'll never have the chance to show us more of her talent... but that's another story.

What I was particularly interested in, though, was Bennett's duet with Josh Groban. (Disclaimer time: I am a huge Groban fan. I absolutely respect Bennett's talent and artistry, but I've never bought a CD of his in my life.)

Before I even heard "This is All I Ask," I came across this review: "Say this for the 17 popstars who teamed with the greatest living singer of American popular standards: They're brave. Luckily, Bennett rescues most of his partners. (Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli drip so much goop on their ballads, even Bennett can't mop it up.)" Um, okay.

And another review, from vivoscene.com, states, "Josh Groban is surprisingly mediocre in “This Is All I Ask"...." (I guess my version of mediocre is a lot different from that of this particular [unnamed] reviewer.)

I must disagree. To really get the song, you have to step back and look at it as more than two men singing a bunch of notes.

Groban, I've read, is out of his element here because his singing isn't jazzy enough. First of all, I don't think he would have been invited to take part in the CD if Bennett didn't want him there. And second, it's not a jazzy song. Groban's smooth delivery (not "stiffly operatic," as Tom Ewing in the Guardian said — if anything, Groban undersings here) is a necessity. That comment has me wondering if music-critic Ewing has ever been to an actual opera.

The song is one of reminiscence. "As I approach the prime of my life / I find I have the time of my life / Learning to enjoy at my leisure / All the simple pleasures...." It's about the wisdom that comes with age and experience. We don't really slow down and take the time to smell the roses (so to speak) until we move beyond the racing pace of youth. Of course, the older man here is Bennett, and youth is represented by Groban, who is being schooled by the older gentleman (his older self?).

Later in the song, the two come together in harmony, musically and spiritually — old and young sharing the refrain — and it's interesting that Bennett, all 85 years of him, is the one to take the higher notes. It's the ascendance of age and wisdom.

The pairing of the legend and up-and-comer is inspired and, dare I say it, brilliant.

Or maybe it's just a really cool song.

Curtain up — light the lights!

There may be trouble ahead...
But while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance...

Let’s face the music and dance.


So wrote Irving Berlin in 1936, for the film Follow the Fleet. The song was introduced by Fred Astaire, who — despite being a reedy-voiced, plain-looking man with thinning hair — introduced more original songs in his career than anyone in history. I know this, because I'm a musical theater/movie musicals geek.

The arts — particularly the performing arts — have always been a huge part of my life. I grew up in a house full of music: My father, a classically trained baritone, performed in community theatre productions and sang all the time; my sister danced into her teen years and was very into whatever the current music was; and my mom — well, my mom couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket, but she knew when my father was singing wrong and she encouraged my musical (and tap dance) interests. I can’t remember a time when I didn’t dance or have music around me.

Do I know everything about music? No. But I know when something’s good (or bad) and I know when I need to learn more. I'm still a musical theater geek. Back in high school, when I was interested in a show, or a composer, or a performer, I had to know everything about that show, composer or performer (I still do — and it would have been so much easier if Google had been around in the late 80s). I identified with Michael Feinstein, a cabaret performer who once worked for Ira Gershwin and who is a walking encyclopedia of American popular song.

Dance — I know dance. Not all the technical stuff, of course; I don’t know the name of every ballet step (tap, on the other hand — don’t even try to challenge me there. I’ve been tapping since I was four) but I know good choreography and I know good dancing. That’s why, for the past 15 years or so, I’ve actually been a choreographer myself. I work with community and school groups, people who aren’t dancers but who appreciate being shown how to move. Creating a musical number that really works is the best thing in the world.

So that’s why I’m writing this blog. I love discovering new (or old) artists, music, shows; and if I like something, I’ll bet someone else will, too.