stephen schwartz & friends
Surprisingly, joining Facebook has already benefited me greatly. I was looking at the friends of a friend on Sunday morning and saw a status update from someone who works in the Broadway by the Bay office that said something like, "is glad Stephen Schwartz is finally in town." My immediate reaction was, "Oh no!! Was that this weekend?!?" I had been looking forward to the one-weekend run: a cabaret type show with Stephen Schwartz himself, playing piano and singing the songs he wrote, along with a few other Broadway performers. It was a similar concept to the Ahrens & Flaherty show that I enjoyed so much last year. But unlike last year, I didn't get any reminders from my boss at work. For some reason, I just didn't connect the current date with that poster that's been up on the office door. Anyway, a quick look at the ticketing website revealed that there was a final show at 5pm that day. I was supposed to work until 5, but I managed to leave early and make it in time.
The show began with just Stephen Schwartz at the piano. He did a song from The Baker's Wife ("Chanson"), and then he sang "Beautiful City" from Godspell, in honor of Barack Obama (rather fitting actually). Next, was an anecdote about how musicals are written. He sang bits of two incarnations of the song "Making Good," which was in early versions of Wicked, and talked about how it was eventually replaced with "The Wizard and I," which he sang in its entirety.
I think this was the point when he finally introduced his 3 friends. The first was Liz Callaway, who I knew best as the voice of Anastasia, although I didn't know that until he told us. She sang an adorable song called "Lion Tamer" from The Magic Show.
Next came Scott Coulter, a cabaret performer in NYC, who was indeed very cabaret. He did a medley of "Just Around the River Bend" from Pocahontas and "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin. The arrangement was really interesting and actually flowed pretty well for a medley. It was very cabaret, though. His voice was very well suited to high stuff, and he had that beautiful light floating quality. Aside from a few weird diphthong things--most people stay on the first vowel rather than switching to the second halfway through the word--I thought his musicality was great. It was maybe a little self-indulgent at times, but it showed off his voice nicely. And again--cabaret performer.
After that was Stephen's last friend: Debbie Gravitte. She did "It's an Art" from Working, which is a song about a waitress in a steak house. The acting was great, and it was enjoyable.
Since I didn't write down a set list right after the show, the rest is probably not in order. Here is what I remember anyway:
Liz and Scott did a love medley ("ooooh...") of "In Whatever Time We Have" from Children of Eden and "As Long as You're Mine" from Wicked, which also worked well together. Stephen and Debbie did a comedic duet from The Magic Show, "Two's Company," while Scott accompanied them. Stephen sang a song called "Forgiveness' Embrace" from his CD Uncharted Territories.
Then came one of my favorites of the night, which was Liz Callaway singing "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife. She talked about singing it as a singing waitress and only being able to do it on Tuesdays, because that was the only night that there was a pianist who could play it. I myself had to play it for someone during my first year of grad school, so I know just how wicked that accompaniment is (no pun intended). So it was really cool to see it performed with Stephen Schwartz playing the piano. I began watching him at the beginning of the song, but by the middle I was watching Liz sing. I think it was actually the first time I had been able to hear the song without simultaneously trying to survive a performance of it.
Since it was "vocal pyrotechnics" section of the show, Debbie Gravitte sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked next. It wasn't my favorite interpretation of the song; I think I prefer the typical Elphaba way. She had a moment at the end where her voice didn't want to belt that high, but she managed to hit the note anyway. It was understandable, considering that this was the 6th performance since Thursday.
Scott Coulter was next with "So Close" from Enchanted, which was pretty and high (again).
And then, I think it was the obligatory Greatest Hits medley: "Day by Day" (Scott on melody) and "Bless the Lord" (Debbie leading) from Godspell, "Magic to Do" from Pippin (Stephen), "Popular" from Wicked (Liz), "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas, "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt. I think that was all of them. Stephen prefaced this by saying that he always got mad when he saw someone perform and they didn't do their hits, so this did a nice job of covering them.
As an encore, Schwartz sang "For Good" from Wicked, and then the other three came back out for "Someday" from Hunchback of Notre Dame. I didn't remember that last one being in the Disney movie, but it's been quite a while since I saw it.
Overall, it was a good show. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did the Ahrens & Flaherty evening, though. Theirs included a little more charming banter, anecdotes about the shows, and it was organized more by show. The performers, Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley were also fabulous. For this one, the performers were good, but maybe not as much my style. Liz Callaway was my favorite of them. I haven't completely made up my mind on Stephen Schwartz singing yet. There's a certain appeal in watching the composer/lyricist sing his own songs; the delivery tends to be rather heartfelt. However, the professional singers tend to sound more polished. That said, I was really glad that I got to see this show. I would have been uber-disappointed if I had missed it.
For a more official review, read this.
And if you want to see Liz Callaway singing "Meadowlark," watch this. (Yes, you want to see it. It's a pretty song.)
The show began with just Stephen Schwartz at the piano. He did a song from The Baker's Wife ("Chanson"), and then he sang "Beautiful City" from Godspell, in honor of Barack Obama (rather fitting actually). Next, was an anecdote about how musicals are written. He sang bits of two incarnations of the song "Making Good," which was in early versions of Wicked, and talked about how it was eventually replaced with "The Wizard and I," which he sang in its entirety.
I think this was the point when he finally introduced his 3 friends. The first was Liz Callaway, who I knew best as the voice of Anastasia, although I didn't know that until he told us. She sang an adorable song called "Lion Tamer" from The Magic Show.
Next came Scott Coulter, a cabaret performer in NYC, who was indeed very cabaret. He did a medley of "Just Around the River Bend" from Pocahontas and "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin. The arrangement was really interesting and actually flowed pretty well for a medley. It was very cabaret, though. His voice was very well suited to high stuff, and he had that beautiful light floating quality. Aside from a few weird diphthong things--most people stay on the first vowel rather than switching to the second halfway through the word--I thought his musicality was great. It was maybe a little self-indulgent at times, but it showed off his voice nicely. And again--cabaret performer.
After that was Stephen's last friend: Debbie Gravitte. She did "It's an Art" from Working, which is a song about a waitress in a steak house. The acting was great, and it was enjoyable.
Since I didn't write down a set list right after the show, the rest is probably not in order. Here is what I remember anyway:
Liz and Scott did a love medley ("ooooh...") of "In Whatever Time We Have" from Children of Eden and "As Long as You're Mine" from Wicked, which also worked well together. Stephen and Debbie did a comedic duet from The Magic Show, "Two's Company," while Scott accompanied them. Stephen sang a song called "Forgiveness' Embrace" from his CD Uncharted Territories.
Then came one of my favorites of the night, which was Liz Callaway singing "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife. She talked about singing it as a singing waitress and only being able to do it on Tuesdays, because that was the only night that there was a pianist who could play it. I myself had to play it for someone during my first year of grad school, so I know just how wicked that accompaniment is (no pun intended). So it was really cool to see it performed with Stephen Schwartz playing the piano. I began watching him at the beginning of the song, but by the middle I was watching Liz sing. I think it was actually the first time I had been able to hear the song without simultaneously trying to survive a performance of it.
Since it was "vocal pyrotechnics" section of the show, Debbie Gravitte sang "Defying Gravity" from Wicked next. It wasn't my favorite interpretation of the song; I think I prefer the typical Elphaba way. She had a moment at the end where her voice didn't want to belt that high, but she managed to hit the note anyway. It was understandable, considering that this was the 6th performance since Thursday.
Scott Coulter was next with "So Close" from Enchanted, which was pretty and high (again).
And then, I think it was the obligatory Greatest Hits medley: "Day by Day" (Scott on melody) and "Bless the Lord" (Debbie leading) from Godspell, "Magic to Do" from Pippin (Stephen), "Popular" from Wicked (Liz), "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas, "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt. I think that was all of them. Stephen prefaced this by saying that he always got mad when he saw someone perform and they didn't do their hits, so this did a nice job of covering them.
As an encore, Schwartz sang "For Good" from Wicked, and then the other three came back out for "Someday" from Hunchback of Notre Dame. I didn't remember that last one being in the Disney movie, but it's been quite a while since I saw it.
Overall, it was a good show. I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did the Ahrens & Flaherty evening, though. Theirs included a little more charming banter, anecdotes about the shows, and it was organized more by show. The performers, Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley were also fabulous. For this one, the performers were good, but maybe not as much my style. Liz Callaway was my favorite of them. I haven't completely made up my mind on Stephen Schwartz singing yet. There's a certain appeal in watching the composer/lyricist sing his own songs; the delivery tends to be rather heartfelt. However, the professional singers tend to sound more polished. That said, I was really glad that I got to see this show. I would have been uber-disappointed if I had missed it.
For a more official review, read this.
And if you want to see Liz Callaway singing "Meadowlark," watch this. (Yes, you want to see it. It's a pretty song.)