Article Re: Wicked Divas in Saratoga Springs

[tamoshan]

The Philadelphia Orchestra’s “Wicked Divas” @ Saratoga Performing Arts Center, 8/19/10

"Murney, a brassy singer with a New Yorker’s penchant for acerbic sarcasm, hammed it up with the diva concept, earning sustained applause for her witty Liza Minnelli impression on “Ring Them Bells” and her comic take on the Monty Python-penned “Divas Lament”

Comments

[ireadtolive]

It was a beautiful evening in Saratoga, while the concert itself was a bit mixed -- if only the orchestra and the sound had been as good as the ladies! The orchestra was, excuse the pun, wicked loud. The sound balance was just wrong. Erin fared better than Julia, because her vocal line was higher than the orchestra and the conductor noticeably held the orchestra back during her numbers. He appeared to let the orchestra go full blast whenever Julia was singing. Who'd expect a miked Julia to be buried under her accompaniment? And to cap it all off, the orchestra and the singers were not even close to together, most noticeably in Defying Gravity and For Good. In sum, it was fabulous to see both women, who were terrific, but they weren't well served by the sound engineer or the conductor.

Note that after Julia asked what that sound was, someone in the audience shouted back "Nature", but she misheard and said "Hunters?! Wow, you aren't kidding in Saratoga!"

[tamoshan]

lol..julia can always make you laugh

did you write a review for the saratogian?

[ireadtolive]

Nope, that wasn't me, but I was gratified to see their reviewer had a similar reaction. Julia and Erin were lovely afterwards -- as expected, of course!

[tamoshan]

i thought i'd ask with the similar views on sound quality
i'd expect no less of them (even though i haven't met erin yet)

[love_besos]

So bummed that I missed this, even if the orchestra was overpowering. I would've loved to have seen Erin and Julia perform together! Julia looks fierce and fabulous as always.