Dimitri Shostakovich / Parade
On this day in classical music: Dimitri Shostakovich’s “Symphony No. 10” received its premiere in 1953 with Yevgeny Mravinsky conducting the Leningrad Philharmonic. In 1948, Shostakovich, Prokofiev and Khachaturian, among others, were denounced for writing inappropriate and formalist music. The Tenth Symphony was Shostakovich’s first symphonic work since his denunciation in 1948. The composer made use of a melodic motif based on the notes D, E-Flat, C, B, a musical cryptogram that outlines a portion of the composer’s name in a German transliteration: Dmitri Schostakovich. A program note written for a performance of the Tenth Symphony by the Los Angeles Philharmonic called the work “48 minutes of tragedy, despair, terror, and violence and two minutes of triumph.” Listen to Gustavo Dudamel and the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela perform the second movement Allegro of Shostakovich’s Tenth Symphony. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZbJOE9zNjw
Dimitri Shostakovich
On this day in the musical theatre: “Parade” opened on Broadway in 1998. With a book by Alfred Uhry and a score by Jason Robert Brown, this fact-based musical told the story of Leo Frank, a Jewish factory manager who was accused of raping and murdering 13-year old factory employee Mary Phagan. Frank’s trial was sensationalized by the media and aroused antisemitic tensions in pre-World War I Atlanta. Frank’s death sentence was commuted to life in prison but a lynch party kidnapped him and hanged him from an oak tree in Phagan’s hometown of Marietta. Uhry had personal knowledge of the Frank story as his great-uncle owned the pencil factory run by Leo Frank. Directed by Hal Prince, “Parade” only had a 10-week run but won Tony Awards for Uhry’s book and Brown’s score. Listen to Brent Carver (Leo Frank) and Carolee Carmello (Lucille Frank) perform “This Is Not Over Yet” and “The Old Red Hills of Home” on the 1999 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr_mbN0iLX8
Parade – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: The tree is a sermon in itself. A big, sturdy oak with serpentine limbs, it’s the first thing the audience sees in “Parade,” the solemn, high-reaching new musical directed by Harold Prince that opened last night at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center. The oak’s branches glow, in sinister abstraction, through a scrim before a single note is sung, and it will be a dominant presence throughout the evening, casting a metaphoric shadow that is both premonitory and admonitory. A man, a good man, will be hanged from that tree before “Parade” is over. It is the image of a brutally unfair fate awaiting its victim, and we are never, ever allowed to forget what it signifies. Not that we would have anyway. One thing “Parade” cannot be accused of is fuzziness of focus. Inspired by the story of Leo Frank, a Jewish man who was lynched in Marietta, Ga., in 1915 for the murder of a 13-year-old girl, this musical provides a painstakingly rendered chart of the wheels of injustice. And it never lets up in its insistence on the innocence, on several levels, of its protagonist and the moral blindness and corruption of his persecutors. That the result is often more podium-thumping screed than compelling story is in itself a heartbreaker. “Parade” prompted raised eyebrows and arch jokes (have you heard the one about the dancing lynch mob?) long before it went into previews, and the involvement of Livent Inc., the financially ailing Canadian-based theatrical company, as one of its producers only added to the air of gallows humor. The death of Leo Frank may be an unlikely subject for a musical, but that is not what sabotages “Parade.” Musicals can be grim and even grotesque as long as they let you feel their heartbeat, the pulse that animates the behavior onstage. You need only think of “Sweeney Todd,” which drew its audience into improbable identification with its crazed, murderous title character. In this sense, the odds are comparatively in favor of “Parade.” It arrives with an innately sympathetic hero, undoubtedly worthy of our tears. But for those tears to flow, we have to get to know Leo Frank as a man, not a symbol. The civics lesson that is “Parade” forbids our ever approaching such knowledge. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
Sergei Prokofiev / Wildcat
On this day in classical music: Sergei Prokofiev’s “Piano Concerto No. 3” was given its premiere by the Chicago Symphony in 1921. Frederick Stock conducted and the composer appeared as soloist. Prokofiev began sketching the concerto in 1913 but didn’t complete it until 1921. The work didn’t catch on immediately but soon became a repertory standard. Prokofiev often performed this work in concert and conducted the orchestra from the keyboard. It remains today the most popular of his five piano concertos. Listen to Martha Argerich perform the finale of the “Piano Concerto No. 3.” Mstislav Rostropovich conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT5AmJiJdsA
Sergei Prokofiev
On this day in the musical theatre: “Wildcat” opened on Broadway in 1960. Featuring a book by N. Richard Nash and a score by Cy Coleman and Carolyn Leigh, “Wildcat” told the story of Wildcat Jackson, a tough woman determined to strike oil on a ten acre plot in Centavo City. In her only Broadway musical, Lucille Ball starred as the title character, with Keith Andes as Joe Dynamite. During the show’s 171-performance run, the 48-year old Ball missed many performances due to illness. Producers valiantly tried to keep the show running during her absence but requests for refunds resulted in the musical’s short run. Coleman’s score produced a big hit with “Hey, Look Me Over.” Listen to Ball and Paula Stewart perform “Hey, Look Me Over” on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaYjVHEB5bs
Wildcat – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: The rich get richer, and a redhaired millionaires named Lucille Ball figures to make another bundle with a new musical, “Wildcat,” in which she is the star and solo backer. While it falls woefully short of expectations, it still exhibits enough of Miss Ball, blares forth moderately rousing music, and provides sufficient hoopla and boffola to satisfy the millions who love Lucy. It should have been so much better, I think, but what I think will matter little. It is an increasing bore to be faced once more with a musical with no book, yet this one by N. Richard Nash is a new champion in the nothing sweepstakes. – John McClain in the New York Journal American.
Silvestre Revueltas / Mary Poppins
On this day in classical music: Silvestre Revueltas’ “Sensemayá” was given its premiere in Mexico City in 1938. The orchestral work, which Revueltas had transcribed from his own chamber ensemble version, evokes the ancient Mayan civilization through the sounds of a contemporary symphony orchestra. It has a similar visceral appeal as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring.” Listen to the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra perform “Sensemaya.” Gustavo Dudamel conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZO2VkKKR7o
Silvestre Revueltas
On this day in the musical theatre: “Mary Poppins” opened in London’s West End in 2004. Based on the 1965 Disney film and the stories by P.L. Travers, “Mary Poppins” is the story of a loveable nanny who teaches Jane and Michael Banks some valuable lessons during her employ. A Broadway production opened in November 2006 and is still running. Listen to Ashley Brown (Mary Poppins), Gavin Lee (Bert) and the Broadway company perform “Chim Chim Cher-ee,” “Step in Time” and “Anything Can Happen” on the 2007 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYs0tORSH8k
Mary Poppins – Original London Cast
Musical musings: If only everybody had a Mary Poppins who pops in from somewhere, no visa necessary, David Blunkett wouldn’t have been blubbing last week. Alas, such dream nannies, particularly ones with the truly magic touch as well as the magic carpetbag of fresh-faced, butter wouldn’t-melt Laura Michelle Kelly, who plays the title role in the new West End show, are as rare as tap-dancing chimneysweeps. So, too, are shows with the extraordinarily high production values of Cameron Mackintosh. Bob Crowley’s fabulous doll’s house design gives us the authentic cross-section of the luxury London townhouse where Mr. Banks lives with his wife and two children. But, as one of several excellent songs added by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe insists, it’s a place where “Anything Can Happen,” and that includes classical statues bursting into terrifying life, cuddly toys becoming colossal and creepy, and cheeky children becoming, miraculously, more thoughtful. Even a stuffy, distracted father, damaged from being brought up by a dragon of a nanny, can, astonishingly, become the sort of fellow who wants to fly a kite with the kids at the weekend. There’s another new song, “Practically Perfect,” which also says it all or nearly. Practically speaking, Richard Eyre’s show really is perfect, seamless and light years ahead of the film. – Georgina Brown in The London Mail
Ottorino Respighi / Shrek
On this day in classical music: Ottorino Respighi’s tone poem “The Pines of Rome” was given its premiere in Rome in 1924. The second of Respighi’s Roman trilogy (Fountains of Rome, 1916; Pines of Rome, 1924; Roman Festivals, 1928), this four-movement orchestral masterwork depicts pine trees at different times of day in various Roman locales: The Pines of the Villa Borghese, Pines Near a Catacomb, Pines of the Janiculum and Pines of the Appian Way. As the third movement gives way to the finale, the sound of a nightingale is heard. During a performance of “Pines of Rome,” a recording of a nightingale is played through the hall’s sound system. Listen to the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra perform the opening movement of Respighi’s “The Pines of Rome.” Georges Pretre conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk2q8GU3ZsA
Ottorino Respighi
On this day in the musical theatre: The musical “Shrek” opened on Broadway in 2008. Based on the 2001 DreamWorks film and the book by William Steig, “Shrek” featured a score by Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire. “Shrek” had a cast headed by Brian d’Arcy James as the title character and Sutton Foster as Fiona. The musical ran for a year but wasn’t able to recoup its original investment. “Shrek” was considerably reworked before its national tour was launched. Watch the original Broadway cast perform “What’s Up, Duloc?” from the 2009 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6eibFYnlF4
Shrek – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: ’Tis love, the fairy tales tell us, that turns dross into gold and clods into gods. So it seems appropriate that about halfway through the leaden fairy-tale-theme costume party called “Shrek the Musical,” which opened Sunday night at the Broadway Theater, it’s a love scene that gives us a startling glimpse of true happiness. That vision arrives when the hitherto adversarial hero and heroine of this latest screen-to-stage musical, adapted from the popular 2001 animated film and the children’s book by William Steig, recognize they just might have something in common. Never mind that this something appears to be a shared affinity for breaking wind and belching really loudly. But “Shrek” does not avoid the watery fate that commonly befalls good cartoons that are dragged into the third dimension. What seems blithe and fluid on screen becomes lumbering when it takes on the weight of solid human flesh. The pop-cultural jokes and “Fractured Fairy Tales”-like spoofery that are the currency of “Shrek” (and Mr. Lindsay-Abaire sticks close to the screenplay) passed in the wink of a mischievous eye on screen. Onstage they seem to linger and grow old. And morals about inner beauty and self-esteem that went down easily enough in the movie stick in the throat when amplified into power ballads with lyrics explaining that “What makes us special makes us strong.” Then there’s the issue of performers having to dress up to resemble fantasy illustrations, a process that, to put it kindly, tends to cramp expressive acting. As the title character, a misanthropic green ogre who learns to love, the talented Mr. James is so encumbered with padding and prosthetics that your instinct is to rush the stage and tap his head to see if he’s really in there. (Sutton Foster’s) Fiona is fun. No wonder Shrek falls in love with her. And when Mr. James responds to her, you realize that there’s a winning character (not to mention a very fine actor and singer) inside that fright suit. I know, I know, that’s what the show’s about: the beauty within. But it seems to me that if “Shrek” had more generally heeded its own advice about substance versus surface, it might have come closer to casting the spell that lets Broadway shows live happily ever after. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
Camille Saint-Saens / A Little Night Music
On this day in classical music: Camille Saint-Saëns’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor” was given its premiere in Paris in 1868. Anton Rubinstein conducted and the composer was the soloist. The most popular of Saint-Saëns’ five piano concertos, the Second was championed by Arthur Rubinstein, the Polish pianist who made his professional debut with this concerto. The concerto’s unusual opening, for piano alone, points out the composer’s admiration for the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. The finale, in contrast, is a lively tarantella. Polish pianist Zygmunt Stojowski quipped that the concerto “begins with Bach and ends with Offenbach.” Listen to Arthur Rubinstein perform the opening movement of Saint-Saëns’ “Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Minor” with the London Symphony Orchestra. Andre Previn conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aaz8ZtJrSk
Camille Saint-Saens
On this day in the musical theatre: A Broadway revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” opened in New York in 2009. Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s “Smiles of a Summer Night,” “A Little Night Music” starred Catherine Zeta-Jones as the actress Desiree Armfeldt and Angela Lansbury as her mother, this revival offered a darker view of Sondheim’s story about mismatched couples whose lives intertwine during a dinner party at the Armfeldt’s family estate. Zeta-Jones won a Tony Award in her Broadway debut. After she and Lansbury left the production, their roles were taken over by Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch. Listen to Zeta-Jones perform the musical’s breakout hit, “Send In the Clowns,” on the 2010 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUGkjNTRoNo
A Little Night Music – Broadway Revival Cast
Musical musings: The night itself is said to smile at the escapades of the addled lovers in “A Little Night Music,” Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s erotic waltz of a show from 1973. But the expression that hovers over Trevor Nunn’s revival, which opened Sunday night at the Walter Kerr Theater, feels dangerously close to a smirk. It is a smirk shrouded in shadows. An elegiac darkness infuses this production, which stars Catherine Zeta-Jones, in a lively Broadway debut, and the indomitable (and invaluable) Angela Lansbury. But the behavior of the characters who wander through a twilight labyrinth of passion in early-20th-century Sweden has the exaggerated gusto of second-tier boulevard farce, of people trying a little too hard for worldliness. Mr. Nunn’s “Little Night Music,” the first full Broadway revival of the show, may well be a hit too, though not because of any artistic finesse. It has what is a producer’s favorite form of insurance these days: stars known to the public from movies, television and tabloids, of whom people can later say things like “She’s even more beautiful in person” (as they surely will of the lustrous Ms. Zeta-Jones) or “She’s amazing for her age” (in reference to the 84-year-old Ms. Lansbury). In addition to being drop-dead gorgeous in David Farley’s wasp-waisted period dresses, Ms. Zeta-Jones brings a decent voice, a supple dancer’s body and a vulpine self-possession to her first appearance on Broadway. This Welsh-born Hollywood actress appeared in West End musicals in her youth and won an Oscar for the film of the musical “Chicago,” as the man-killing chorine Velma Kelly. Her Desiree, to be honest, is much like her Velma: earthy, eager and a tad vulgar, though without the homicidal rage and jealousy. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
Johannes Brahms / Nunsense
On this day in classical music: Johannes Brahms’ “Clarinet Trio in A Minor” and “Clarinet Quintet in B Minor” were given their premieres in Berlin in 1891. Both works were composed for Richard Muhlfeld, a clarinetist for whom Brahms had tremendous admiration. Mulhfeld was also the dedicatee of Brahms’ two clarinet sonatas, completed in 1894. Listen to the Oscine Trio perform the first movement of Brahms’ “Clarinet Trio in A Minor.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAjrKApZ6w0
Johannes Brahms
On this day in the musical theatre: The popular musical “Nunsense” opened off-Broadway in 1985. Dan Goggin’s hilarious spoof tells the story of a group of nuns who decide to present a variety show in order to raise money for the burials of their four recently deceased sisters. “Nunsense” originated as a line of greeting cards, whose success led Goggin to expand the concept into a full-length musical. The original production ran for 3,672 performances and became the second longest running off-Broadway show in history. The tremendous popularity of “Nunsense” has resulted in six sequels and three spin-offs. “Nunsense” has been translated into more than two dozen languages and has had more than 8,000 productions worldwide. Watch the St. Mary’s Musical Society cast in Navan, Ireland perform “Nunsense Is Habit Forming.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wA6KKcXmx0E
Nunsense – Original Off-Broadway Cast
Musical musings: If you forget the featherweight plot and watch the five winning actresses dressed as nuns do their vaudeville turns in “Nunsense,” a new musical comedy at the Cherry Lane Theater, after a while it becomes habit-forming. That pun is the property of Dan Goggin, the show’s writer-director, who uses it in the first number and again in the final reprise, “Nunsense Is Habit-Forming.” In the middle of this lively, repetitious little musical, one of the nuns says that at least there are no jokes about how their black-and-white habits make them look like penguins. Then she imitates the rolling gait of a penguin walking offstage, which doesn’t give Mr. Goggin absolution for temporal musical sins. The show is milked for every nun sequitur (it’s catching) in the book, including a few that never should have made it to the convent, such as putting on a Carmen Miranda fruit-bowl hat over a nun’s wimple and thinking it’s hilarious. For most of the skits, and especially for calling upon members of the audience to join in the antics — including a show of hands to see who is Catholic — Mr. Goggin should do penance by reciting a few Hail Marys and Our Fathers. – Herbert Mitgang in The New York Times
Hector Berlioz / City of Angels
On this day in classical music: French composer Hector Berlioz was born near Grenoble in 1803. In 1921, he went to Paris to study medicine but gave that up in favor of music three years later. He won the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1830 on his fourth attempt. Berlioz is best known for his epic “Symphonie fantastique” of 1830 and the “Requiem” of 1837. The composer was an accomplished orchestrator and published a Treatise on Instrumentation in 1844. Listen to Sir Mark Elder and the Halle Orchestra perform Berlioz’s overture to “Benvenuto Cellini” during the 2009 London Proms series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iN9jroI_M4
Hector Berlioz
On this day in the musical theatre: “City of Angels” opened on Broadway in 1989. A lighthearted spoof of the film noir genre popular in Hollywood during the 1940s, “City of Angels” featured a score by Cy Coleman and David Zippel, with a book by Larry Gelbart. The musical weaves together two plots, the real world of a writer trying to turn his book into a screenplay, and the reel world of the fictional film. “City of Angels” won six Tony Awards in 1990, including one for best score and another for best musical. It ran more than two years. Listen to the Broadway company perform “What You Don’t Know About Women” and “You’re Nothing Without Me” from the 1990 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBZ0nhYkFL8
City of Angels – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: There’s nothing novel about show-stopping songs and performances in Broadway musicals, but how long has it been since a musical was brought to a halt by riotous jokes? If you ask me, one would have to travel back to the 1960’s — to “Bye Bye Birdie,” “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum,” “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” and “Little Me” — to find a musical as flat-out funny as “City of Angels,” the new show about old Hollywood that arrived last night at the Virginia Theater. This is an evening in which even a throwaway wisecrack spreads laughter like wildfire through the house, until finally the roars from the balcony merge with those from the orchestra and the pandemonium takes on a life of its own. Only the fear of missing the next gag quiets the audience down. To make matters sweeter, the jokes sometimes subside just long enough to permit a show-stopping song or performance or two to make their own ruckus at center stage. In the large supporting cast, special attention must be paid — and will be, since she first appears wearing only a sheet — to Rachel York, who sings a torrid seduction number (“Lost and Found”) in Act I before serving as a self-promoting starlet in Act II. As Stone says in somber voice-over when describing another Hollywood siren, “Only the floor kept her legs from going on forever.” With lines like that, I, for one, would have been happy if “City of Angels” had gone on just as long. – Frank Rich in The New York Times
Morton Gould / Spring Awakening
On this day in classical music: American composer and conductor Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, N.Y. in 1913. A child prodigy, Gould got his start playing piano in movie theaters and vaudeville houses. He later became staff pianist at Radio City Music Hall and began conducting and arranging orchestral programs for WOR radio in New York. Gould’s compositional output was quite large and included works for orchestra, chorus, concertos, ballet, musical theater and television. In 1994, Gould received a Kennedy Center Honor in recognition his contributions to American culture. The following year, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his orchestral work “Stringmusic.” Gould died at age 82 in 1996. Listen to the United States Air Force Band perform Gould’s “American Salute.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eQh_yCqEWY
Morton Gould
On this day in the musical theatre: “Spring Awakening,” a musical based on the 1891 German play by Frank Wedekind, opened on Broadway in 2006. With music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater, “Spring Awakening” explored a wide range of delicate subjects, ranging from abortion, homosexuality and rape to child abuse and suicide. Set in late-19th century Germany, the musical follows a group of teenagers who begin to experience their sexual awakening. “Spring Awakening” was the big winner at the 2007 Tony Awards, winning eight nods, including one for best musical. The Broadway production ran for more than two years. Listen to the Broadway cast of “Spring Awakening” perform “Mama, Who Bore Me” and “The Bitch of Living” on the 2007 Tony Awards broadcast. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEYV5bNMZVo
Spring Awakening – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: A straight shot of eroticism steamed open last night at the Eugene O’Neill Theater under the innocuous name of “Spring Awakening,” and Broadway, with its often puerile sophistication and its sterile romanticism, may never be the same. In “Spring Awakening,” with a ravishing rock score by the playwright Steven Sater and the singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik, flesh makes only a single, charged appearance. And for all its frankness about the quest for carnal knowledge, it is blessedly free of the sniggering vulgarity that infects too many depictions of sexuality onstage and on screen. But in exploring the tortured inner lives of a handful of adolescents in 19th-century Germany, this brave new musical, haunting and electrifying by turns, restores the mystery, the thrill and quite a bit of the terror to that shattering transformation that stirs in all our souls sometime around the age of 13, well before most of us have the intellectual apparatus in place to analyze its impact. “Spring Awakening” makes sex strange again, no mean feat in our mechanically prurient age, in which celebrity sex videos are traded on the Internet like baseball cards. Mr. Sater, who wrote the book and lyrics, remains faithful to the play’s awareness that the discovery of sex can carry in its heady wake both salvation and destruction, particularly when it is coupled with ignorance. Mr. Sheik’s music, spare in its simple orchestrations, lush in the lapping reach of its seductive choruses, embodies the shadowy air of longing that infuses the show, the excitement shading into fear, the joy that comes with a chaser of despair. The singing throughout is impassioned and affecting, giving powerful voice to the blend of melancholy and hope in the songs. – Charles Isherwood in The New York Times
Claude Debussy / Swing
On this day in classical music: Claude Debussy’s “Nuages” and “Fêtes” (two of the three “Nocturnes” for orchestra) were given their premiere in Paris at a Lamoureux concert conducted by Camille Chevillard in 1900. “Nuages” (Clouds) and “Fêtes” (Festivals) would be joined by “Sirènes” (Sirens) to complete the orchestral suite inspired by a series of impressionist paintings by James Abbott McNeill Whistler. Listen to the Texas Festival Orchestra perform “Fêtes.” Pascal Verrot conducts. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elkeoVYVZS4
Claude Debussy
On this day in the musical theatre: “Swing,” a musical revue that celebrated the music of the Swing era, opened on Broadway in 1999. The eclectic score featured popular hits by Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Benny Goodman and numerous others. Containing no dialogue, the story was told entirely through music and dance. The musical featured choreography by Lynne Taylor-Corbett. “Swing” ran for 461 performances and was nominated for three Tony Awards.
Swing! – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: “The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in a general and, more particularly, in a decorative sense. Therefore, it is not meant to designate the usual form of the Nocturne, but rather all the various impressions and the special effects of light that the word suggests. ‘Nuages’ renders the immutable aspect of the sky and the slow, solemn motion of the clouds, fading away in grey tones lightly tinged with white. ‘Fêtes’ gives us the vibrating, dancing rhythm of the atmosphere with sudden flashes of light. There is also the episode of the procession (a dazzling fantastic vision), which passes through the festive scene and becomes merged in it. But the background remains resistantly the same: the festival with its blending of music and luminous dust participating in the cosmic rhythm. ‘Sirènes’ depicts the sea and its countless rhythms and presently, amongst the waves silvered by the moonlight, is heard the mysterious song of the Sirens as they laugh and pass on.” – introductory notes written by Claude Debussy
Ludwig van Beethoven / Nick & Nora
On this day in classical music: Ludwig van Beethoven conducted the premiere of his “Symphony No. 7” in Vienna in 1813. Dedicated to Count Moritz von Fries, the Seventh of Beethoven’s nine symphonies employs elements of dance, particularly in its use of dotted rhythms and repeated rhythmic figures. Long considered a masterpiece of rhythmic innovation and musical invention, the Seventh hasn’t always enjoyed unqualified praise. British conductor Thomas Beecham once posed the following question about the third movement: “What can you do with it? It’s like a lot of yaks jumping about.” Listen to Carlos Kleiber and the Bavarian State Symphony perform the third movement of Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 7 in A Major.” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Td3mRRne39I&playnext=1&list=PL7279D68C011D54F9&feature=results_video
Ludwig van Beethoven
On this day in the musical theatre: “Nick & Nora,” a musical based on detectives Nick and Nora Charles from Dashiell Hammett’s novel “The Thin Man,” opened on Broadway in 1991. Featuring a book by Arthur Laurents, lyrics by Richard Matlby, Jr. and music by Charles Strouse, “Nick & Nora” followed the title characters in their investigation of the murder of a bookkeeper on a film production in Hollywood. This was the sixth successive flop for Strouse following the enormous success of “Annie” in 1977. The half dozen musicals had a combined run of just 89 performances, with two (“Bring Back Birdie” and “Rags”) amassing only four performances each, and another two (“A Broadway Musical” and “Dance a Little Closer”) closing on opening night. Curiously, Strouse is rarely to blame for the failure of the musicals for which he contributes music and the nine-performance run of “Nick & Nora” is a perfect example of a fine score married to an ineffective narrative. Listen to “As Long As You’re Happy” from a Neglected Musicals presentation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDMAfcBiojg
Nick & Nora – Original Broadway Cast
Musical musings: Like the less-than-gifted celebrity who is famous for being famous, this musical will no doubt always be remembered, and not without fondness, for its troubled preview period, its much-postponed opening, its hassles with snooping journalists and its conflict with the city’s Consumer Affairs Commissioner. Indeed, the story of “Nick and Nora” in previews, should it ever be fully known, might in itself make for a riotous, 1930’s-style screwball-comedy musical. But the plodding show that has emerged from all this tumult is, a few bright spots notwithstanding, an almost instantly forgettable mediocrity. For starters, this production might have spent a little less time searching for the perfect Asta and a lot more time trying to find the right Nick and Nora. Barry Bostwick is a handsome leading man with an agreeable manner and sturdy voice, and Joanna Gleason, better still, is an astringent comic actress with impeccable timing and her own strong voice. But if either of these talents, together or separately, has the larger-than-life personality or all-around musical-comedy pizazz it takes to ignite a star-centric Broadway musical, that incandescence is kept under a shroud in “Nick and Nora.” Faith Prince fares far better in the role of the evening’s ubiquitous murder victim, Lorraine, a platinum-wigged film-industry bookkeeper who, among other attacks on her dubious character, is accused of trying to “play Barbara Stanwyck with Jean Harlow hair.” Though Lorraine is already dead when the show begins, she keeps popping up again and again as her murder is re-enacted in repeated flashbacks to the scene and night of the crime. The dizzy Ms. Prince not only takes a mean pratfall each time the gunshots ring out but also brings a brash, belting delivery to “Men,” a musical diatribe that almost does to its satirical target what Miss Hannigan did to “Little Girls” in Mr. Strouse’s “Annie.” We can look forward to hearing a lot more from Ms. Prince. In the meantime, there is no escaping the unfortunate fact that the liveliest thing in “Nick and Nora” is a corpse. – Ben Brantley in The New York Times
