In the Glenn Miller mood...

Been a while since I've taken the time to make a show update, but we'll give two in rapid succession here.  First, Saturday night I went to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra at Benaroya Hall.  I have to admit, I wasn't expecting the world, in fact I was expecting to be bored by about intermission.  But they were absolutely fantastic!

Not only were they fantastic musicians, they were brilliant entertainers.  Not a huge surprise... I certainly have always been a big fan of Glenn Miller and his music, but little did I expect one fantastic song after another for 2 solid hours.

On a note of personal taste, big band music is far more to my liking than straight-ahead or bebop jazz music.  As much as I like jazz, I struggle through some jazz bands' 10+ minute long songs with endless improvisational verses.  Fortunately, big band music tends to finds its origins in American popular music of the 1940s... and the songs tend to be mercifully short.  (Just hypothesizing, but a 78rpm record could handle about 3 minutes of music on a side, so that would probably keep the popular songs limited to about that long.)

Dreamgirls


Last Wednesday I went and saw Dreamgirls at the Paramount.  Despite it being a nearly 30-year old musical (it premiered back in 1981), and a recent movie (which I didn't see), I knew absolutely nothing about this show going into it except a very superficial premise.  As is typically the case with musicals based on a genre of music or a particular band or bands, the so-called "jukebox musicals", I was expecting decent music with a tenuous if not non-existent plot line.  Wow, was I surprised again!  Not only did this musical have fantastic music, not to mention some amazing singers, it actually had a captivating plot!

The obvious allusions to Diana Ross, the Supremes, and James Brown provided a fascinating connection of the plot to 1960's and 70's music history, its successes and its scandals.

It's been a while since I've been able to give a solid rating here, but based on my standard system:

Cast: 4 stars - Brilliant singers and actors.
Script: 4 stars - Decent plot.  Enough to hold the music together and keep me captivated.  I'd call that a success.
Music:  3 stars - Better performed than the music itself was.
Technical: 4 stars - This wasn't a Broadway spectacle, but it was well done and pleasing to watch.
Overall:  4 stars - Hard to complain too much.

Seattle Symphony 2009-10

Today the Seattle Symphony announced their 2009-10 season schedule. Just like the holidays, it seems like this happens earlier and earlier each year. Looks like another season of good concerts, this year celebrating the 25th anniversary of Gerard Schwarz as the symphony's Music Director.

[As an interesting aside, on the second page of this year's subscription brochure there's a photo montage of Schwarz over the years, which I've replicated here, left-to-right from top, his first year back in 1983 "young", 1988 "dorky", 1992 "serious", 1998 "intense", 2001 "Dan Rather", 2005 "profound", and finally 2008 "old".]

As usual there are some concerts that on first look seem to be the "not-to-be-missed" of the season. The Seattle Pops series, once again led by Principal Pops Conductor Marvin Hamlisch, kicks off in September with The Fabulous '50s, followed by December's Holiday Pops Spectacular this year featuring Cirque de la Symphonie. The rest of the season includes a tribute to Stephen Sondheim, an appearance by the Glenn Miller Orchestra, and finally highlights from The Music Man. Yet another amazing season lineup.

On the classical front, highlights include December's "Swan Lake & Festive Holiday Classics" slated to include The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Prelude to Hansel and Gretel, Smetana's The Moldau, in addition to Tchaikovsky's Suite from Swan Lake, among others. Additional concerts of note include Beethoven's 5th in April, and numerous other classics. (What isn't a classic, these days?)

Season subscriptions are on sale now, single ticket purchases will begin in September. Hard to believe we're already thinking out to the spring of 2010, I thought we just hit 2009. Fortunately, having not received most of the Olympics tickets I requested, maybe I'll support more of the symphony this year. It might be more satisfying in the long term.

Holiday Pops

Last night I went to the Seattle Symphony's annual Holiday Pops concert.  This being the first one since Marvin Hamlisch became the principal Pops conductor this year.  What a concert!  I always have claimed the holiday pops concert to be one of the best of each year, and this year was far and beyond better than any past.  I think what makes Hamlisch's pops concerts standout so much is that it's more than just a lot of great music, it's usually much more of a stage show.  As is usual, there was a sing-a-long portion, which the entire audience was implored (er, required) to stand up and sing it out.  And, as always, the music was spectacular.  Benaroya Hall was packed, and at the conclusion after the encore, the applause wouldn't stop, so Hamlisch comes out for one final bow, and this time drags the concertmaster off the stage with him.  :)  Even more so than usual, next year if you make it out to see one concert, this is the one that is a must see! 

Swingin' with Marvin

Last night I attended the first Pops concert of the Seattle Symphony's season.  It definitely did not disappoint!  This season we're lucky enough to have Marvin Hamlisch as the symphony's Principal Pops Conductor.  The last several seasons have each featured one concert conducted by Hamlisch, which usually was one of the best concerts of the season, and now we get him all season long.  And what a ham he always is too.  As usual, the concert would evolve into a stand-up musical comedy routine, with still outstanding music to go with it.  

The music was top notch, with a collection of jazz and swing standards as the theme of the concert.  The featured guests were the US Army Jazz Ambassadors, an outstanding group of Army musicians who performed with the symphony.  We were also treated to several young musicians from the Seattle area, including a jazz quartet, and an amazing clarinet player who's a senior at Garfield HS.  

The featured vocalist was a 14-year old singer from Canada named Nikki Yanofsky, who was absolutely amazing.  Keep your eye on this kid, you'll be hearing a lot more from her in a few years.  

Featured in the concert were tribute medleys Irving Berlin, Louis Armstrong, and Duke Ellington among others.  Marvin's interactions with the audience were of course a highlight, as he managed to heckle one person in the 2nd row who had binoculars, and invited them to move to the front row if they were having trouble seeing.  Just before intermission, he also questioned the audience "what exactly do you folks DO during intermission anyway?"  

Looking forward to the Holiday concert.  

Weekend Update

[I wrote this originally on Sunday night, but apparently it didn't post. Pretend it did.]

What a busy weekend! Friday night I met up with a group of friends to go to the Seattle Symphony Pops' Sci-Fi Concert. We met for dinner at Rock Bottom downtown beforehand and had a good dinner before heading over to Benaroya Hall for the concert. The concert was outstanding. The main focus of the concert was the music of John Williams, including much music from Star Wars and Superman, as well as selections from Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Harry Potter. Though not exclusively John Williams music, the show included music from the various Star Trek series, as well as a medley of themes from TV shows spanning the past 40 years, from The Twilight Zone to the X-Files, and many others inbetween.

The show included a "laser light show", which frankly I could have done without. It was somewhat interesting, but entirely unnecessary, and on the whole unimpressive and hokey. They could have taken the $1.99 they spent on the laser show and put it to better use elsewhere.

Additional features included George Takei, Mr. Sulu from the original Star Trek series, who was "narrator" but really only played a small role by providing a few anecdotes prior to the Star Trek theme medley, as well as narrating the opening into to Star Trek. While we would have liked to see a bit more of him, he still was a good addition. A featured soprano, complete in uniform, was the highlight of the Star Trek medley as she adeptly sang the wordless melody to Star Trek. Overall, an outstanding performance to one of the more packed houses I've seen at Benaroya.

Saturday I met up with Kristen, Mark, Annie and Adam in the afternoon before Cat and Aaron's wedding. The wedding was at 6pm at Cat's church over on Queen Anne. It was a very nice ceremony, about an hour long but didn't nearly feel that long. The reception was downtown at the Women's University Club, a very posh social hall down on 6th and Spring. I have to say the reception, in addition to being in one of the classiest settings for a wedding reception I've seen, was also one of the most smoothly run. An emcee kept the entire reception moving, and it all went splendidly and was a fun event with fun people.

Sunday was a good day to relax. I was considering being productive, but afterall decided to stay around, do some grocery shopping and laundry, then watched the first episode of Ken Burns' new The War documentary. Now for another week of work, well, 4 days at least before I take my weekend trip to Disneyland this coming weekend. Hopefully it's not a long 4-day week.

I am a blogging slacker!

You know how it is when you get out of the habit of doing something, you tend to forget about it completely. Yes, such is my blog. When I'm not on vacation, I tend not to remember to put anything interesting here. BUT... today I shall change that. Today is the first day of the rest of my blog. Or something.

Did you notice how in that entire first paragraph, I had a lot of words and almost zero information. That's space filler, folks. Now for a barrage of updates:

• Since I never really wrapped up my last vacation blog... yes, I made it home from Upstate New York. I posted the last few pictures I had previously forgotten to upload. Really nothing other than some long plane riding adventures complete the trip blog, and I actually do have one final blog entry that I scribbled down on a piece of paper while sitting on the plane on the way home. I'll probably get that posted in the next couple of days.
• Speaking of vacation, while posting the last of my vacation pictures, I also threw in some pictures from work I took one day when I happened to have my camera. Not too enthralling, but if you've ever wondered where I spend at least 40-hours a week, that can serve as a little glimpse into my world. Also on the topic of pictures, I still have a slew of pictures from Emily and Nathan's wedding in Yakima that I have yet to post. Maybe by their first anniversary I'll get around to that. Hmmm.
• Speaking of weddings, yet another wedding in the "Year of a Million Weddings" continues this weekend with Cat and Aaron's wedding. Fortunately, this is one of the few that don't require me travelling long distances to go to. And this time, lots of people will be in town this weekend for the festivities. Plus, on Friday night myself and a bunch of friends are going to the Seattle Symphony for their Sci-Fi Concert featuring music as expected, plus a laser light show (in Benaroya Hall, that should prove interesting) and narration by none other than George Takei, whom I last saw at a Husky halftime show riding around in a cardboard USS Enterprise that made me fear for his safety. Hmmm... should be interesting.
• Speaking of football, another season of Husky Football is once again upon us. After a 2-0 start to the season, the Dawgs had a sloppy game against Ohio State to come back to 2-1. Though overall, I'm not too disappointed about the game. We still look far better than any team that's taken the field the past several years, and good potential for a decent season.
• Speaking of a decent season, another year of curling is fast approaching. That chilly pasttime that seems to consume at least 3-nights a week, 6-months out of my year, is back again. This will be my 3rd year of throwing rocks at houses, plus to add to the mayhem, I agreed to take over as the league manager for the Friday night league. That should actually be more fun than not, though of course, yet another thing to add to my plate of things to do.
• Speaking of things to do, next weekend (after this one) I'm heading down to Disneyland for the weekend. I'm trying to squeeze out a bit of extra mileage out of my Annual Pass I got last October, and found next weekend to be the best time to do it. Not sure who else may show up as well... Amy may go down if she "has nothing better to do," and Heather may drive down from Encino to hang out with me for one of the days. But of course, it'll be fun no matter what. It's actually often easier to get around by myself, when all is said and done. :)
• Speaking of being done, I think that's the last of my updates for now.

A Cabaret Evening with Betty Buckley

Three words: Oh... the... pain.

I was expecting an evening filled with fun and exciting music sung by a talented singer. As the lights went down to start the show, a quick perusal of the hall saw a lot of empty seats. This is never a good sign. My first thought was, "what do they know that I don't know?" The answer soon became all too clear.

Ms. Buckley came out on stage, with a four-piece combo of saxophone, bass, drums, and piano--her personal backup band--along with a subset of the symphony. In reading the program notes, she obviously has quite the acting resume, including a Tony award for her starring role in the musical Cats. This should have been the recipe for an outstanding musical evening. Unfortunately, like tossing a clove of garlic into the chocolate-chip cookie dough, there was a disastrous error.

As Ms. Buckley explained in her brief comments between tunes, she was asked to program a "cabaret" evening of music, and as part of her interpretation included an array of sultry or lounge-style songs. In principle this was reasonable, unfortunately it was all to obvious that this is neither her forte, nor what the audience was hoping to hear. After the first 30 minutes, I began too compulsively check my watch. After 45, and a rendition of "Cry Me A River" that one could barely recognize as such, the agony was setting in. Judging by the lackluster applause from the rest of the audience, I doubt I was alone. Wrapping up the first act, she threw the audience a bone and sang a few show tunes from Sunset Boulevard and My Fair Lady, with full accompaniment of the symphony. A level of applause unheard to that point led us into the intermission.

The performance really shined at the close of the first act, but the mere thought of having to sit through another hour of pain was too much. I made my way to the exit, and in the elevator down to the parking garage was joined by several others who had the same reaction I did. A steady stream of cars cascaded from the parking garage.

It was a disappointing evening. I was looking so forward to a great show, but unfortunately, I guess you can't win them all.

Music from the Stage and Screen

Continuing with my apparent string of great performances, tonight I went to the Seattle Symphony Pops concert featuring Marvin Hamlisch and an outstanding musical lineup of great movie and Broadway show music. I must be on a roll this week, because this was probably the best Seattle Symphony concert I've been to all season. Marvin Hamlisch has of course scored countless movies and 8 Broadway shows, including A Chorus Line, and is an outstanding pianist. That in itself should make for a great performance, but what wasn't expected was that he's probably funnier than even many professional comedians I've seen. I should have expected an entertaining night as soon as the symphony opened with the distinct screeching strings from Psycho. The evening included the symphony performing from various movie scores, and shows such as My Fair Lady and Phantom of the Opera, featuring an outstanding tenor. Hamlisch provided the interludes and introduced each tune, telling various stories and even throwing around some Victor Borge-eseque piano humor. All this from a man who has 4 Grammys, 4 Emmys, a Tony and 3 Oscars (and took plenty of opportunity to joke about the Academy Awards, and his losing to John Williams several times, claiming all John has to do is pound on the piano and he gets an award for it). Absolutely outstanding... another 4+ star performance. Certainly as long as there are plenty of good shows, I won't be complaining. :)