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NOW It's getting VERY cool.
WAIT UNTIL DARK is part of this night.
Well, we have to subtract the VERY - I took out Wait Until Dark - just wasn't working as it should have. That happens from time to time, but believe me, there are so many incredible songs in this show - the rehearsals have been amazing. And always remember: He Shouldn'ta, Hadn'ta, Oughtn'ta Swang on Me!
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I'll let Morricone tell you about the evening, but so much fun to see him and Nancy Hoven, Marshall Harvey, Peter Hackman, Edwin Wendler, Bruce Younger - I think I may be forgetting someone, due to senility.
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Posted: |
Aug 7, 2017 - 3:14 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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After close to 80 Kritzerland shows I encountered my first major audience problem last night. One large table of “fans” seemed to be there purely as support for one singer. They, alcohol inspired, applauded and whooped and took pictures and movies of this lady but felt not as compelled to respect the other singers. They also came late and ate their food during the show and whispered and texted to the point my wife left the table. I had to confront the ones closest to me and they apologized so at least MY problem people behaved better throughout most of the show. After all these years I am calling this incident an anomaly.
I have been to some absolutely great Kritzerland shows and there were places in last night’s show that achieved just that. Singer Wendy Rosoff had a problem during the PETER GUNN/MR. LUCKY puttogether. Luckily the driving rhythms of guitarist Grant Geissman and Richard Allen’s piano MADE that number. And Wendy made up for that with a lovely rendition of “Too Little Time” from THE GLENN MILLER STORY and “The Sweetheart Tree” THE GREAT RACE and doing the funniest piece of the night “Paris Makes Me Horny” from VICTOR VICTORIA.
Naturally, classic Mancini was performed and the lovely voice of Adrienne Stiefel delivered “Moon River” “Two For the Road” and “The Days Of wine and Roses”. Just letting those beautiful melodies wash over you was enough to make anyone’s night. But Adrienne made a reversal later on with the raucous “He Shouldn’ta, Hadn’ta,Oughtn’ta Swang On Me” from THE GREAT RACE.
Amy Gillette, a lady who has done VICTOR VICTORIA, MY FAIR LADY and MARY POPPINS on the stage was perfect to deliver the Julie Andrews portion of the show with songs from DARLING LILI and VICTOR VICTORIA. You can hear that Andrews lilt throughout with “Whistling in the Dark” and “Le Jazz Hot” being highlights.
David Bellusci did a nice job on the more offbeat items ME, NATALIE, “Send A Little Love My Way” from OKLAHOMA CRUDE and “Tomorrow is my Friend” from GAILY, GAILY, but especially on the unused love theme from HIGH TIME “Moon Talk” given lyrics by Bruce Kimmel. A new song is born!
Speaking of Bruce, who IS Kritzerland, he is host throughout giving background to each piece and getting laughs along the way and keeping things moving.
Special mention to Robert Yacko who always brings heart and soul to every concert he does (even those done in my own backyard) – his DEAR HEART/CHARADE combo did just that. Later he did the same for “It’s Easy To Say” from TEN. But the opening number, the main theme from HIGH TIME that Bruce also put lyrics to, was a marvel to behold (but this time so tongue twisting it amazed me how Robert held it all together).
And how can you not include Mancini instrumental themes? Guitarist Geissman and pianist Allen returned for THE PINK PANTHER and “Baby Elephant Walk” from HATARI! that resonated with every soundtrack fan in the crowd. We ALL sang “Moon River” for the finale.
Summing up the night honor was done to Mancini with songs probably never played again in concert. To this day I have talked about the legendary weekends of the Society for the Preservation of Film Music, the Henry Mancini Institute concerts and the GSPO film Music galas. They are gone. One day people will talk about when that guy from Varese Sarabande, Bay Cities and Kritzerland did these little unique shows in NoHo and they will be missed too.
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That was an interesting situation last night that we have never ever encountered before and that's seventy-eight other shows. We had us a raucous table who drank too much, were loud and it was daunting for me but I was very proud of the way I dealt with it because I could have gone a whole different way that would have made everyone uncomfortable and would have precluded any further laughs in the show, which would not have been good. I didn't say anything for quite a while, but when I finally did it did get a big laugh and they quieted down after that.
One of the things I love about our audiences is that they don't whoop and holler like in most places - they give honest applause and cheers when it's earned and appropriate. And that's the way I like it. I go to other shows and hear all that whooping and hollering because EVERY table in the room is like the ONE we had for the first time ever last night - all friends of the performers giving every utterance a screaming, crazy reaction. It's nice for them, but not real - I'm all about real.
In defense of Wendy's Peter Gunn/Mr. Lucky - it was a hard position to be in, first of all. First show, second number and the lyric for Peter Gunn is TERRIBLE and almost unsingable. And Mr. Lucky is just really rangy and while we took the key down, and wanted to take it down further, then the low parts were too low - it's a crazy tune that I love, but again, very difficult to sing due to the big range from low to high. Both of those songs work better without lyrics and in retrospect I probably would not do them if we were to do this show again.
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Great evening. Really enjoyed the little history lesson before each song so us the audience got to know a little bit about the background the song as I didn't know a lot of the background to most of these songs so it was nice to learn something. Good time was had by all!
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