MSO Pops: Some Enchanted Evening
Monday, September 6, 2010
, Posted by Should I See It at 4:00 AM
Concert: Some Enchanted Evening: The Best of Rodgers & Hammerstein
Presented By: The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Conductor: Martin Yates
Date Reviewed: Saturday 14th August, 8pm.
Rating:
I am going to be honest: this review will contain numerous usages of the word beautiful and synonyms thereof.
Some Enchanted Evening was a wonderful night with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Selections were from Rodgers and Hammerstein's most popular shows: Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. I must admit I was a little disappointed not to hear some selections from their lesser known shows like Allegro or Me and Juliet, but you have to please the masses. Highlights of the night were definitely ‘The Carousel Waltz’ and the encore of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. ‘The Carousel Waltz’ was simply outstanding; the beauty of the melody demonstrated the ability of Richards Rodgers to create passion and feeling with only music.
Some Enchanted Evening was a wonderful night with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. Selections were from Rodgers and Hammerstein's most popular shows: Oklahoma, Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. I must admit I was a little disappointed not to hear some selections from their lesser known shows like Allegro or Me and Juliet, but you have to please the masses. Highlights of the night were definitely ‘The Carousel Waltz’ and the encore of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’. ‘The Carousel Waltz’ was simply outstanding; the beauty of the melody demonstrated the ability of Richards Rodgers to create passion and feeling with only music.
The Orchestra were supported by vocalists and UK imports Jacqui Scott and Andrew Halliday. Ms. Scott was……particularly unimpressive. Her voice was weak, and she quite obviously struggled particularly in the selections from Oklahoma! Ms. Scott also committed the cardinal sin by managing to mix up the lyrics in just about every number from South Pacific. If you are celebrating the music AND lyrics of a particular writing team, then you really should get the lyrics right!
Though Halliday could pull out the full tone more suited to the style of a Rogers and Hammerstein score when absolutely necessary, notably in Soliloquy from Carousel and Younger than Springtime (South Pacific), his tone was mostly that of the modern pop musical theatre style that we are seeing more and more of today.
Overall, the show needed vocalists with warmer, richer tones that are more qualified to do justice to the beauty of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s work. Why did we need UK vocalists anyway? Isn’t there enough talent in Melbourne to do the score justice? It’s not as if Scott or Halliday are ‘names’ that could be potential draw cards. People are there to see the Orchestra, not the vocalists.
Apart from the average vocal performances, the only major misstep of the night was ‘Oklahoma’ (the song). The Orchestra were wonderful, but having only the two vocalists sing it left something to be desired. It felt empty. The song really needs a rousing chorus of voices to it justice.
Rogers and Hammerstein gave the world some of the most beautiful songs ever written. The lyrics are timeless; the expressions of love so simple that the songs will continue to transcend time.
Hearing these wonderful songs by arguably musical theatres most successful writing team made me realise that people don’t write shows like that anymore! Bring back the golden age of musical theatre!!!
For those who are not connoisseurs of classical music, the MSO Pops is a great place to start. They will finish their 2010 with a selection of Disney classics, which is a nice way to ease into the world of MSO.
Some Enchanted Evening played only 3 performances.
MSO official site here.
