Meredith Wilson (1902-1984) was a musician, composer, songwriter, musical arranger and bandleader. Best known for writing book, music, and lyrics for the 1957 hit The Music Man, he had success with The Unsinkable Molly Brown and suffered what was then called “quick” failure (eight months) with Here’s Love, an adaptation of Miracle on 34th Street. Willson also wrote and arranged songs and collaborated on film scores.
Tonight, Walter Willison spotlights three shows with additions of songs familiar, “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas,” and unfamiliar, “Now I Know” among others. The company is composed of opera (vocal disconnect), Broadway, and club artists.
Highlights:
Nikita Burshteyn
Young Nikita Burshteyn, new to me, offers an animated, ersatz western, “My State, My Kansas, My Home” (Here’s Love). “A” for effort and charm. The two songs that follow ring truer: “I’ll Never Say No to You” (The Unsinkable Molly Brown) showcases tender, tenor vibrato and palpable sincerity. “Now I Know,” theme to Charlie Chaplin’s first talking film, The Great Dictator, emerges lovely and restrained. Watch for him.
Jay Aubrey Jones
Veteran Jay Aubrey Jones performs “Colorado, My Home” (The Unsinkable Molly Brown), a song that requires vocal depth and resonance. The artist delivers in spades, selling the state with ardor. Jones is a communicator. Despite theater background, he connects with the audience. The performer also leads “Ask Not,” a tribute to the then recently deceased John Kennedy which premiered on The Texaco Star Parade. The piece is over dense and doesn’t fit the show, but Jones is splendid.
“My White Knight” (The Music Man) is deftly performed by Jill Paice. Most people recall only the chorus; the song is considerably longer and more vocally complicated. Paice combines an appealing soprano, precise enunciation, and character expression. “It’s Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas” (with company back up) is aptly jaunty.
Jill Paice
“Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart” was a tribute to Meredith’s German/Bavarian housekeeper, Josephine, and her pidgin combination of languages: “…das ist da stinkin’ up da machine,” Cheryl Ann Allen sings. The song itself is weird and might today be considered demeaning. Allen does a grand job with it, however.
Walter Willison
Walter Willison opens with “Here’s Love!” and “That Man Over There is Santa Claus” (Here’s Love!). At 17, he was in the non-equity part of the original show’s chorus and shares an anecdote. Performance is infectiously spirited, Willison’s voice in fine fettle. “Sadder But Wiser Girl” (The Music Man) elicits bounce punctuated by sharp gesture. “You and I,” recorded by Glenn Miller, on the hit parade nine months, is appealingly dancy.
The company closes with “May the Lord Bless and Keep You.” May the good Lord bless you and keep you/Whether near or far away/May you find that long awaited golden day today. Well edited patter is illuminating and just enough. The country feel of Molly Brown, alas, never sees light. Opera voices here don’t blend with theater vocals.
As always Michael Lavine adroitly executes the Herculean job of dealing with a vast range of vocal ability and lends occasional fine vocal back-up.
Here’s Love to The Music Man: A Celebration of Songwriter Meredith Willson
Producer/Director/Writer/Host- Walter Willison
Music Director/Piano- Michael Lavine
Expertly coordinated costuming by Mitchell Bloom
Featuring: Loni Ackerman Kennedy, Cheryl Ann Allen, Nikita Burshteyn, Melinda Hopkins, Jay Aubrey Jones, Marcy DeGonge Manfredi, Jill Paice, Cynthia Thomas, Walter Willison, Sheila Wormer, and, on video, Nick Whitehurst, Director of Music Man Square in Mason City, Iowa (The Music Man‘s River City)
54Below
254 West 54th Street
Calendar
