A Night at the Operetta
A Night at the Operetta
Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, June 9, 2016
Reviewed by Marilyn Lester for Cabaret Scenes
Once upon a time, operetta, the precursor to musical theater as it came to be defined, ruled on Broadway. In bringing this “lyrical, heroic, and beautiful music” to the cabaret stage, host Scott Siegel, who produced, directed and wrote A Night at the Operetta, reminds us there was a time when high drama and romance were prized – and weren’t considered at all schmaltzy. To open, three sturdy singers, Ryan Silverman, Douglas Ladnier and Cooper Grodin, entered theatrically from offstage heartily singing “Stout Hearted Men” (The New Moon). Actually, two of the men turned out to be exceedingly tough and determined: Silverman and Grodin each had been ill during the day, defining themselves as true troupers with their very appearance on the stage. For solos, they prevailed with Silverman’s “Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise” (The New Moon) and Grodin’ with the title song from Rose Marie. Ladnier performed “The Riff Song” (The Desert Song) with swashbuckling sparkle and also “One Alone” (The Desert Song). This latter piece in particular demonstrated how up-to-date many of these songs can sound when arranged and sung with a modern sensibility.
On the distaff side, paying homage to Gilbert and Sullivan, those widely known pioneers of early operetta, were Rachel Zatcoff, Meredith Lustig and Christiane Noll singing “Three Little Maids from School Are We” (The Mikado) “with girlish glee.” For their solos, Zatcoff sighingly performed “One Kiss” (The New Moon), while Noll offered the zippy “Italian Street Song” (Naughty Marietta). Lustig, the only non-Broadway performer on the stage (she’s opera-trained), scored a grand-slam with her rendition of the beautiful “Vilia” (The Merry Widow). Of course, there were duets: “Wanting You” (The New Moon) with Grodin and Lustig; “Only a Rose” (The Vagabond King) with Ladnier and Zatcoff; and “Deep in My Heart, Dear” (The Student Prince) with Noll and Silverman, all lushly performed. In the years that operetta was king (until the Great Depression) the music was sung in acoustically exemplary theaters, without amplification, by soaring voices. To honor that tradition, the show was “semi-unplugged” (compensating for the lack of acoustics in the venue). The result was one that gave a timeless appeal to these exquisite songs, which deserve to regularly be given new life. Musical Director and pianist Ross Patterson, as always, proved a remarkable one-man orchestra, playing with a lovely, befitting lavishness.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional
