American Songbook Goes Latin @ 92Y

I just wanted to let everybody know about an extraordinary event going on today and tomorrow at 92Y. As some people may know, they get five guest artistic directors every year and the first one this year is Lucie Arnaz. She has chosen to do a tribute to her father's music and it's called "Babalu: The American Songbook Goes Latin." The great thing about it is that it explores the Latin influence on some American standards as well as re-visits the songs that made Desi Arnaz famous on the music circuit. She is joined in the second act by Desi Arnaz Jr. on the drums and shares the vocals with Raul Esparza and Valarie Pettiford. I saw the opening night last night on a whim, thinking it sounded fascinating, and I was right. Lucie unearthed some old recordings of her father from the '30s and '40s and played some clips of them. A lot of the intros included stories about when the song was originally played by the Desi Arnaz Orchestra and about America's general response to Latin music at that point in history. Raul was close to tears describing his reaction when Lucie called and asked him to be a part of it because he is also Cuban and Desi Arnaz was such a beacon of a Cuban who overcame poverty and built a life for himself.

I would really recommend this to anybody who is a fan of Latin music, the Arnazes or even music history in general. There are matinees and evening shows today and tomorrow. I can't imagine the type of responsibilities Lucie and Desi Jr. face to maintain their own careers while working so hard to protect their family's legacy but she has really done a fantastic job exploring someone who is sometimes so overshadowed by Lucille Ball and really changed the face of American music. Here is the set list:

Act I
"Tico Tico"
"I'll See You in C-U-B-A"
"Vira y Vira"
"Cuban Pete"
"Para Vigo Me Soy"
"Similau"
"Cachita"
"Amor"
"Besame Mucho"
"Old Devil Moon"
"Brazil"
Latin Geography Medley
"Granada"
"Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps"
"Rumba Matumba"

Act II
Arnaz Jam
"What Am I Gonna Do About You?"
"The Peanut Vendor"
"How High the Moon?"
"Come Rain or Come Shine"
"Temptation"
"Without You"
"I Love Lucy" Theme
"Straw Hat Song"
"Cuban Cabby"
"Quiereme Mucho"
"El Cubanchero"
"Babalu"

I was going to post about this, urging people to go. Count me in as someone who didn't quite know what to expect, but was totally BLOWN AWAY by the entire evening. I believe my post on the other thread was "Holy sh*t you guys that was unbelievable." I don't have much to add to DivaBrigadeer's post, but wanted to echo the sentiment of, GO GO GO. This is a must for anyone who likes any of these performers, because they are absolutely on fire, Latin music, music history, or honestly, even cultural history period. A fantastic evening, and I'm so glad I went. I can't stop thinking about it.

---

Updated On: 1/10/10 at 12:14 PM

Raul.

(My ONLY disappointment was that he didn't sing Old Devil Moon!)

---

Updated On: 1/10/10 at 12:43 PM

It was a truly amazing event. I went on a whim because Valarie Pettiford was performing and my god was it worth it! Lucie Arnaz never sounded better and Valarie's "Besame Mucho" was one of the best songs I've seen her sing. But, the true show stopper was Raul Esparza, especially his operatic rendition of "Granada!"

The only performance I can manage to attend is the 2 pm tomorrow, so it will be interesting to see who will be attending with me! If they can set the place on fire with a 2 pm Monday matinee audience, it will probably be a miracle - on the other hand, if there are only 5 performances and they are loving doing this event, it should still be pretty hot. I'll report back - if work doesn't somehow prevent me from using my ticket.

Exactly. I'm always impressed by him, but this had me, even as someone who sees him perform very often, completely astonished. He just took it to a whole new level last night. My jaw was hanging open for a good part of the show. And it was really gratifying, as someone who has loved his work for a long time, to see him sing this music that clearly means so, so much to him. He looked so happy and proud, and that was really beautiful to watch, I think. And he just totally nailed it.

(Also, I loved hearing the little old ladies totally losing their sh*t over him. It was hysterical.)

---

Updated On: 1/10/10 at 06:09 PM

I like their space a lot, actually. It's a little bit bigger than I think you'd imagine, but it's just beautiful, and the sound is great. I wouldn't say it's "uncomfortable" at all. And yeah, there's an "art gallery" on the ground floor by the auditorium, where you'd head to get to the restrooms, and I think they're coming out to schmooze and whatnot there. They did the other night, so I'm assuming that'll continue. It was pretty crazy, though!

---

I don't think I had ever seen Lucie in anything before. I thought she was wonderful! What a voice. And yes, it was really packed and chaotic. I don't think they're actually using the real stage door, but even still, this certainly doesn't seem like the type of thing that would involve limos and barricades. There were a lot of people in the art gallery thing, but it didn't seem like anybody was really after autographs or photos or anything like that, just a lot of deserved praise and such fanfare.

I sat upstairs, too, and while it was a little bit farther away than I'd like to have been, you can't beat the $25 price tag!

... kind of want to watch my "I Love Lucy" DVD's now.

---

Updated On: 1/10/10 at 10:18 PM

I'm seeing it tomorrow night. Can't wait!

---

Thanks, emcee! What a fun song.

Oh, I wasn't implying that you did! I hope you didn't think I was, and I'm sorry if you did!! Come to think of it, given that there's a big archive of Desi's stuff at the Library of Congress, maybe it was recorded in some form for that collection? If you ask, I'd be curious to know what she says.

---

I went to the 2 pm show on Monday, and had a great time. I thought the show was well-constructed, interesting and nicely performed. If I had any criticism, I felt that the music was a little over-amplified - I was in row N, and sometimes felt like I was in one of those multiplexes where the sound is set at max. Lucie Arnaz is very engaging, Desi Jr. was marvelous on the drums, and the dancers were excellent. I liked Valarie Pettiford's dancing a lot, but her way of delivering a song seemed excessively stylized. I don't know how much the amplification was responsible for that. Raul Esparza was very relaxed as a narrator; his description of Santaria (and Babaluaye) was hysterical. His voice seems much warmer and darker when he sings in Spanish! Everything he sang was great although my personal favorites were "Cuban Pete" (see above) and "Similau." When he took out the conga drum for "Babalu", I thought "time for a bio-pic?"

Yes, I noticed that with the sound a bit, too. Sometimes the orchestra did seem to overpower the vocals and I lost a few of the lyrics, but I didn't find it overwhelmingly obtrusive.

Where are the pictures from?

---