My Hollywood Bowl Review

[Popular]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:27am

I tried my best to write things down as the show went along, but I'm embarassed to say that I didn't immediately recognize a lot of the songs so I may only have the show they sang from, or a few lyrics down that that I thought might help those of you who know Sondheim inside out to figure out the song. So this is how the evening went:

• Jason Danieley sang "Something's Coming"
• Angela Landsbury gave a little speech
• Anne Hathaway, Eric McCormack, Stephanie D’Abruzzo, and Alexander Gemignani were next. Anne sang a song called “What more do I need”(?) and then the rest sang a song (or continued the same one?) that seemed to be about two guys putting together an act and auditioned these two girls (Bernadette Peters made a little cameo if you will and played the one who couldn’t sing at all – very funny!) It might have been a medley of two songs or just one, I’m sorry, don’t kill me but I’ve never heard it before.
• Then Bernadette Peters came back out and sang “Being Alive”. I have great respect for her but I wasn’t that impressed.
• Adam Wylie and Jason Alexander sand “Free”
• Vanessa Williams sang a song I think (once again don’t kill me) called “More”?
• Marin Mazzie sang a song I’m pretty sure was from Passions with a lyric “in Buddy’s eyes…”?
• Stephanie D’Abruzzo and Marin Mazzie sang “It’s Always a Woman” (or “There’s Always a Woman”?) – very cute!!!!
• Josh Groban and Barbara Cook sang a song I think called “Move On”, I’m pretty sure from “Sunday in the Park…”
• Audra McDonald and Vanessa Williams sang from West Side Story with 2 other guys I can’t for the life of me remember who they were.
• INTERMISSION 
• Elaine Stritch sang “Broadway Baby” - she got a great response but it was a little hard to hear her from my section.
• Josh Groban and Jubilant Skyes sang….oh hell, I only have the word “Joanna” written down – any guesses? And then Jubilant sang Pretty Women.
• AUDRA solo! Yes it was a medley of something that, once again, I haven’t heard before… too much to loose was in the lyric a lot though, hope that helps! But I really didn’t care WHAT song she sang….she is amazing and I’m going back Saturday to hear her and Brian Stokes Mitchell sing Gershwin!
• Marin Mazzie and Eric McCormack then started “I’m Not Getting Married Today” and then Carol Burnett came out as Amy and was HILARIOUS!!!
• Barbara Cook followed by singing a song that starts “I dim the lights and think about you”… I’m sorry, I’m pathetic.
• Angela Landsbury and Len Cariou sang Sweeney Todd. It couldn’t be stopped, I kept on having Beauty and the Beast flashbacks when she sang.
• Then Warren Beatty came out and introduced the Children Will Listen program, and this is where I suppose Barbra was supposed to come out and sing, but Bernadette Peters did.
• Then Barbra introduced Stephen Sondheim and led the crowd in singing Happy Birthday to him.
• Then students from the L.A. Master Chorale High School Choir Festival sang (I forget what) ... found out I knew someone singing up there with them so that was nice!!!
• The came out for bows, Angela fell, she got up, THE END! 

I'll try and add in more of thoughts on the actual performances but I wanted to get that all down first before I went to bed and forgot it all. Updated On: 7/9/05 at 04:27 AM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:35am

In Buddy's Eyes is from Follies.

James Barbour also sang Pretty Women. He's awesome. and he sang a solo in Tonight...Jason Danieley sang all the Tony stuff.

Fun show!

Oh but don't forget Carol's number!

[Popular]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:40am

Thanks! If anyone else wants to edit or correct feel free! I know I wasn't very throrough.

Oh I fogot to add, inbetween they showed old footage of Sondheim being interviewed ... it was really cool to see. In one clip he said his favorite word was PIONEER, I loved that! Updated On: 7/9/05 at 04:40 AM

[ThE nEw KiD]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:45am

I went and snuck into the after show party! I met Stephen Sondheim not to mention getting photos with EVERYONE! Carol, Audra, Elaine, Josh (fellow Interlochen alum!) Stephen Shwartz was there...bliss, the night was pure bliss. Once in a lifetime experience. I am sooooo sad for those who missed it...and boy did Angela fall. Scared the pants off me. She's ok though. Crazy, as soon as that happened you could hear a pin drop in the hollywood bowl.

[Popular]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:49am

Wow! Guess security isn't that tight, eh? Makes me worry, especially since I saw a Sheriff's bomb squad car in the same area while driving back home - that was kind of freaky.

[Cutielyricist]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 11:25am

hey we didnt really sneak in..we were on the list..otherwise we wouldnt have gotten backstage througout the day to take all those wonderful pictures im downloading to my comp right now...the show was AMAZING..and seriously..I have never heard so thousands of people intake their breath at the same time..but when Angela took that header..I swear I know what its like to be inside a vacuum now...

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 11:28am

Barbara Cooks' second act number sounds like it's "Losing My Mind"

[Sumofallthings]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 1:22pm

The number where Bernadette pretended not to be able to sing was probably "Opening Doors" from Merrily We Roll Along.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 1:42pm

what was the fall from angela, did she trip or should we be worried about this?

[immortalbroadwayLA]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 1:48pm

from my peprspective Angela clearly tripped

[emo_geek]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 2:13pm

Yes she tripped

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 2:47pm

She tripped on a cord onstage...could have happened to anyone but of course it had to happen to one of the older ladies. Bad moment, and it was right before the end of the show :0(

[Cutielyricist]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 3:02pm

I saw her backstage afterwords..she had some bandages but she seemed okay.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 3:47pm

Amazing night... I just felt that the sound system could have been a little better though. Did anyone else notice that?

And poor Angela. I was pretty scared when I saw that happen too. I'm glad that she's ok.

~Rosalynn

[paradox_error]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:50pm

"What More Do I Need?" is from Saturday Night.
Vanessa would have sung "More" from Dick Tracey.
"In Buddy's Eyes" is from Follies
Most likely the song containing "Johanna" was "Johanna" from Sweeney Todd.
It's "Getting Married Today"
Barbara Cook sang "Losing My Mind" from Follies
Ang and Len would have sung "A Little Priest".

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/9/05 at 4:54pm

They did have quite the sound problem...the mics were not working too well for many of the performers. There was even a feedback moment during Elaine's song.

[BobbyRobbyBobbyBaby]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 1:58am

Thank you all for your review! Did you notice if they recorded the evening? What was Sondheim's reaction to the evening?

[DAME]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 2:02am

There is always sound problems at the Bowl when they use their in house people. Always. Not my favorite venue. It is beautiful.. but even the close up seats feel like you are very far away.

[HorseTears]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:20am

Overall, the evening was a huge disappointment for me. There were a few great moments, but just a few. Seriously, the most dramatic moment of the evening was Angela's fall.

Highlights:

1. ANGELA LANSBURY'S ENTRANCE. After Jason Danieley sang a lovely "Something's Coming" Angela entered upstage center, without announcement to a thunderous ovation from the crowd of 18,000. We stood, we cheered, she glowed. She walked confidently and seemed to be full of energy.

2. JASON ALEXANDER - "FREE". I missed Jason in the Producers, but he's so at ease on stage and so in command. I hope he will do more stage work in the future, he was fantastic.

3. AUDRA - her medley of "WHAT CAN YOU LOSE" and "NOT A DAY GOES BY" was an odd and, frankly, rather unpleasant arrangement. But, that's not her fault. She was dynamite. She really sold it without overdoing.

4. ANGELA & LEN - "A LITTLE PRIEST". Man, I never thought I'd ever see this happen. What a treat. Sure, they were kind of static and Len is certainly showing his age, but it was a joy to see them up there and they were having a blast. Angela's voice has held up surprisingly well. Big standing O for this one.

5. BERNADETTE - "CHILDREN WILL LISTEN". No, it's nothing new. How many times have we seen this? But still, she looked stunning in a creamy white dress and sang tenderly and emotionally. AND, she wasn't wearing her ubiqutous black sleeveless number. In fact, she changed dresses at least three times and never once was that tired frock brought out of retirement. She gets extra points for avoiding the same old look.

6. THE FILM CLIPS. There were many interesting (and some rare it would seem) film clips of interviews with Sondheim, Krusty the Clown of The Simpsons performing 'Send in the Clowns', The Desperate Housewives clip, Sondheim's own performance on a televsion drama, and a whole medley of clips from Sondheim's music in film. The best clip was Ethel Merman singing Everything's Coming Up Roses while being restrained in a hospital bed by a bunch of orderlies and nurses. What on earth was this clip from??


DISAPPOINTMENTS:

1. PAUL GEMIGNANI CONDUCTING THE L.A. PHIL. Firstly, I never understand how they get off calling it the L.A. Philharmonic when only half of the orchestra's musicans are on stage. However, for musical theatre, the orchestra was large - from my count 45-50 musicians. You would think with such a relatively large orchestra that Mr. Gemignani would produce a rich, lush and dynamic sound. Well, there might as well have been 15 musicans up there. The orchestra was a dud. Now, I understand Mr. Gemignani's long history in musical theatre and most especially with Sondheim, and frankly I enjoy his work on Sondheim original cast recordings as well as his work on the live Sondheim tribute from Carnegie Hall, but he should consider retirement. I've seen him conduct live twice now and both times his musical direction has been uninspired, lazy and sloppy. The great L.A. Phil sounded like an amateur concert band under his leadership. Mr. Gemignani was not helped by some rather tasteless and "two dimensional" arrangements. But even when they appeared to use original Tunick (or other original) arrangements, the orchestra sounded anemic and often behind the beat. Their Symphonic Sweeney Todd medley was hardly thrilling. Yes, the sound, as always with official Hollywood Bowl concerts, was inadequate, but such a piss poor performance can not be blamed on sound quality alone. Too bad someone like Rob Fisher, Marvin Laird or Eric Stern wasn't asked to conduct.

2. BERNADETTE - "BEING ALIVE". She really struggled vocallywith this song. She hit all the notes, but just barely. I guess this was the 2nd most dramatic moment of the night as everyone was on the edge of their seats wondering if she would make it through the number. I *adore* Bernadette, but I've never enjoyed her rendition of this song, which I really think is one of Sondheim's lesser numbers. It's so schmaltzy. You really need a Patti LuPone style belt to sell this number so that you can forget about how cheesy it is.

3. VANESSA WILLIAMS. Well, she was decent...for a former beauty pagent queen. She flubbed the lines in "More", which had a horrible, lumbering arrangement. This song should hit ya like ZOOM! ZAP! BAM! as the Madonna recording does. Instead it was sludge, trudge, drudgeeeee.

4. BARBARA COOK. This was my first time ever seeing Ms. Cook. I'd heard such high praise about her over and over, that when I finally got to take her in I wasn't taken. I know, I know she's a legendary performer, but I just don't get it. I don't think she provided much dramatic color in "Move On". Her voice was pleasant, but not distictive. Her "Losing My Mind" was far too light. You need someone who can give a dramatic wallop with that gorgeous, but VERY dramatic number. She was nice, but not terribly moving at all. I think she would have done much better with "In Buddy's Eyes", which Marin Mazzie sang beautifully, but too forcefully. And, frankly Barbara Cook & Josh Groban?? Which genius thought up that pairing? They had as much chemistry as Oprah & David Letterman.

6. CAROL BURNETT - "NOT GETTING MARRIED TODAY". Bless her. She's a television legend. I know that and I will always treasure her television work, but she just doesn't do this number justice. I never for one second believe she is "in" the number. Yes, she has some very funny spoken lines, but even at a ridiculously slowed down tempo, she still can't get all the lines out and it's sloppy and messy and she just doesn't have...I don't know, the breath control for this number.

7. THE DIRECTION. When Sondheim spoke at the end he thanked Paul Lazarus for his work and the 7 months he worked on the show. Seven months? Are you kidding me? This took him 7 months? What did he spend all the time doing, painting the children's chorus t-shirts? There was a mind numbing silence between all the musical numbers, there were many odd an uninspired choices..

pairing the matronly Barbara Cook with the far too young Josh Groban,

pairing Erik McCormak with Carol Burnett - zero chemistry,

the utterly dreadful West Side Story medley that ended Act I with a thud, etc...

There were also numbers and moments that have been retread so many times from previous concerts or performances. Bernadette singing Being Alive, a children's chorus singing Our Time, The Symphonic Sweeney arrangement (which was played terribly) to name a few.

The evening felt haphazard and scattered. With 7 months to prepare and so much legendary talent on hand, it's such a pity that he failed to bring it all together. Yes, I understand he would have had extremely limited one on one time with these performers, but still I don't believe it can be blamed on that alone. The Carnegie Hall Sondheim tribute from the early 90s shows how it can be done. I think they need to hire people who direct Awards shows like the Tonys and Oscars for these sorts of tributes. Those people understand transitions, dramatic arcs, chemistry between performers, etc.

Sorry if I sound like a cranky bastard, but this evening stood in sharp contrast to the incredible Los Angeles opera A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC we had here the last summer. That was a magical production, the likes of which I never thought I'd see without traveling to NY. Last night's event had all the elements there to make it another exciting, exclusive West Coast Sondheim event, but it just didn't come together.

I'm glad I was there, I'm sure I would never have gotten to see the original Sweeney & Mrs. L together in any other setting and it was great to know that there were 17,999 other people out there in the gorgeous Hollywood hills delighted to be honoring Sondheim, I just wish he'd been given a better show.
Updated On: 7/10/05 at 04:20 AM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 4:34am

I'm gonna have to disagree with you about the arrangement of Audra's medley; I thought it was beautifully done. The songs were seamed together in such an interesting way, and that small key change at the end of What You Can Lose into Not a Day Goes By was so exciting in its subtlety. It was a dynamite number, IMO.

And what I think you don't understand about performers like Barbara Cook, Carol Burnett, and Bernadette Peters is that they're not in their prime anymore; it's obvious they cannot sing like they used to, but their performances last night were mostly meant to be nostalgic. We're not expecting Barbara Cook to be able to float through those notes like she was 30, or for Carol Burnett to be able to belt and race through a song written for someone who's like 40, but they sang with gusto; when you get to be that age, no one can sing perfectly.

I mean, have you heard Babs lately? ::shudder::

But yeah, Vanessa Williams? PUHLEESE. Anne Hathaway too was horribly mediocre. They have no excuse.

[BobbyRobbyBobbyBaby]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 11:09am

Well, I just have to say that I highly disagree with what's been said about Barbara Cook. I think (and so does the critics) that her voice has not lost its luster. In fact, it has increased in dimensionality and tonal quality. Sure her voice is not as high as it use to be but I actually prefer it. I think her recent recordings are her best yet and her recent concert at Cafe Carlyle was phenomenal. And few can interpret a song like Barbara.

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 11:09 AM

[DAME]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 11:35am

Horsetears,
The two people I know that were there pretty much said the same thing you did. They said the evening was lackluster and poorly conceived.

By the way.. that clip with Merman is from the film " Airplane."

[Pinguin]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 11:48am

It definetely was; it was more of a "fun" concert than an actual good one. Doesn't mean I didn't enjoy myself, but there were definitely many things I coulda done without :0)

Updated On: 7/10/05 at 11:48 AM

[Demitri2]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 11:52am

Thanks for your concise and well written review Horsetears. Much appreciated...:)

[sanda]

Posted: 7/10/05 at 12:15pm

Pinguin,

Thank you so much for mentioning James Barbour. I believe he would be great in " Pretty Woman".