Paolo Szot, Megan Hilty, Marin Mazzie at Avery Fisher

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 4:47pm

Anyone else going?
An Enchanted Evening with Paulo Szot

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 4:49pm

Ted Sperling is conducting, and Billy Stritch is accompanying.

The website says:

Program To Include

Rodgers & Hammerstein Overture and “Some Enchanted Evening” from South Pacific

Ibert Songs of Don Quixote

Leigh & Darion “I Am I, Don Quixote” and “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha

Arlen & Gershwin “The Man that Got Away” from A Star is Born

Stephen Sondheim “Too Many Mornings” from Follies

Romberg & Hammerstein “Lover Come Back to Me” from New Moon

Jobim Medley: “Triste,” “Wave,” and “Desafinado”

Velázquez “Bésame mucho”

Lerner & Loewe “The Night They Invented Champagne” and “Gigi” from Gigi

Lane & Harburg “Old Devil Moon” from Finian’s Rainbow

Porter “My Heart Belongs to Daddy” from Leave It to Me!

Porter “So in Love” from Kiss Me, Kate

Lerner & Loewe “How to Handle a Woman” and “If Ever I Would Leave You” from Camelot

Updated On: 6/4/13 at 04:49 PM

[broadfan327]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 5:30pm

I am going.

[kadu335]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 5:53pm

Wow... I can't even imagine Paulo singing Bossa Nova. It's great that he's paying homage to the great Antonio Carlos Jobim!

Updated On: 6/4/13 at 05:53 PM

[vf]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 9:52pm

I guess this is the order (from a Brazilian site linked from twitter) & has a few more songs. This all sounds so good! It was almost sold out yesterday.

"Programa
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN Overture de South Pacific
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN Some Enchanted Evening de South Pacific
IBERT Songs of Don Quixote
LEIGH & DARION I Am I, Don Quixote de Man of La Mancha
LEIGH & DARION The Impossible Dream de Man of La Mancha
Stephen SONDHEIM Too Many Mornings de Follies
ARLEN The Man That Got Away de A Star is Born
S. ROMBERG Lover, Come Back to Me de The New Moon
JOBIM Medley: Triste, Wave e Desafinado
VELÁZQUEZ Bésame mucho
LOEWE The Night They Invented Champagne de Gigi
LOEWE Gigi de Gigi
LANE Old Devil Moon de Finian’s Rainbow
PORTER My Heart Belongs to Daddy
PORTER So in Love de Kiss Me, Kate
PORTER Were Thine that Special Face de Kiss Me, Kate
LOEWE How to Handle a Woman de Camelot
LOEWE If Ever I Would Leave You de Camelot
RODGERS AND HAMMERSTEIN This Nearly Was Mine de South Pacific (encore)
STYNE Make Someone Happy de Do-Re-Mi (encore)"
Veja o setlist completo do concerto de Paulo Szot

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 11:28pm

It was sheer gorgeousness.

He didn't do Were Thine That Special Face or Make Someone Happy.

Ted Sperling conducted the Philharmonic in a beautiful reading of the ovcerture to South Pacific, then Paulo came out and sang Some Enchanted Evening. He did the quartet of Don Quixote songs by the serious composer Ibert and then did the two songs from Man of La Mancha lusciously.

Megan Hilty came out and nailed The Man That Got Away--BEAUTIFULLY!--before they did Too Many Mornings together. (She will make one hell of a Sally someday!)

The Billy Stritch came out. Paulo did a jazzy version of the Lover Come Back to Me with Billy Stritch and the Trio, and then did the Jobim medley with them.

He did the Besame Mucho (a cheesy song turned into an art song!) with Ted and the Philharmonic again. The Old Devil Moon.

Then Marin Mazzie came out and did a killer My Heart Belongs to Daddy, and the two of them sang So in Love. He then went into the two songs from Camelot and did This Nearly Was Mine as an encore.

[somethingbypuccini 2]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 11:31pm

This sounds like a dream. Sad I missed it.

[vf]

Posted: 6/4/13 at 11:55pm

Thanks a lot for the report! Sounds so wonderful. Wish he'd do an album. Wonder if this will be televised as a Live from Lincoln Center program.

[thepangelinanpost]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 1:43am

Couldn't see the singers at all from our box seats, but everything sounded great, and the right half of the orchestra looked sharp!

[vf]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 2:20am

Where were you sitting? They had some partial view seats, didn't know they had no view seats. That's too bad. Says a lot about it that you liked it anyway.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 7:45am

A little bit of video of "The Impossible Dream" from what looks to be a press preview:

http://youtu.be/N7ECER-EAbM

[kadu335]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 8:03am

That's gorgeous, PalJoey!

I'm very curious to know how he did the Jobim songs... did he rearranged the songs or did them like the original?

[vf]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 8:16am

Alec Baldwin tweeted:
"Paulo Szot brought the audience to tears tonight...
@nyphil"


Alec Baldwin's Foundation twitter account Updated On: 6/5/13 at 08:16 AM

[tytonius]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 10:00am

It was absolutely gorgeous!
I wish they would make a DVD and broadcast it. An enchanted evening with the most beautiful voices. Paulo has it all and he is SO honest when he sings and also when he talks to the audience, very simple and honest. I just want to bring him home:)
He has that "stellar power" to transform an ordinary song into something spectacular.
I can't explain. just like many other unforgettable icons did like Vaughan, Ella, Sinatra....
I remember listening to "This Nearly Was Mine" before Paulo's appearance at LCT and it was, of course, a nice song, but after I hearing him singing it on stage, it became a blockbuster... I can't explain such vocal power.

[vf]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 12:45pm

Yeah, Some Enchanted Evening was considered kind of schmaltzy elevator music before he sang it, through too many lounge-y versions I guess it just lost its original beauty which was restored in the revival. Wish I'd been able to go to that concert.

Just noticed wandering around twitter that Paulo Szot's music director for his Below 54 performances in August is this 22 yr old opera composer, conductor, poet and pianist (including jazz), Matthew Aucoin. Born in 1990. (wow) Anyway, so that should be interesting.

Another article about Matthew Aucoin http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2013/02/28/matthew-aucoin-rising-star-opera-and-anything-else-wants/UVM1AaJJmRWmDfQ8fpg3QM/story.html

About Matthew Aucoin

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 12:59pm

The Jobim songs were in the small-combo section with Billy Stritch and the trio, in arrangements that were done by Billy.

Paulo explained that he was bowled over when he first heard Billy play Jobim and wanted to sing the songs with him. Paulo relaxed and leaned against the piano to sing them and loosened up a bit from the usual operatic baritone stance. He even wiggled his hips a little, getting into the music. It was pretty damn sexy.

[kadu335]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 2:27pm

Thanks for the details PalJoey!

I was curious about this particular segment not only because I'm a huge Jobim fan, but mostly because it is a bit distant for Paulo's usual repertoire.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 2:50pm

Paulo's from Brazil, so it wasn't so distant for him. And I think he likes to get out of his baritone comfort zone.

[kadu335]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 4:21pm

Well, I don't think just because he's Brazilian, bossa nova would be natural for him to perform. It's like the assumption that we all know how to dance samba(well, I know I don't LOL).

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 5:29pm

Well, he was pretty good at singing bossa nova, despite his deep baritone, and something tells me he would be pretty good at dancing salsa too.

[Wilmingtom]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 6:14pm

"Some Enchanted Evening was considered kind of schmaltzy elevator music before he sang it."

Really? And here I thought it was largely considered one of the greatest Broadway songs to make it into the American Songbook. Shows what I know.

[kadu335]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 6:26pm

I'm glad to hear that PalJoey. I wish I could've been there!

Btw, Salsa is Cuban, not Brazilian LOL
Anyway, I bet he would be great dancing any Latin rhythm! He was actually a trained dancer before his Opera career.

[vf]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 8:29pm

Regarding "Some Enchanted Evening," I think that song is hard to carry off and maybe it's just me but it had not been well done for awhile before the 2008 revival and Paulo Szot brought it back to life. It's beautiful, but it fell into the bad company. Look at the youtube versions pre-2008 that have gotten a lot of hits- Perry Como, Montovani, Jay and the Americans, even Dean Martin, that's elevator music to me.

It doesn't seem like it was a big Great American Songbook staple, some great singers recorded it, but it's not a Great American songbook classic like some other Rodgers' songs like "My Funny Valentine," "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "The Lady is a Tramp" (hmm, those are all with Hart).Did Ella Fitzgerald even record it, and seems like she recorded every Great Amercian Songbook song. Maybe it doesn't lend it's self to jazz, I don't know but sappy versions predominated prior to the 2008 revival. Maybe it helped that Szot was a foreigner and hadn't heard it performed badly. His version is the best I've heard, he really does justice to the music and the emotion in that song.

[vf]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 8:42pm

Good New York Times review
An Evening Dedicated to Charmers- Paulo Szot With the New York Philharmonic

[PalJoey]

Posted: 6/5/13 at 10:05pm

I never knew this before, but Paulo was a ballet dancer until he hurt his knee at age 21, when he switched to opera singing.

Updated On: 6/6/13 at 10:05 PM