Sondheim NY Philharmonic Concert — Page 2

last night the NY PHILHARMONIC sounded wonderful, truly...Katrina on the other hand sounded not quite right for both numbers...her voice is not what you might want for standards such as 'Losing My Mind', but i thought her 'Could I Leave You' was a little better, as it is more a character-driven song...having seen Katrina in The Bands Visit i know she can act a song as well as anyone, but to have here just stand there and belt out 'Mind' was god awful...Company makes me nervous...

btw...HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL US BROADWAY QUEENS!!

Broadway Bob* said: "Was I the only one drooling over the cute, young Oboe/English Horn player they kept having closeups of?!?!"

Not me but here's Ryan Roberts

Broadway Bob* said: "Was I the only one drooling over the cute, young Oboe/English Horn player they kept having closeups of?!?!"

Not my type but my husband was drooling throughout the performance. In fairness to him, there wasn’t much more to enjoy.


Perhaps it was more enjoyable watching from the comfort of your home, but we felt rather bored throughout. I love Sondheim to death, but very little of his work (read: only Sweeney) is worthy of the symphonic suite treatment. Indeed, most musical theater isn’t deserving of this distinction. Really, they’re just more grandiose overtures and entre-acts that already exist in musical theater.


Lenk was the real draw for us but we were so incredibly underwhelmed. Her choices for Losing my Mind were particularly troubling. I must say I was very excited about her selection as Bobbie (and I trust Stephen knows what the hell he’s doing...), but I’m a lot less intrigued having finally heard her renditions of Sondheim.


On a positive note: the Sweeney Todd suite was incredible! It brought me back to the wonderful Alan Gilbert-led performance a few years ago.


Last negative: I know I had my hopes way too high for the Sunday suite, but I was praying that a choir would flood the hall again as occurred during the Sondheim 75. To this day, I consider that one of the most enthralling and emotionally draining experiences (in the best possible way...) of my life.

Updated On: 1/1/20 at 08:59 PM

As for Katrina Lenk and Company, I'm sure Bobbie's numbers will be newly arranged to properly fit her voice –– probably more along the lines of what was done for Raul Esparza. Her voice is unique, and it WILL sound "bad" if things aren't specifically tailored to her strengths.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "A mixed bag for me, with the good outweighing the bad. That Sunday suites was sublime, it was nice to hear "Multitudes of Amys" performed orchestrally,and the Assassins suite showed new colors in the score.

It was oddly structured. Lenk's two numbers came about 2/3 of the way through the program, and she was a little miscast for both Phyllis & Sally.Aswith the Sondheim Birthday Concert, there was a disproportionate amount of FOLLIES (yet the overture was truncated) ––brilliant, but please spread the wealth!!Bernadette's narration was clumsily written and she seemed to be reading cold from a teleprompter.

Symphony orchestras often have trouble adapting to musical theatre, especially for jazz-influenced scores (the Forum, Follies, and Merrily overtures). Sometimes the orchestration was eventoolush, to the point where it sounded muddy. These all would have sounded better with a 35-piece Encores!/Broadway orchestra.

As with past New Years concerts, "AuldLang Syne" is a messy ending and the singers never feel fully rehearsed."



AND Directed by Lonny Price...what did he Direct?

ljay889 said: "I agree, we shouldn’t expect that she’ll be singing Rosalie Craig’s keys, which some complained were too high."

Yes, and aside from just the key changes, I would expect that they might arrange the songs themselves a little differently to suit Lenk's interpretation.

Broadway Bob* said: "Was I the only one drooling over the cute, young Oboe/English Horn player they kept having closeups of?!?!"

No, no you were not the only one!! He is adorable.



As for Lenk, I loved every moment of both songs she sang.

I got misty-eyed during the "Sunday" portion of the SITPWG suite.

I also love the overture to FORUM, so I was happy they included it. Makes for a perfect opener!

For anyone who wishes to watch and form their own opinions for this thread, here ya go.

I watched this as it aired live on NYE, and it was a wonderful way to wrap up the year and enter the year of Sondheim's 90th.

All in all, I enjoyed the concert. The philharmonic was in full swing, and the musicians seemed to be having much fun with the orchestrations. Almost each section had a moment to shine through the evening. As a previous commenter remarked, I also thoroughly enjoyed the oboe player

For me, the Assassins suite was the highlight, and Ms. Lenk's performance was the low. Her interpretation of Losing My Mind was simply too unsure of itself to succeed.

My biggest disappointment for the evening was the fact that it veered on the side of populism and didn't touch any of the infrequently explored corners of Sondheim's oeuvre.

Pacific Overtures has one of the most lush, sweeping arrangements of Sondheim's canon, and I'm terribly disappointed that it was overlooked. Imagine a piece covering The Advantages of Floating.../Someone in a Tree/Please Hello/Pretty Lady/Next!

Anyone Could Whistle could also have benefited from a new arrangement to really underscore some of the terrific complexities of that score. Even if the philharmonic had only covered "Simple," there's so much to explore within that one constraint.

Finally, I know it's grown to mythic popularity, but I wish they had let Follies and Sunday take the backseat. Ms. Lenk's voice is suited for a lovely interpretation of the title song from Anyone Could Whistle. Not sure that both sung songs needed to be from Follies.

Also, "Sunday" is a magnificent piece, but it's too overused as the finale song for any Sondheim celebration. It's closed out multiple birthday celebrations. Chicago had a concert with its philharmonic in December ( "Chicago Celebrates Sondheim" ) where Sunday was also the finale piece. Simply wishing that some other songs could shine for once instead of seeing the same setlist Sondheim celebration.

Updated On: 1/2/20 at 11:40 AM

Thanks for posting the link.

I thought that in both songs, Lenk was performing different characters at different times -- and they never coalesced into one whole.