JEROME KERN FEST - @umich MUSIC SCHOOL (north campus) If you want to know how the American musical theater developed, you'll want to take in part, if not all of the Kern Festival this weekend and next. You may never get a chance to see these rare shows again. And the music is really very good. Plus there's dialog to keep it lively. Six *different* Jerome Kern scores will be presented on *six* different days. These concerts will feature their COMPLETE original vocal scores with dialogue taken for their original scripts (when available) and brand new narrations. The cast will include soloists from COG productions of the past and present. The production will be supervised and accompanied by Adam Aceto and Patrick Johnson At The Two Pianos. Each show starts with experts discussing the work of Jerome Kern. We are fortunate to have with us Bill Bolcom and Joan Morris, Michael Miller and other fascinating speakers. Fri., June 10, 715 pm ..... HAVE A HEART Featuring "Look in his Eyes" and "Bright Lights." Sat., June 11, 715 pm ...... VERY GOOD, EDDIE! Featuring "Some Sort of Somebody," and "Babes in the Wood." Sun., June 12, 215 pm ...... THE CABARET GIRL Featuring "Dancing Time," and the Hawaiian "Ka-Lu-A." Fri., June 17, 715 pm ..... OH, BOY! Featuring "Till the Clouds Roll By," and "Rolled into One." Sat., June 18, 715 pm ..... OH, LADY! LADY!! Featuring "Bill" and "Our Little Nest" Sun., June 19, 215 pm ..... SALLY Featuring "Look for the Silver Lining" and "Whip-poor-will" ADULTS $15 STUDENTS/CHILDREN $7.00 SPECIAL OFFERS: 3 SHOWS FOR $36 ALL 6 FOR $60. Call 734-763-8587 for tickets, Or at the Door. Info: 734-973-32649 responses total.
All you UNIX devotees, note that performances will be at the Kern Shell...
And all you desktop publishers? The joke sets itself..
I didn't know about this festival, and Jerome Kern's a favorite of mine. Thanks for posting this, TS.
re #1 & #2 ,,,,phew! some humour has returned to agora .... thankxx re #3 .... hope you can make one or more of these remmers, took mom to last night's show ... reeeeeeeeealy good 2 hours. really good voices and the double-piano playing is (really is) seamless. we'll go again - dunno which though.
I'm planning to go tonight (Saturday) for the "Very Good, Eddie" performance. "Babes in the Wood" is one of Jerome Kern's loveliest songs and is not heard that often. Ranks right up there with "Till the Clouds Roll By", in my opinion. The starting times listed on the Michigan Union Ticket Office website are 8pm for the Friday and Saturday shows and 3pm for the Sunday shows, rather than the 7:15pm and 2:15pm mentioned in #0. Is it possible that the earlier times are when the doors open?
Missed the Saturday night concert due to rainstorm (long story). Will try to attend one or more upcoming concerts. Called the Comic Opera Guild to get clarification on start times - each concert is preceded by a talk. 8pm/3pm are start times for the concerts, 7:15pm/2:15pm are start times for the talks. Ticket sales commence 15 minutes before that.
I went to the Sunday afternoon concert. Michael Miller gave a background talk on Jerome Kern's role in shaping the modern American musical theater. This was followed by a performance of Kern's "The Caberet Girl" from 1922. Notes from Miller's talk: Jerome Kern was born in New York in 1885 and began contributing songs to Broadway shows in 1904. At that time, musicals performed on Broadway were mostly European imports featuring aristocratic characters in far-flung locales. Beginning in the 1910s and continuing into the 1940s, Kern wrote complete scores for numerous musicals. He was a pioneer in developing a specifically American style of musical theater. He wrote the music, to which other librettists then provided words. This is the opposite of the way Rodgers and Hammerstein worked, in which Hammerstein wrote the lyrics first, to which Rodgers supplied music. "The Cabaret Girl" had a successful run in London in 1922 but was never shown on Broadway. (Kern re-used some of the material in later productions.) The book and lyrics are by George Grossmith and P. G. Wodehouse (of "Jeeves" fame). The setting is England, and it's a silly aristocrat-falls-in-love-with-commoner-love-triumphs-over-all comedy, typical of the time. The music, being by Jerome Kern, is of course lovely. Noteable songs include "First Rose of Summer", "Shimmy with Me", "Those Days Are Gone Forever" (a middle-ager's lament on the passing of youth), and "Ka-lu-a". This production, like the five others in the series, are being done in recital format with soloists, a chorus, two pianos in lieu of orchestra, no scenery or choreography, but with the original lyrics and dialog intact. They're being recorded and are to be archived in the Library of Congress as a way of filling gaps in an important chapter of American cultural history. Original recordings of these musical plays simply don't exist, and although many of the songs have become popular standards, they haven't been performed in their original context for several decades. I greatly enjoyed Sunday's performance of "The Cabaret Girl". Pianists and vocalists were excellent. My one complaint would be that the accoustics of the auditorium and the lack of amplification prevented me from understanding the lyrics much of the time. But that's not a deal-breaker. I plan to attend as many of the remaining three productions as I can. The list is in resp:0 .
sooo glad you enjoyed it ... it;s not the acoustics that masks the words ... those wonderfully connected dual-piano players just don't/won't understand how to 'play well with others', sorry to say. sit in the (audience) lower-left section ... does wonders for the intelligibility. (down-front-left i guess i'd say)
we will try to make the 215pm sunday 19Jn05 show ... busy week.
You have several choices: