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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Bits & Bytes |
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| SMC comes Home For the Holidays, Symphony's month of holiday music, SIFF Cinema's Russian War & Peace | |
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by Milton W. Hamlin -
SGN A&E Writer There's no doubt about it, the Holiday Season 2007 is off and running. Call it what you will - and there are dozens of holidays to be celebrated between now and January 1, 2008 - there will be a concert, a special event or a citywide celebration to mark it. Read on: SEATTLE MEN'S CHORUS CHARMS WITH OPENING HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS The Seattle Men's Chorus opened its 2007 Christmas concert, Home For The Holidays, last Sunday night at Benaroya Hall to a sold-out audience that clearly loved the show - all of it. The sprawling concert ran nearly three hours and found some in the cheering, capacity crowd fleeing early - "to catch a ferry," one patron muttered ("to catch a fairy," one chorus member countered). Judy Collins - "truly the definition of a living legend," the Chorus program noted - joined SMC just for the opening night concert and brought a lot of glitz and glamour to the event. Stunning in two great gowns, Collins divided her stage time between a holiday mini-concert in the first half and a "greatest hits" section and a joyous sing-along to close the concert. Seattle is always happy to greet legendary artists, especially when they join GLBT troupes and add star status to local offerings. Collins' two sets, alas, were over-amplified and came across as shrill to many in Benaroya Hall. Still, a living legend is a living legend, and it was terrific to hear her sing "Both Sides Now" in person, a song that seems a living, breathing part of many people's lives. Home For The Holidays was great fun on opening night - and the concert will obviously just get better and better in its final seven performances. To be honest, opening night seemed more like a dress rehearsal, but the audience clearly loved the concert and what it represents to Seattle's GLBT community. The concert opened with a rare holiday work, "Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas" by John Williams and Leslie Bricusse, two of the biggest names in pop music, Broadway and film scores. It was great to hear an unusual work beautifully sung - and it was beautifully sung. The first showstopper of the evening followed: With Harps Of Gold featured nine traditional carols, ranging from "Angels We Have Heard On High" to "It Came Upon A Midnight Clear." The work built to an amazing vocal crescendo with a rousing "O Come All Ye Faithful." The Chorus has never been better. The first comic diversion followed. "I Saw Three Ships" found Hokum W. Jeebs, a Seattle-based vaudevillian, playing the musical saw while the Chorus donned white sailor hats to sing the traditional "I Saw Three Ships." A fun, throw- away moment, one of many, many comic turns that always seem to delight the audience. A beautiful rendition of "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" was another vocal highlight for the Chorus. The immortal Frank Loesser tune combines the best elements of the holiday season with an underlying longing for the new year. Simply beautiful. Clowning, carols and Collins finished the first half of the concert, roughly 90 minutes into the long, long evening. Part Two opened with another stunning Chorus work. Mel Torme's classic "The Christmas Song" found "chestnuts roasting on an open fire" in a simple, sincere, successful vocal outing. Another quiet musical highlight. "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and Irving Berlin's classic "White Christmas" were paired for the next sequence (although the program listed them as two separate pieces spaced far apart). Another highlight. Harry Nilsson's "December" followed an overextended outing with "Jumblebells." A new work, "The Aluminum Christmas Tree," showed promise, but the Chorus was quickly moving into overtime for back stage crews and the ever-popular Audience Sing Along was omitted "because Judy wants to do it at the end of the show." An extended An All-American Christmas sequence featured eight world famous selections, ranging from Leroy Anderson's "Sleigh Ride" to the highly anticipated "Jingle Bells." Another amazing vocal selection from the Chorus. "Light A Candle" and the Chorus' trademarked "Silent Night" were combined this year in a showstopping, highly emotional ending. The sung and signed (in American Sign Language) "Silent Night" brought tears to many eyes, as it has for many SMC years. Judy Collins returned for a couple of "greatest hits" and the festive sing along. The evening ended just before 11 p.m., a three hour concert with an overabundance of musical joy. The concert, shorter and surely tightened, encores tomorrow with two performances at the Rialto Theater in Tacoma and five more performances in Seattle, December 9 (this Sunday) and 21, 22 and 23. Tickets and performance times are available at 388-1400. And be sure to ask about the Seattle Women's Chorus Christmas concerts. Tell 'em Bits&Bytes told you to call. SYMPHONY STAGES A FULL MONTH OF HOLIDAY MUSIC The Seattle Symphony hosts an amazing month of holiday-inspired concerts and special events. Serious music fans could - and a few will try it - move into Benaroya Hall for the entire month and feast on the musical sampler that fills nearly every night of the December calendar. The Holiday Pops concerts, with Doug Labrecque as special vocal soloist, continue with performances through Sunday. Labrecque is a talented baritone and "easy on the eyes" ("but don't print that," SSO's publicist implored with a mischievous holiday laugh), and the program is the usual holiday fare that makes the Pops Concerts the "opening" of the holiday season for many Emerald City music fans. The annual staging of Handel's Messiah features the Symphony and the Symphony Chorale for a December 13-16 run. The beloved work is always a sellout for the holiday season. Plan ahead. The Mount Zion Massed Choir moves into Benaroya Hall for a special SSO event on December 16. The always-popular Canadian Brass appears Dec. 18-19 (and Bits&Bytes already has his tickets). The Holiday Sing-Along With the Seattle Symphony should fill the house on December 20. Beethoven's Ninth Symphony will, as usual, pack 'em in December 28-31 (note that the special New Year's Eve performance starts at 9 p.m.). And, starting the New Year with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, SSO encourages you to mark the January 3-6 dates on your calendar now. That's January 2008, folks, 2008. Ticket information and program details are all available at the friendly folks at the Symphony box office - one of the most pleasant box office staffs in town: 215-4747. SIFF OFFERS RARE RUSSIAN WAR & PEACE - ALL 7 HOURS OF IT The new SIFF Cinema - the official home of the Seattle International Film Festival - is slowly but surely making a name for itself. Its popular SIFF Cinema Calendar brings film classics and exciting new works to Emerald City film fans every month in its handsome new theater at the Seattle Center. SIFF takes a big chance with its two-week (December 7-20) booking of the rarely revived Russian War And Peace, the 1969 Academy Award winner as Best Foreign Film. Shown in two parts, the film totals nearly seven hours of screen time. It is clearly "the" film event of the month. The film will be shown in its entirety on just six days - tomorrow and Sunday and next Saturday and Sunday, December 15, 16. Two Wednesdays, December 12 and 19, will feature all-day screenings (with a dinner break between each part). Part One, nearly four hours, and Part Two, three hours, will be shown in alternating rep other nights. Complete details are available at 633-7151. Seattle's famous "film nuts" will make the rare screenings "must see" events, but the general public may find it hard to squeeze seven hours out of holiday shopping and partying. The film features 100,000 extras - real people, not digital replications - in the battle scenes. It is estimated that it would cost $700,000,000 to film today. See ya there. KINSEY SICKS RETURN WITH NATIVITY SPOOF, OY VEY! IN A MANGER One of San Francisco's musical delights - "America's Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet" - returns to Seattle for a pair of performances at the Triple Door on December 21. The four talented performers, known as The Kinsey Sicks, encore Oh Vey! In A Manager, their "global effort to stamp out holiday cheer." Two performances, at 7 and 10 p.m. should give Seattle fans and Kinsey virgins a chance to kick off the pre-Christmas weekend in comic style. The quartet is on a four-week pre-holiday tour. A two-week run in New York opened the tour, and appearances in Los Angeles, Seattle and "home" in San Francisco complete the outing. Bits&Bytes first encountered the talented beautyshop quartet in San Francisco in a rare out-of-drag performance plugging an upcoming show. Blown away by the close harmonies and old-fashioned barbershop stylings, this scribe sought the troupe out all over The City By The Bay. It will be great to have the Kinseys back in Seattle. Tickets and information at 838-4333. Plan ahead and expect a sellout. JAZZ ALLEY HOSTS HOLIDAY ENCORE OF AIN'T MISBEHAVIN' "Back By Popular Demand" is often the cry as entertainers or stage events return time after time, year after year. Once in a while, it is true - as in Jazz Alley's rockin', stompin' encore booking of Ain't Misbehavin', the Tony Award winning musical tribute to the works of Fats Waller. The audience pleaser to end all audience pleasers returns to Jazz Alley for a December 18-23 run. The five-member cast features many performers who have visited the Emerald City and Jazz Alley before. More than 30 hits written by or associated with Fats Waller make this jukebox kaleidoscope a delight time after time. "A stompin', struttin', high-hattin' smash" is how The Alley describes the "journey through the Fats Waller songbook and Harlem in its heyday." Wouldn't miss it. Advance tickets - always a good idea - and complete information at 441-9729. STRIKING 12 PLAYS JUST ONE WEEKEND ON NATIONAL TOUR Striking 12 "is the best new musical that nobody has heard of," according to Playbill.com. The "hot Off-Broadway hit" arrives at the Capitol Hill Arts Center for just three performances next weekend - December 14 and 15 - and features the show's original New York cast on a West Coast tour. The title reference, of course, conjures up Dickens and New Year's Eve. The show is billed as a cross between a rock concert and a holiday show and features a score by GrooveLily. Complete performance details and ticket information are available at 388-0569. Bits&Bytes has never heard of it but will be there opening night. See ya there. MOORE THEATER HOSTS FREE NIGHT OF VAUDEVILLE To celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Moore Theatre plans a free night of vaudeville for Monday, December 10. Honoring its original entertainment format, more than 25 vaudeville-inspired artists will perform throughout the historic theater - in the lobby, on the stage, in the seating area and its many alcoves. Entertainers range from high class (the Ladies Musical Club presents violinist Helena Emery playing a tribute to Jasha Heifetz) to new-vaudeville (Tamara The Trapeze Lady) to classic vaudeville (Joanne Klein and Laura Drake in a 1920's "Two Women Act" with Klein belting out a Sophie Tucker tribute with "Some Of These Days"). Jazz and rock bands will share the evening, reflecting the Moore's changing booking patterns over the years. What a night it will be. Festivities start at 7:30 p.m. with free cake and drink. Historic photos, guided tours, architectural discussions will be featured. Free admission, free food, free drink - such a deal. Check it out. |
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