Kristin and Adam brought up another Talk of the Town teammate, castmember Chris Weikel (playing Robert Benchley) to sing with them on the hilariously written “Work is a Four-Letter Word” from the show. Later, Sierra Rein (that’s me!) sang a song created by the writing team of Kristin Maloney (lyrics) and Robert Maggio (music), entitled “He Needs Me.” For the Act II start, Dan Furman was welcomed to the piano to help Adam sing a swinging, fun, tenor song: “Dinner on the Moon,” which featured the lyric “orbital oyster bar.” Indeed, Adam revealed that fun, quirky songs can often be heard in their collaborative household as a way to relieve tension and rolled eyes between everybody!
With Mark Janas again at the piano, Kristin and Adam sang the lovely duet “Old Friend,” which featured lead vocals by Kristin with lovely echoed backups by Adam. Tanya Moberly then stepped up to do a howlingly fun duet with Kristin on the Jonatha Brooke song “Dog Dreams.” To round out their mid-show set, Kristin sang with Dan Furman at the piano, performing the song “South Carolina Morning“ from an untitled show about painter Edward Hopper. To complete the evening, Adam returned to the stage to sing the heartfelt and hopeful “Goodbye For Now” from Reds.
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| The Teamwork of young Adam, Kristin, and Mark in the lobby of the Algonquin Hotel, c.2006 |
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| Adam MacDonald looks like he's making a very good point...c. 2006. |
We had some unique moments to note on Sunday: Seven, the Mind Reader – he has a show “Mind Games” and who will try to break a world’s record with www.tanksforamerica.com – took 5 volunteers from the audience and (using no superpowers, he assured us) found out which of the five was holding a blue marble (which meant she was not lying throughout the interview process). The truthsayer turned out to be Rosemary Loar’s sister, who showed us the blue marble in her hand at the end of the process.
Also, David Ballard is doing an AIDS Walk on May 15, 2016, and has dedicated himself to raising $1,000 for it. He has raised $545 so far, but can always get a Salon bump towards his goal from us! If you would like to add monetary support to his corner for an incredible cause, go to his profile at aidswalk.net!
Quick Wrap: Classical Corner
Have you ever seen the last Lord of the Rings movie or “A.I.”? To this blogger, each of those movies has about 5 or 6 endings, which can be charming or infuriating, depending on the movie. For this week’s Classical Corner, and asking the audience “What makes an ending?”, Mark Janas brought up Adam MacDonald to sing the end of “Nessun Dorma.” Mark had Adam sing a truncated version of this song, and noted that the last few bars included a three-time repetition of the last word (translated as “victory”), ending on a high note. Repetition and higher notes are often used to create drama as a tried and true way to end a song.
Regarding instrumental music, Mark then played some Bach and Chopin – all off-book, by the way – exemplifying how these composers ended their works. In one of his Italian concertos, Bach included a large “tutti” section, which repeated the beginning theme except for a slight surprise moment of music before the ending. In Bach’s Prelude in C minor, an extended area of music is repeated, then a quick change to another theme in sharp contrast leads to the ending. In one of Chopin’s works, a binary structure leads to a surprise end chord – a major chord to an “unsafe” minor, with a pause, a suspension, a dominant fifth, then finally concluding back to “one.” Mark played a bit of the Minuet from Preludes, which goes from a 3-chord end dominant chord to a tonic. Also, in Chopin’s G Minor Ballad, a lyrical melody transforms to a big, boisterous, extended middle, and then a series of dramatic “false endings.” Throughout this, Mark kept yelling “NOT YET!” which made us all laugh in anticipation for the final note to be revealed.
Leonard Bernstein once described Beethoven’s musical manuscripts as a “battleground” of sketches, edits, and multiple versions (unlike Mozart, who seemed to compose them in his head perfectly before transcribing them in amazing penmanship on the page). Mark then played a few of the many endings that Beethoven wrote for his famous "Fifth," which have thankfully been preserved for scholars to analyze. In Beethoven’s last movement, Mark counted 48 C major chords in a row, and played the piano version of the ending, yelling “I’m not making this up!” several times. He then played Bernstein’s recording of this with the Philharmonic to show how full orchestration can add a great deal of dramatic logic to an ending, despite its repeated chord progression.
Roster of performers for the evening (in order of appearance):
Click to visit performers' website or other links when available.
All piano accompaniment by Mark Janas unless otherwise noted.
Kristin Maloney, Adam MacDonald, and Chris Weikel
Chris Weikel
Anna Marie Sell
Ira Lee Collings
Barbara Malley
Jerome Weinstein
Elena Vidanova
Kount Kit
Joe Regan, Jr
Carol Sue
Rian Keating
Rosemary Loar
Seven
David Ballard
Sierra Rein
Adam MacDonald (with Dan Furman on piano)
Kristin Maloney and Adam MacDonald
Tanya Moberly and Kristin Maloney
Charles J. Ouda and Ita Koreovzecher (with Dan Furman on piano)
Charles J. Ouda (self on piano)
Jaye Maynard and Charles Baran
Stephen Bustamante
Bradley Dean
Jennifer Bangs
Adam MacDonald
Special thanks to tonight’s musicians: Mark Janas, Dan Furman, and Charles J. Oudo!
Another thank you to Jared Gilmore on lights and sound, our amazing waitstaff who always handle the demands of a full house with grace and style, and Steve Bustamante who is providing video footage for people interested in that service!
Upcoming shows:
Monday, April 11, 2016 (7pm):"A Life Behind Bars" written and performed by Dan Ruth, Directed byTanya Moberly, at The Gutter Williamsburg Brooklyn, 200 North 14th Street, Brooklyn, NYC.
Wednesday, April 13, 2016 (7pm): Rosemary Loar in "The Quando Swing" as part of NY Cabaret's Greatest Hits series at the Metropolitan Room,34 West 22nd Street, NYC.
Friday, April 15, 2016 (7pm and 9pm):Anna Marie Sellin "Reaching For the Moon...Songs of Irving Berlin" at Cafe Noctambulo at Pangea, 178 2nd Avenue, NYC.
Monday, April 25, 2016 (7pm):"A Life Behind Bars" written and performed by Dan Ruth, Directed byTanya Moberly, at The Gutter Williamsburg Brooklyn, 200 North 14th Street, Brooklyn, NYC.
Thursday, April 28, 2016 (7pm): Stephen Bustamante and others in "Sing Your Heart Out: Cabaret Performance Workshop" at Don't Tell Mama,343 West 46th Street, NYC.
Friday, April 29, 2016 (8pm): Stephen Bustamante and others in "Sing Your Heart Out: Cabaret Performance Workshop" at Unity Center of Norwalk, CT.
Saturday, April 30, 2016 (7pm): Tanya Moberly is performing "Celebrating Streisand" for the award-winning cabaret benefit series "Cabaret Cares" at the Metropolitan Room, 34 West 22nd Street, NYC.
Sunday, May 1, 2016: Tanya Moberly and Charles Baran are appearing in a benefit for In God's Love We Deliver at the Laurie Beechman Theater, 407 West 42nd Street, NYC.
Tuesday, May 3, 2016 (7pm): Marnie Klar is bringing back her show, "Tuned In" (directed by Tanya Moberly), to Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.
Monday, May 9, 2016 (7pm): "A Life Behind Bars" written and performed by Dan Ruth, Directed byTanya Moberly, at The Gutter Williamsburg Brooklyn, 200 North 14th Street, Brooklyn, NYC.
Monday, May 23, 2016 (6pm): Joe Regan, Jr in Beth Israel Concert, Union Square, NYC.
Wednesday, June 8, 2016 (6:30pm): Rian Keating in "This is All I Give: Songs of Love and Life" at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th Street, NYC.
Friday, June 17, 2016 (8pm): David Ballard in the NYC GMC Concert, NYU Skirball Center, NYC.
NEXT SALON, Sunday April 17th, 2016:
The theme will be You Must Believe in Spring - Songs of Hope with Co-Host/singer/songwriter Sue Matsuki. Let’s try to shake off this Spring’s long cold spell with music filled with anticipation, flowers, sunshine and warm notes!
See you then and there!
Sierra Rein
Blogette for the Salon
(Updates? Changes? Email me!)
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