The Salon Wrap-Up for March 24, 2019: "Slip Sliding Away: Things That Elude You"

On what felt like it might be the first day of spring, a small but extremely talented crew of singers and enthusiastic audience members gathered at Don't Tell Mama for tonight's Salon.  Mark opened by introducing Tanya and congratulating her on her brand new Bistro Award (and MAC nomination) for director. Then, he introduced our three co-hosts for the evening.  They are three-quarters of the group "Mama's Boys," Tommy J Dose, Brian Kalinowski, and Jon Satrom. (The fourth member, Paul Pilcz, is in Israel, so, obviously, couldn't be here tonight.) The Boys have an upcoming show, but apparently their 1st performance is sold out, so if you missed Salon, you should hurry to catch their second show on April 8th. (At Don't Tell Mama, of course.) 
At any rate, WE had them tonight, and they were terrific! They opened the evening with the Dear Evan Hansen/Hamilton mashup "Found/Tonight."






After the break, the Boys presented us with a trio of musical gems which are not in their show, beginning with "I Know Him So Well," from Chess, sung by Jon and Brian. They followed this up with a focused and deeply felt version of Pink's "Glitter in the Air." Tommy and Jon closed this set with, as they called it,  a "two man song" from The Secret Garden, "In Lily's Eyes."
And at the end of the evening, the warm-hearted trio serenaded us with "Louder Than Words," from Jonathan Larson's musical tick..tick...BOOM!.

 Quick Wrap - Classical Corner

Tonight's theme, Things that Elude Us. inspired Mark to give us examples of works where the keys are ambiguous or ambivalent. He began with the Prelude in E minor by Chopin. A feature of the prelude form is that there is an element which repeats over and over. In the case of this particular Chopin Prelude, there are repeating chords which slipslide down in key as they go along, giving a most elusive harmonic impression.
For his second example, Mark chose a landmark work by the Geman opera composer Richard Wagner: the Liebestod (Love-Death) from his opera Tristan and Isolde. Isolde sings this transcendent aria at the end of the opera, as she expires next to the body of her slain lover, Tristan. The harmonic suspensions overlap, change, and meld together so that the sense of any particular key is lost. The piece also grows to one of the mightiest and most erotic climaxes in classical music. As Mark observed, Wagner in real life was a pretty terrible person: an anti-Semite who borrowed money and never paid it back, and was politically controversial. Nevertheless, he was a sublime composer who revolutionized the music of his time.
Mark played the Liebestod in the piano transcription by Franz Liszt. Liszt was good friend of Wagner, and also the father of Wagner's second wife, Cosima.

Roster of performers for the evening (in order of appearance):

Click link to visit the performer’s website or other links, when available.
All piano accompaniment by Mark Janas unless otherwise noted.

Co-Hosts:  Mama’s Boys – Tommy J. Dose, Brian Kalinowski, & Jon Satrom
Analisa Bell, Quinn Martin, and Alexandra Foley
Josh Carr & Scott Roche
Frank McDonough
Sally Darling
Rachel Moss
Bennett Silverstein
Erik Strebig
Joshua Bennett
Janice Hall 
Marnie Klar

BREAK

Co-Hosts: Mama's Boys
Tanya Moberly
Fred McDonough
Alexandra Foley
Quinn Martin
Analisa Bell
Josh Carr
 Scott Roche
Bennett Silverstein
Janice Hall
Co-Host: Mama's Boys

Special thanks to our pianist for the evening, Mark Janas. Thanks also to Erik Strebig on lights and sound, and the astounding waitstaff (Joshua and Leo), and management at Don't Tell Mama. Finally, thanks to Ruben Olvera for his Videography!

Ongoing Shows:

Most Tuesdays (6pm): Peaceable Hour with Sarah Rice, Janice Hall, and Mark Watson at St. Clements Church, free, see schedule for details - peaceablehour.com, 423 West 46th Street, NYC.

Wednesdays-Sundays: Adam Shapiro is performing in Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish at Stage 42, 422 W 42nd St, NYC.

Upcoming Shows:

Tuesday, March 26th, 2019 (7pm): The 33rd Annual MAC Awards take place! Among the Salon family nominees are Tanya Moberly, Marnie Klar, Sally Darling, and Salon itself.   www.MACnyc.com

Saturday, March 30th, 2019 (9:30 pm): Join Analisa Bell, Quinn Martin, and Alexandra Foley for "You've Got That Thing-A Celebration of Cole Porter," at the Triad Theater, 158 W 72nd St, NYC.

Monday, April 1st, 2019 (7 pm): Mama's Boys (our co-hosts) open their show at Don't Tell Mama, 345 W 46th, NYC.

Monday, April 1st, 2019 (8pm): Tanya Moberly directs Dan Ruth in the award-winning "A Life Behind Bars" at City Winery, 155 Varick St, NYC.

Monday, April 8th, 2019 (7 pm): Mama's Boys (our co-hosts) open their show at Don't Tell Mama, 345 W 46th, NYC.

Friday, May 3rd, 2019 (7pm): Frank McDonough will be singing at the National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Ave., NYC.

June, 2019: Josh Carr and Scott Roche will be performing their autobiographical show, "The Wrong People Travel," during this spring's Pride Celebration. 


NEXT SALON: March 31st, 2019:
Cabaret mainstay Jeff Harnar hosts "What a Swell Party: Parody or Patter Songs," so brush up your best party number and do drop in!

Submitted by Janice Hall
Blogette for The Salon
Email me if I missed anything!