Kathy and I were part of a really fun event tonight at First United Methodist Church in Kenosha, the site of the sing-along Messiahs which I have conducted. Tonight was a fundraiser for that fine arts series, and the night culminated in a program of Broadway music that really went over like gangbusters. I think part of what made it so nice was that the lineup was a healthy mix of regular folks from the congregation, all of whom did a fine job with their respective assignments, and some heavy hitters who essentially were special guest stars. I think that combination was just right. The night was full of fine performances, including some really nice work in “I’m am Sixteen, Going on Seventeen” by a former voice student of mine, Ryan Clark- and some surprisingly high-flying singing from Libbi Weisinger. There was also some unscripted fun when pianist Carol Wallace got her music messed up while accompanying “People will Say We’re in Love” and finally just had to throw up her hands, stand up and apologize to the audience and the singers she was accompanying. Fortunately, the husband/wife singers saw the fun in it and didn’t allow themselves to be bothered by their predicament
Kathy and I sang two duets- our now famous rendition of “I remember it well” from “Gigi” – which features an older couple trying to remember the details from their first date. . .
Him: We met at nine. Her: We met at eight. Him: I was on time. Her: No, you were late. Him: Ah yes, I remember it well. . . etc.
We also sang “Do I Love You Because You’re Beautiful” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “Cinderella.”
But with all due respect to my wife, with whom I love to sing (and don’t get to sing as much as you might think) the high point for me … which was also the finale of the solo program …. was the moment pictured above – Richard Sjoerdsma and yours truly joining forces on “Lily’s Eyes” from the musical “The Secret Garden.”
Dr. Sjoerdsma is the recently-retired long-time chairman of the music department at Carthage and the head of the voice department there for 38 years. Since I came to the area 22 years ago, Dr. Sjoerdsma and I have only sung together a handful of times- a Bach Magnificat with the KSO two decades ago, a Coronation Mass at Carthage 15 years ago, and two joint voice faculty recitals. . . and in none of those events did he and I sing an actual duet together. So this felt like an Event with a capital “E” – almost like the day Barbara Streisand guest starred on the Judy Garland Show and Ethel Merman stopped by for a surprise visit. It was especially surprising given that Dr. Sjoerdsma has never seemed very interested in singing Broadway music. But as he demonstrated in both of his exquisitely sung solos tonight – “Strangers in Paradise” and “Try to Remember” – he actually knows his way around this stuff very well. And standing next to him and going toe-to-toe in “Lily’s Eyes” was nothing less than thrilling. In the duet we portray brothers who loved the same woman- with me playing the hunchback brother.
Speaking of thrilling, tonight also gave me the chance once again to play what is probably the best concert grand piano in all of southeast Wisconsin – an amazing grand made by Bosendorfer, which is especially famous for actually having extra keys in the bass. (On a typical piano, the lowest note is an A – but on these special Bosendorfers, the C below that is the bottom-most key.) There’s just something about a piano like that which makes you feel like you’re Vladimir Horowitz himself before you’ve even played a note.
By the way, I was paid a really nice compliment by Linda Farmer, one of the pastors at the church. (She’s fantastic.) She came up to me after the concert to say that I’m not just a good musician – – – I’m “scary good.” I’m not exactly sure what she meant by that, but I’ll do my best to live up to the compliment. ( I guess I don’t mind being a little scary – Lord knows I’m not scary in any other way that I can think of. )
pictured: Richard Sjoerdsma and Gregory Berg singing “Lilly’s Eyes” from “The Secret Garden.” There were microphones, but we tried not to sing into them, for fear of blowing out the windows of the sanctuary.