Tag: csun-vpac

Last night, we went to the Valley Performing Arts Center to see a folk legend perform. No, I’m not talking about Tom Paxton.  I’m talking about Judy Collins, who at age 73 is still performing across the country, still singing folk songs and standards, and still telling stories of the folk scene of the 1960s.

A lot of people don’t think of Judy Collins as a folk artist. I can understand that well — my first introduction to her music was not through folk music. A girl I dated (all I can recall is she lived in Los Feliz) gave me the album Judith. This albums was mostly covers of songs, including “Send In The Clouds”. Since then I’ve been introduce to Judy’s earlier folk work, and have learned about her participation in the folk scene of the 1960s.

The show setup was simple, a piano (occasionally with her accompanist and music director, Russell Walden; occasionally played by Judy) and a guitar. In between songs, Judy gave a retrospective of her life (although happened less in the second half, leaving us pretty much stuck in the late 1960s as far as her stories). A lot of her stories were about her father and her influence on her life. The music was varied: folk combined with many standards, and including songs from some of the greatest writers of the 20th century: Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Jacques Brel.

The songs were as follows (I’m not including all song snippets):

The second half felt a lot shorter than the first, and I heard comments as we were leaving that Judy didn’t sing some of their favorites (in particular, “Both Sides Now”). That didn’t bother me; the artist makes their artistic choices. For someone with a catalog as deep as Judy Collins, it is understood she won’t sing the favorites every time.

Her performance was strong. I could hear the age creeping into her voice — it didn’t have quite the purity of the early days, and she couldn’t hold the notes quite as long. But that’s to be expected — voices age along with bodies. She also didn’t have as much stage presence as Raul Esparza or Bernadette Peters (but that’s to be expected). Comparing her to some other folk artists I have seen at McCabes (Paxton, Stookey) she was good. She was better in the first act with the story of her life; there was less of this in the shorter second act. I particularly enjoyed those stories, especially the mention of her friendship with Mary Travers. I just wish she had continued with the story, bringing us through the 1970s to the present day.

I was a little surprised that she had limited “merch”: one live performance DVD (“Judy Collins: Live at the Metropolitan Museum of Art“), and copies of her recent book (“Suite: Judy Blue Eyes“). I was particularly suprised she didn’t have her latest CD (“Bohemian“) out.

Upcoming VPAC Performances: Currently, we have no more performances ticketed at VPAC this season. Looking at what is left of the season, we may get tickets to Michael Feinstein in May.

Upcoming Theatre and Concerts:  Tonight bring an intriguing mash-up: “A Mulholland Christmas Carol“  at Theatre of Note on December 22 (this is a combination of A Christmas Carol with the story of the St. Francis Dam disaster). December ends with Other Desert Cities at the Taper on December 29. (I”ll also not we’ll likely see the Les Miz movie on Christmas, followed (of course) by Chinese food).

Turning to 2013… January starts with “Anything Goes” at the Ahmanson on January 6. January 12 is currently held for the MoTAS Shabbat, although I may book something in the evening. January 19 is currently open, as Erin returns to Berkeley the next day; supposedly, there may be an event at REP of interest that evening. January 26 is being held for the just announced production of Triassic Parq–The Musical at the Chance Theatre in Orange County. February will start with the first play of the REP season, “Putnam County Spelling Bee“.  February 9 is being held for “Backbeat” at the Ahmanson. February 16 brings “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and the last weekend of February is currently open. March starts with “I’ll Be Back Before Midnight” at the Colony. After a break for Fogcon (although I may do something here), theatre picks up with “Catch Me If You Can” at Broadway LA/Pantages on March 16 and “Boeing Boeing” at REP East on March 23. March may also bring “End of the Rainbow” at the Ahmanson, most likely on March 30. April will bring the Southern California Renaissance Faire (huzzah for the $15 Holidazzle sale), “Grease” at Cabrillo Music Theatre, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” at REP East. I’m also keeping my eyes open as the various theatres start making their 2013 season announcements. Lastly, what few dates we do have open may be filled by productions I see on Goldstar, LA Stage Tix, Plays411, or discussed in the various LA Stage Blogs I read (I particularly recommend Musicals in LA and LA Stage Times).

Yesterday was my daughter’s 18^th birthday. It was also the day that Raul Esparza was going to do a concert at the Valley Performing Arts Center. Erin loves Raul Esparza, and really wanted to go; alas, she is now up in Berkeley and was unable to get down. She got her nose pierced instead (which looks nice, but we do have the traditional parental stance). In Erin’s absence, we went to the concert. This write up is partially for her^*.
[^*: In particular, she specifically asked that I not say that the show was great or gush over it before the “more” tag.]

The singular focus of Raul’s show was Sondheim. Much as I love Sondheim, he gets tiresome as a concert subject. I understand why singers choose him: His songs are musically complex, a challenge to sing, and provide the ability to showcase one’s talents. If one has worked with Sondheim — a theatre legend — one can share those stories and entertain the audience. But having just listened to a concert devoted to Sheldon Harnick, and being a fan of all musical theatre, I’d truly like to see a concert devoted to other composing teams. We occasionally see these for Rodgers and Hammerstein (although less often these days); what I’d really love, though, is shows devoted to the lesser-known and more challenging material of Kander and Ebb, or the wonderful Jazz compositions of Cy Coleman (who was really the most jazzy of the composers out there). But we are lucky, at least, with Raul’s choice of Sondheim. He didn’t fall into the trite Sondheim category, doing well known songs such as “Send in the Clowns” or anything from Gypsy. Alas, he also didn’t do some of the great songs from lesser shows, such as Saturday Night, Frogs, or Pacific Overtures. More on this later.

Raul’s show also lacked Merch. One goes to a show hoping to be able to pick up something to bring the memory home. A solo CD. CDs of recent shows (I know Leap of Faith has been recorded, but I don’t recall if the CD is released yet). At VPAC? Nothing. Perhaps this show is preparation for a future Sondheim solo CD.

As for Raul’s performance itself. It was very good, although I’m not as much of a fanatic as my daughter is. I’m certainly not as much of a fanatic as the person sitting next to me was, who loved to scream and clap over enthusiastically.  I thought the show quite pleasant, although my wife noted that Raul didn’t put a lot of vocal power in most of the songs. His chatter portions were mostly stories about his growing up and Sondheim’s influence thereupon, and upon his interactions with Sondheim on Broadway. A number of these stories were similar to what is found in the album Sondheim on Sondheim, especially the sequence on the endings of Company. There was very little else, and you didn’t learn much about the man.

More on these subjects, plus the usual upcoming show list, after the cut…

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Last night, we went to the Valley Performing Arts Center at CSUN to see Bernadette Peters in Concert. As always, Peters gave a great performance: she sang beautifully, interacted with the audience, and was a delight both to see and watch. She was bubbly and delightful and incredibly sexy.

But…

I didn’t walk away with the “oh wow!” I had hoped for. Perhaps this was due to her program, which was extremely Sondheim heavy. I think there were five songs in the entire program that were not Sondheim: three Rogers and Hammerstein songs (two from “South Pacific” and one from “Carousel”), “O Shenandoah”, and a song she wrote for her children’s book. Perhaps it was because this wasn’t a new show–our daughter, who saw her in Thousand Oaks 2.5 years ago indicated it was essentially the same show (and the same dress and the same jokes). As for the Sondheim, there were numbers from Gypsy, Follies, Company , Into the Woods, and a few I didn’t easily recognize. Most worked, although I didn’t like her rendition of “You Can Drive a Person Crazy” (which really needs the three-part voices).

ETA: I did forget one number where Peters triumphed: a stunning sexy rendition of “You Give Me Fever”, made even more amazing with the realization that not only is Bernadette Peters a smoking hot sexy woman, she is a smoking hot sexy 60+ woman!

What would I have liked? I would have liked some more audience interaction letting us know who she is. This is something both Liza and Dolly do–they tell stories about themselves and their lives. I would have liked to have seen numbers from more than just Sondheim. There are great numbers from Mack and Mabel by Jerry Herman — both “I Won’t Send Roses” or “Wherever He Ain’t” (I particularly like Mack and Mabel — I last saw Ms. Peters in that show at the LA Civic Light Opera in 1974). There are numbers from The Goodbye Girl. There are numbers from Dames at Sea. She was in all three. She could do great with some of the numbers from A Bakers Wife. Much as I love Sondheim and his talent, I would have appreciated a show more varied.

Again, I’m not saying the show was bad. It just wasn’t the “over the top” show I expected.

VPAC 2012-2013. VPAC has just announced their 2012-2013 season. A number of shows are of interest: Chick Corea and Gary Burton (Saturday, 10/6/12); Raul Esparza sings Sondheim (Saturday, 11/17/12); An Evening with Judy Collins (Friday, 12/21/12); An Evening With Branford Marsalis (Saturday, 2/2/13); Bebe Neuwirth: Stories with Piano (Satuday, 2/23/13); The Pipes and Drums of the Black Watch (Friday, 3/1/13). Single tickets go on sale June 6, 2012.

Upcoming Theatre, Concerts, and Dance: Next week sees us at Van Nuys HS for the final performance of their production of “How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying”. March continues with “American Idiot” at the Ahmanson, and “Journey’s End” at REP East. March will conclude with Tom Paxton in concert at McCabes on 3/31. Continuing the look ahead, April will bring “Billy Elliot” at the Pantages, the Southern California Renaissance Faire, “Once Upon a Mattress” at Cabrillo, and “Dames at Sea” at the Colony.  May will bring “The Great American Trailer Park Musical” at REP East, the senior dance show at Van Nuys HS, and may bring “Heiress” at the Pasadena Playhouse, “Follies” at the Ahmanson, and the Spring Railfestival at Orange Empire Railway Museum. As always, open dates are subject to be filled in with productions that have yet to appear on the RADAR of Goldstar or LA Stage Alliance.

Music: Spices (Pierre Bensusan): The Last Pint