| re: about Strike Up the Band last night | |
| Posted by: falcon15 02:16 pm EDT 10/30/24 | |
| In reply to: Tell me more! nmi - Ann 12:33 pm EDT 10/30/24 | |
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| Mastervoices, as always, does beautiful work. This was a "new" version of Strike Up the Band that basically uses the bones of the 1927 script with some of the "hits" from the 1930 version added in - instead of "17 and 21" we get "Hanging Around With You," and "I've Got a Crush on You" for those two characters in the second act. I would say the cast was mostly excellent, with Bryce Pinkham and Shereen Ahmed as the leads, and David Pittu, John Ellison Conlee, Chris Fitzgerald, and Victoria Clark all doing great work trying hard to sell the comedy. I think it's probably a show that will never fully work for modern audiences - it was almost three hours long, and "Military Dancing Drill" was listed in the program but not performed - almost certainly a sign it was cut at the last minute to keep the show under three hours. Even people like myself (and the majority of the audience who were there last night) who's predisposed to liking this type of thing will probably agree it was too long. I wish that more of the book had been cut. I know Ted Sperling has given interviews where he talked about how this concert was basically supposed to be the template for potential future productions, and I think it would need to be shortened by another half hour or so before I can even imagine light opera companies doing this work. That said, the score is the star of the show, and it sounded glorious last night. Bryce Pinkham and Shereen Ahmed sounded beautiful, and I'm very glad I was there after listening to the John Mauceri double CD over and over again for the past 25 years. |
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