A Century of Song! For one night only at the Toronto Centre For the Arts! The music of Richard Rodgers, his daughter Mary Rodgers and her son Adam Guettel! Well, Sheldy is a devoted fan of all three so TT was dragged screaming from his needlepoint out into the chill of Sunday evening and it was indeed the most wonderful musical feast. Scripted by and starring the charming Adrian Marchuk (an ex-Frankie Valli in JERSEY BOYS)
and accompanied on grand piano by the indefatigable and versatile David Atkinson,
the first half began in 1925 with the earliest Rodgers & Hart collaborations. Mr. Marchuk narrated their story interspersed with his crystalline renditions of "Manhattan", "Blue Room", "You Took Advantage of Me", "My Heart Stood Still", "Isn't it Romantic?" and "Ten Cents a Dance" before being joined by Sara Farb (and she is farbulous so remember the name)
for "On Your Toes", "Lady is a Tramp", "I Wish I Were in Love Again", "My Funny Valentine" and "Johnny One Note". A selection from PAL JOEY saw poor Larry Hart off to his early demise, the introduction of new lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II and a spine tingling rendition of the title song from OKLAHOMA! which served as our introduction to the other two talented cast members, soprano Toni Macrae
and the even more crystalline-voiced Jeigh Madjus
who is apparently well known for his (as yet unsuccessful) on-line audition videos for GLEE. Hang in there, Jeigh! Act Two continued with the Rodgers & Hammerstein collaboration (oddly, nothing at all from THE KING & I) until Oscar hopped off the twig after scratching out "Edelweiss" and we were left to swoon to a glorious quartet of "The Sweetest Sounds" from NO STRINGS which Mr. Rodgers wrote all on his ownsome. Then it was time for a couple of tunes from one of Sheldy's all-time faves, ONCE UPON A MATTRESS which our compere Mr. Marchuk shockingly announced had both words and music by Mary Rodgers. (Ms. Rodgers did indeed supply the wonderful melodies but I'm sure the marvellous lyricist Marshall Barer sat bolt upright in his grave.) Jeigh Madjus brought down the house with Carol Burnett's clarion call belter "I'm Shy" which Sara Farb then topped with an expertly comic reading of "The Boy From..." from THE MAD SHOW (Music by Ms. Rodgers and lyric by a certain Mr. Sondheim). The last half of the evening was devoted to the youngest genius of the dynasty, Adam Guettel, whose music seemed to suit the team's voices best of all. It was interesting to note that the older members of the audience became restive as the melodies from FLOYD COLLINS and MYTHS AND HYMNS became progressively more challenging but the performances were flawless and made us want to reinvestigate both these underappreciated scores (certainly underappreciated in Australia; we were surprised to learn that FLOYD was one of the most produced shows of the '90s in the U.S.) Three songs from the sublime LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA brought the performance to a close and a well-earned enthusiastic standing O from young and old alike. Well, mostly young; the old sat with their fingers in their ears looking cross but they did enjoy the bits they knew. Well done everyone, particularly Mr. Atkinson at the piano whose fingers must now be tiny red nubbly stubs.
