Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles
They’ve got the sound down, but can wearing a mop top make you The Fab Four? Rain can sing the tunes but it’ll never quite be the same as the original.
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Music Reviews
The Cousin from Nowhere
My first visit to see an operetta by the six year old Chicago Folks Operetta was a most pleasant one. Their fabulous modern German operetta, in a rhyming translation into English by Gerald Frantzen and Hersh Glgov, is a fun time.
Read MoreThe Twelve Tenors
The young cast of unknown tenors tried to please but their voices were so slurred by the lousy sound system that it was difficult to distinguish their vocal abilities. Add the ambitious song selection, ranging from Irish folk tunes to Barry Manilow to opera selections to Simon and Garfunkel to a Frank Sinatra to Les Miserables to The Beatles, and we get a show trying too hard to play to all audience tastes
Read MoreRare Gems; An Old Favorite at Raging Speeds: Van Zweden conducts Beethoven 7 at the CSO
I have never heard anyone take nearly so fast and sustained a tempo as Van Zweden does here, and that includes Toscanini’s 1939 recording with the NBC Orchestra. It all seems to work rather well in the opening introduction ,marked Allegro sostenuto: This beautifully simplistic introduction so often feels lifeless and dull, sacrilege to what are some of the most brilliantly serene passages in the entire work.
Read MoreOpus 1861 -The Civil War In Symphony
Songs like “When This Cruel War is Over (Weeping Sad and Lonely),” “Shule Agrah (Johnny’s Gone for a Soldier)” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd” were particularly emotionally moving. The Civil War songbook’s rich personal sensitivity toward the angst of war is deeply presented by this group of talented singers. The superb vocals and the honest presentation of the letters home added power to the sacrifice of theses honorable patriots.
Read MoreMOSCOW, CHERYOMUSHKI
Every principal carries their songs in character beautifully! While Sophie Gordeladze (soprano) is the voice of the state, she is also a sweet treat as Lusya. Sara Heaton (soprano) as Lidochka vocally conveys the skeptical female of the three and works very well with (baratone) Paul LaRosa’s Boris, the gadabout. (bass) Matt Boehler’s physical comedy plays with just enough of the required sleaze.
Read MoreLittle Shop of Horrors
Come on downtown to Skid Row and visit this little shop. A crowd-pleasing blend of genres, it’s the second performance from Street Tempo and demonstrates their emerging affection for spicy—and twisted—pieces.
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