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The New York Pops: The Musical World of Lerner and Loewe
Colin Donnell, Steven Reineke, Laura Osnes and Nathan Gunn photo by Richard Termine
by Julia Polinsky
In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the original staging of My Fair Lady, the opening concert of the 2016 New York Pops season offered up the lovely music of Lerner and Loewe. How wonderful it was, to hear the sound of a big orchestra playing these familiar songs, and a full-throated chorus, and terrific soloists. How simply wonderful.
Pops concerts are crowd pleasers by design, but The Musical World of Lerner and Loewe was particularly delicious, in large part because of the engaging and accomplished Music Director, Steven Reineke. He loves his orchestra; he loves their musicianship and how very good they are, how lush, how rich, how musical. He loves featuring his guest artists, making sure that every word of every song gets the accompaniment it merits. He loves introducing the “Kids in the Balcony,” working with the chorus, even getting the audience to sing along. He has the best job in the world, and he lets you know it.
Johnny Green’s orchestral arrangements surely contributed to the excellence of the orchestra’s performance. Not typical Broadway arrangements, but tailored to a huge classical orchestra, as if Mahler had layered tone on tone, instrument upon instrument, to make, for example, the Orchestral Prelude to My Fair Lady into a tone-poem. These Lerner and Loewe songs have been performed in just about every musical style (perhaps not hip-hop), and to hear them treated seriously, by a good orchestra, in a great hall with excellent acoustics? Superb.
More crowd pleasing: the guest artists. Operatic baritone Nathan Gunn; TV and theater performer Colin Donnell, and the extraordinary Laura Osnes, alone or together, they brought Lerner and Loewe’s songs to vivid life. Essential Voices USA, a sizeable chorus under the musical direction of Judith Clurman, filled Carnegie Hall with their balanced, open, joyous singing.
And the songs. Oh, what songs! Five of Lerner and Loewe’s best known musicals made the cut into this program, with solos, duets, and solo-with-chorus productions. Songs from Camelot, Paint Your Wagon, Gigi, Brigadoon, and, of course, My Fair Lady.
Some highlights: Nathan Gunn’s King Arthur, in the Camelot section; also, his beautiful singing of “Gigi,” and “They Call the Wind Maria.” The Essential Voices USA and their infectious enthusiasm on “There’s a Coach Comin’ In/I’m On My Way,” from Paint Your Wagon, and most memorably on Gigi’s “The Night They Invented Champagne.” And Laura Osnes, who, in addition to having a voice other singers would kill for, acts every song she sings; she tells a story with every note. “Say a Prayer for Me Tonight.” Magnificent. “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly.” Magnificent-er. “I Could Have Danced All Night.” Never heard it better. Solo or duet, with chorus or in a trio with Gunn and Donnell, she is It.
The My Fair Lady portion of the program came at the end of the evening, and it was all pure pleasure from there on out. Even Colin Donnell gave his most relaxed performance. (Earlier, in Brigadoon’s lovely “Come to Me, Bend to Me,” and in one of the best known and most heartbreaking songs in Camelot, “If Ever I Would Leave You,” Donnell seemed uncomfortable, his voice tighter than his shoulders, especially in the higher register.) He comfortably hit the highs of “On The Street Where You Live,” in his best voice of the whole evening.
My Fair Lady brought out the best in all the performers. One after another, the selections from that musical spread sweetness and light all through Carnegie Hall. From the opening of “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?”when you believed every single word Laura Osnes sang, to Nathan Gunn’s rich, emotional “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her Face,” it was possible to simply wallow in pure pleasure. Huge congratulations to Reineke and the New York Pops on this concert. It may be a hard act to follow, but worth trying.Upcoming New York Pops concerts; tickets at www.carnegiehall.orgFriday, November 11, 2016 at 8:00pm Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage Concert for Courage Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Friday, December 16, 2016 at 8:00pm Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage Make the Season Bright Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Friday, March 10, 2017 at 8:00pm Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage Life is a Cabaret: The Songs of Kander and Ebb Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Friday, April 21, 2017 at 8:00pm Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage You've Got a Friend: A Celebration of Singers and Songwriters Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor 
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