OSCAR’S JUKEBOX
It’s a title to win a crowd on the spot: The revue Hollywood’s Greatest Song Hits just requires the right arrangements for a cabaret showcase of four solid talents. Add to that a strategic song selection to do justice to seven decades, celebrated notes that chronicle a near-century of American life and love. The result: Light Opera Works’ successful fourth offering at Evanston’s Nichols Concert Hall. Artistic director Rudy Hogenmiller’s confection of instantly evocative numbers is a tonic of a time trip, stretching from Tinsel Town’s Depression-era “Art Deco” years to the “power ballads” of the late last century. “The Way We Were” indeed!
Risking a certain loss of range, vocal and thematic, this two-hour compilation, with musical direction from Linda Madonia, is performed by a female quartet. Their heavenly harmonies, bouncy verve and stand-out solos mostly make up for male parts lost to the music and a certain vibrato sheen. Not grouped by genre or content, the chronological program salutes the silver screen from “talkie” hits like “Hooray for Hollywood,” “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” and “Lullaby of Broadway” through “film noir” classics, 40s and 50s favorites, the swinging sixties, and finally Hollywood “film-stoppers” like “Looking Through the Eyes of Love.”
As “Rose’s Turn” did on Broadway, these go-for-broke star turns seized Oscars through emotional excess as much as lyric merit. Of course, it helps to get glory from Academy Award winners Marvin Hamlisch, Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg, Johnny Mercer, Jule Styne, Burt Bacharach, Amanda McBroom, and Henry Mancini.
This is no night for unexpected discoveries. The territory is strictly standards, a lush songbook of imperishable gems. True and tried, these best ballads bring out the best in whoever croons them. You see that in full-throated belter Mary Robin Roth’s sultry “The Man That Got Away”–even more anguished than Judy’s version and acted as much as intoned. Exploring the same era, the usual playful Amanda Horvath waxes winsome with “Blues in the Night.” Sarah Larson channels Lena Horne in “Stormy Weather,” while sweet soprano Alicia Berneche gets the privilege of recreating, if not replenishing, “As Time Goes By.”
Inevitably, when the foursome combine forces, we get Andrews Sisters pep with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” a cappella purity with “Moon River,” “Born Free,” and “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head,” sassy spirit in “Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend,” warm nostalgia with “Three Coins in the Fountain,” and sisterly sweetness from the evergreen marvels “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “Over the Rainbow.” Clever medleys connect Amanda and Sarah in a seemingly simultaneous merger of “Swinging on a Star” with “Accentuate the Positive” and Alicia and Mary Robin in “That Old Black Magic” and “Something’s Gotta Give.” As accompanied by Madonia, Joseph Krzysiak, and Joey Zymonas, the whole is greater than the sum of these songs.
Despite the gorgeous evening gowns and scintillating bling borne by these liebeslieder ladies, they gladly let their hair down and their lungs out. As enthrallingly familiar as memory-makers “Get Happy,” “Secret Love,” and “Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing,” the most resonant revelations here are the soulful solos. Among the tours de force on display are Mary Robin’s suitably soaring “Wind Beneath My Wings,” Sarah’s deeply grounded “I Will Always Love You,” Alicia’s lilting “My Heart Will Go On,” and Amanda’s country-western vibes in “Nobody Does It Better.”
Well, you can’t hate hits.
photos by Chris Ocken
Hollywood’s Greatest Song Hits
Light Opera Works
Nichols Concert Hall
1490 Chicago Ave in Evanston
ends on October 11, 2015
for tickets, call (847) 920-5360
or visit Light Opera Works
for more shows, visit Theatre in Chicago