MAX VON ESSEN HAS A KNOCKOUT CARNEGIE HALL DEBUT
Max von Essen is no spring chicken, having made his Broadway debut in the 2000 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar.
Nevertheless, when he bounced onto the stage at Carnegie Hall with The NY Pops orchestra for One Night Only: An Evening with Max von Essen on November 15th, he looked like a newcomer who couldn’t keep still. He ran around the stage, he shook his arms and legs and bopped his head. He hopped up and down with a broad smile like an excited middle schooler. When he relaxed a bit, he told the crowd, “It’s Carnegie Hall!” with his head shaking in disbelief. Then, after conductor Steven Reineke led the dazzling overture from Finian’s Rainbow, he lit into “That Old Devil Moon” and the enchantment was palpable, as it was later when, after the overture from South Pacific, von Essen offered a pensive and peaceful “Some Enchanted Evening.”
Max von Essen
He followed “Devil Moon” with a rousing rendition of “Tu vuò fà la l’americano” that had the audience returning his mad Cheshire Cat grin. This is a performer who simultaneously cracks with electricity and flows with grace. You can’t look away and you don’t want to.
Max von Essen
After he, well, calmed down, Mr. von Essen was generous in sharing stories of his career highlights, including Magaldi in Evita (“On This Night of a Thousand Stars”) and his Tony-winning performance as Henri Baurel in An American in Paris, which the Pops saluted with Nelson Riddle’s gorgeous arrangement of Gershwin’s Prelude No. 2. He also spoke of his joy in joining the final Broadway company of Les Misérables, a musical he had loved since he was a teenager. After introducing his parents, seated third row center, his poignant rendition of “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” was so intimate that he made us feel that we were his personal friends, invited to a private event.
Max von Essen with The NY Pops
That ability to create intimacy and friendship with a roomful of strangers served him wonderfully for the evening’s second act highlight which featured a long medley of Judy Garland songs from her famous 1961 “comeback” concert, also at Carnegie Hall. The orchestra, as splendid as ever, offered the very same overture played for Judy back in the day. It evoked the past and it was thrilling. And when von Essen lit into “Gotta Have Me Go With You” and “The Trolley Song,” subtly referencing Judy’s physical and vocal gestures, it was magical. It’s pretty nervy to sing from the Judy Garland songbook on the stage of Carnegie Hall, but von Essen pulled it off beautifully.
Gabrielle Stravelli
The great jazz vocalist Gabrielle Stravelli, who appears around town at clubs like Birdland, also gave a nod to Judy’s Carnegie Hall concert: in a stunning gown, she gave us an intoxicating, exhilarating “Come Rain Or Come Shine.” The night was made even more splendid by the participation of the legendary Billy Stritch as pianist, arranger and singer. Stritch has worked with them all, and he knows how to provide perfect support to a great singer. Max’s duet with Stritch on “Almost Like Being in Love” from Brigadoon was also a winner.
Billy Stritch and Max von Essen
Earlier in the evening, we heard a gentle, unhurried take of “Fly Me to the Moon” from von Essen’s album Call Me Old Fashioned • The Broadway Standard. To conclude the Judy tribute, he slowed things down again with a thoroughly touching rendition of Garland’s second most famous signature song, “The Man That Got Away.” Watching a comfortably gay man with a passion for musical comedy experiencing a kind of ecstasy singing this Arlen/Gershwin tune at his Carnegie Hall debut — well, this is the stuff of legend.
Billy Stritch
The evening ended all too soon with a spectacular “Being Alive” from Stephen Sondheim’s Company. This one-off was a night to remember for sure.
While you may have missed Max von Essen at Carnegie Hall, you can see him take on the role of Billy Flynn in the current Broadway revival of Chicago at the Ambassador, but only through Sunday, after which Latin music sensation Sebastián Yatra steps into the role through December 22. Next up for The NY Pops is Merry and Bright on Friday, December 20 and Saturday, December 21 at 8pm when the guest is Jessica Vosk (who succeeds Shoshana Bean in Hell’s Kitchen December 12) and Essential Voices USA, with Judith Clurman as Music Director and Conductor.
Conductor Steven Reineke with The NY Pops Orchestra
photos © 2024 Richard Termine
One Night Only: An Evening with Max von Essen
The New York Pops
Steven Reineke, Music Director and Conductor
Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall
Friday, November 15, 2024