Review: Merrie melodies

This article originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Poster by Columbia Artists

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It's always nice to have a big, family-friendly event at this time of the year, and right now Grand Center is playing host to a pair of them: the musical "Anastasia" at the Fox and, just up the street at Powell Hall, "Walt Disney Animation Studios: A Decade in Concert."

I reviewed the former a couple of days ago. Last night (Friday, December 28) I had the pleasure of watching the latter as, under the expert direction of Resident Conductor Gemma New, an expanded roster of St. Louis Symphony Orchestra musicians (eighty of them, including Steve Schenkel and Kirk Hanser on electric guitar and Kelly Karamanov on synth) delivered slam-bang performances of music from a dozen recent Disney animated films while selections from movies played on the big screen above them. I found it delightful, and I've never even seen most of those movies; for the many fans, young and old, in the audience, it was obviously a bit of pure heaven.

The clips were artfully selected, so that even a relative newbie like me (I had seen only two of the twelve films) was able to get a feel for the story lines. The clips also represented a nice variety of animation styles, from the mid-1960s feel of "Winnie the Pooh" (2011), to the early-1990s look of "The Princess and the Frog" (2009) with its emphasis on caricature, to the more common 3-D design of "Moana" (2016) and the other films in the program.

Gemma New

There was plenty of variety in the music as well. I especially enjoyed Randy Newman's score for "The Princess and the Frog," with its pastiches of early 20th-century sentimental tunes, ragtime, and Dixieland, as well as Mark Mancia's percussion-heavy music for "Moana." Principal Percussionist Will James and the rest of his crew got quite a workout on that one.

Alan Menken's Celtic-themed score for "Tangled" (2010) generated plenty of excitement, and the comic hijinks of "Winnie the Pooh" were vividly illustrated by the equally comical score by Henry Jackman. And it's always a pleasure to hear the music Robert Lopez wrote for "Frozen" in 2013. "Let It Go," the Big Hit from the film, got a virtuoso performance (not credited, I'm sorry to note) by St. Louis's own Debby Lennon as the evening's encore.

All too often, phrases like "family entertainment" and "recommended for all ages" are euphemisms for "dull and unimaginative," as though children were simply very dim adults who could only be trusted with the performing arts equivalent of safety scissors. "Walt Disney Animation Studios: A Decade in Concert" was, I'm happy to say, none of those things. The little princesses (and princes) in the audience were obviously having a great time, as were the adults accompanying them. Let's hope some of them come back when the regular concert season resumes next month.

Next at Powell Hall: Former Resident Conductor Ward Stare returns to lead the orchestra and soloists in the BMO Private Bank "New Year's Eve Celebration" on Monday, December 31. As always, the actual program won't be known until the concert starts, so expect lots of surprises and even some Mystery Guests, musical and otherwise.

Review: "Disney in Concert: Tale as Old as Time" is powerful entertainment for all ages

Conductor Aram Demirjian
Photo: David Bickley

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For some time now, the last weekend in December has been the time for the St. Louis Symphony to present a family-friendly concert--often with a cinematic theme--designed to pull in big audiences and contribute to the economic bottom line.

This year was no exception with Disney in Concert: Tale as Old as Time. A production of Symphony Pops Music, the concert package provides clips from animated Disney films, both classic and contemporary, accompanied by live music played by the SLSO and orchestrated by a regular army of arrangers. Also included are a scripted narrative and a quartet of singers to deliver that narrative along with a cornucopia of songs from the movies.

The result, as the Thursday night (December 29) concert clearly demonstrated, was an entertainment powerhouse, in which the lively and precise performance by the SLSO musicians under the baton of guest conductor Aram Demirjian (Associate Conductor of the Kansas City Symphony) was more than matched by the theatrically on-target work of the singers. I often found myself more drawn to their smart and well-choreographed stage show than to the film clips which, after all, were already familiar to many of us in the audience.

As was the case with The Magical Music of Disney (the last Symphony Pops production I saw at Powell back in 2012), the featured singers were all experienced and engaging musical theatre professionals who were always completely in the moment and in character.

Whitney Claire Kaufman, who has appeared as the guest soloist in previous SLSO holiday concerts, once again demonstrated an impressive combination of vocal power and theatrical conviction in songs like "When Will My Life Being" (Tangled) and "Reflection" (Mulan). Lisa Livesay was also a sparkling presence in Randy Newman's "Almost There" (The Frog Prince), among others. She and Ms. Kaufman did an excellent job sharing the various princess roles throughout the evening.

L-R: Aaron Phillips, Lisa Livesay, Andrew Johnson
Whitney Claire Kaufman

Andrew Johnson and Aaron Phillips displayed great versatility as well in a wide variety of male roles, from dashing princes to evil magicians. Mr. Johnson's "Under the Sea" (The Little Mermaid) was lively fun and his "Friends on the Other Side" (The Frog Prince) deliciously evil. He was also a powerful presence in the "The Circle of Life" (The Lion King), an unlisted but obviously scheduled encore that brought the audience to its feet for the second standing ovation of the evening--the first having been generated by the rousing medley of tunes from Frozen that finished the official program.

Mr. Phillips had some of the best character songs, including the lyrically flashy "Friend Like Me" (Aladdin) and "Be Our Guest" (Beauty and the Beast). He did some of the best character voices, which is what you might expect from an actor with so many animation and voiceover credits.

All too often the phrase "family entertainment" equates to "suitable only for preschoolers." Not so with Disney in Concert: Tale as Old as Time. This was a program that entertained all three generations in our party but, judging from the response, the rest of the standing room only crowd as well. The opening "Disney Memories Overture" was especially moving for me, with its musical and visual clips from classics like Snow White and Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, and Fantasia. For a few moments, I was once again that enraptured child who made his long-suffering Italian uncle sit through three successive showings of Lady and the Tramp.

Now there's some movie magic for you.

The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra is taking a much-deserved break right now, but the regular season returns the weekend of January 13 when David Robertson conducts Dvorak's Symphony No. 9 ("From the New World") and the Korngold Violin Concerto with Gil Shaham as the soloist.

Symphony Review: "Ratatouille in Concert" charms and delights at Powell Hall, January 2 and 3, 3016

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I love visiting Paris, and in my memory the city has a lovely soft-focus luminosity that is beautifully captured in Disney/Pixar's 2007 animated comedy "Ratatouille," the concert version of which got its North American premiere last weekend at Powell Hall with the St. Louis Symphony and guest artists under the baton of Sarah Hicks.

In this colorful vision of the City of Light, even the sewers look clean as Remy, the rat with the nose and talent of a master chef, crawls upward to save the failing restaurant of the late Chef Gusteau from the twin threats of vicious food critic Anton Ego and conniving chef Skinner, who is using Gusteau's name to sell fast food. "Ratatouille" is, make no mistake, that rarest of birds: an animated feel-good comedy that can entertain multiple generations. As Diane Carson wrote in her KDHX review of the commercial release in the summer of 2007, "'Ratatouille' takes time to love Paris and its characters; to celebrate life, even if it is a rat's; and to reward the good and redeem the bad. Pixar adores friendship, supportive communities, living your dreams, leaping hurdles, and facing down danger. With 'Ratatouille' they again prove it doesn't matter if it's a rat or a fish, a car or a rubber superhero, it really is the sentiment and the message that ensures our enjoyment."

But enough about the film; this is a music review, after all, so let's talk about Michael Giacchino's whimsical and consistently imaginative music. Scored for a full late-Romantic orchestra with an expanded sax section, accordion, and an array of guitars and related instruments that kept guest artist Steve Shenkel very busy, the music of "Ratatouille" sounded, most of the time, remarkably (and appropriately) small in scale.

Yes, the full band is used for most of the chase sequences, but even these have interesting little touches, like the scurrying flute line that accompanies Remy up from the Paris sewers. A classic "big band" brass-and-sax sound accompanies the rat reunion party at one point, and the charm of Parisian night life is evoked by both the accordion and the jazzy passages that call to mind guitar legend Django Reinhardt and his famed Quintette du Hot Club de France.

All this meant that Ms. Hicks, a Curtis Institute Staff Conductor who does pops and special presentations concerts for the Minnesota Orchestra, had to be both versatile and versed in a variety of different musical styles. Conducting a live score to accompany a film is, as I have noted earlier, a very specialized skill, and Ms. Hicks certainly appears to have mastered it. She kept all the disparate elements of Mr. Giacchino's score working harmoniously together and perfectly in synch with the film.

The high-def print of "Ratatouille" looked great on the big screen at Powell Hall, and I was pleased to see that subtitles for the hearing impaired have been added. My ears are fine, thanks, but even I sometimes have trouble catching film dialog at Powell when the orchestra is playing full tilt. I hope this is a preview of things to come.

The SLSO has had quite a public affair lately with movies and movie music. Granted, it's a match born out of financial necessity more than love, as these programs nearly always sell out and are probably quite profitable. But if they attract audiences who have never experienced the heady cocktail of a live orchestral performance then I, for one, am all for it. Now if only first-time concertgoers could get it through their heads that you don't walk out during the curtain calls we'd all be happy.

Next at Powell Hall: The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra conducted by David Robertson presents Olivier Messaien's "From the Canyons to the Stars" on Saturday, January 16, at 8 PM. The performance features piano soloist Peter Henderson and video artist Deborah O'Grady. For more information: stlsymphony.org.

"Beauty and the Beast" at the Muny: meeting up with an old friend

L-R: Nathaniel Hackman, Kate Rockwell
and company

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This past Wednesday, the Muny gave me a chance to visit a friend I hadn't seen in fifteen years. I'm not talking about a human friend, but a theatrical one: Disney's 1994 stage adaptation of the 1991 hit animated film "Beauty and the Beast." The years, I'm happy to say, have been kind to it, and the Muny's first-rate production certainly does it justice.

For the benefit of those of you who haven't made "BatB"'s acquaintance, know that it's a big, brash, amusement park of a show. It's fast, colorful, loud, opulent, shamelessly sentimental, cheerfully vulgar, and—there's no getting around it—highly entertaining. The well-known story is simple enough to keep the kids' attention, and polished enough to amuse all but the most jaded adults. If this isn't a family show, I don't know what is.

The book, by Linda Woolverton, follows her own original screenplay pretty closely, and Alan Menken composed seven additional musical numbers to flesh out a score that, while adequate for a feature-length cartoon, was too skimpy for a two-act musical. The first time I heard it, some of the additional material Menken composed with lyricist Tim Rice (Menken's long-time collaborator Howard Ashman died in 1991) sounded less inspired than the originals. Now, they fall more easily on the ear. In fact, some of them—like Gaston's hilariously egocentric "Me" and Beast's despairing "If I Can't Love Her"—are real gems.

Time changes one's perceptions. That's how it goes with old friends sometimes.

L-R: Kate Rockwell and Nicholas Rodriguez

As has often been the case lately, the Muny has assembled an impeccable cast of accomplished musical theatre performers for the lead and supporting roles. Most of them have graced the Forest Park stage in the past, and all do outstanding work.

Kate Rockwell, who made a stunning Muny debut in "Tarzan" last year, impresses once again as Belle, with a bright, clear voice and an obvious awareness of the character's many moods. Nicholas Rodriguez (Ritchie Valens in last month's "Buddy—the Buddy Holly Story") boasts a big, powerful baritone and brilliantly captures Beast's lumbering, inhuman gait and body language, which makes his magical second-act transformation that much more effective.

I'm not wild about the way his makeup placed the Beast's fangs entirely outside of his mouth, in front of his lower jaw, but I assume that whoever designed it felt this was necessary in order for those fangs to "read" in such a large space.

L-R: Nathaniel Hackman, Josh Walden
Michael Hartung

Nathaniel Hackman also brings a big voice to his performance as the self-absorbed Gaston. As written, the character combines the intelligence of Li'l Abner with the ethics of Snidley Whiplash, and Mr. Hackman does equal justice to the character's cluelessness and cunning. As his dim but loyal henchman LeFou (French for "the loony"), Michael Hartung makes an auspicious Muny debut. He's a remarkable physical comic, turning all of Gaston's punches into wonderfully acrobatic pratfalls.

Rob McClure, who did such great work in "Addams Family" and "Hello Dolly" last year, returns in the plum role of Lumiere, the human candelabra. The role is an obvious homage to the late Maurice Chevalier, and Mr. McClure makes the most of it, complete with a hokey French accent and brash "show biz" demeanor.

Lumiere plays Costello to the Abbot of Cogsworth, slowly being turned into a clock by the fairy spell. Steve Rosen is Cogsworth, and it was interesting to hear what his real voice sounded like compared to the absurd, not-quite-falsetto head voice he used for Uncle Fester in "The Addams Family" last year. Although the uptight Cogsworth is miles away from the zany Fester, Mr. Rosen completely inhabits the role.

Marva Hicks is the maternal Mrs. Potts, beautifully delivering the title song with just a touch of soulful melisma. Deidre Goodwin is a comically flirtatious Babette, and young Spencer Jones is charming as Chip, the boy-turned-cup, despite spending almost the entire show as a disembodied head on a teacart. And Lenny Wolpe is loveably whimsical as Belle's absent-minded professor of a dad, Maurice.

L-R: Steve Rosen, Rob McClure

The elaborate sets and illusions that were part of the original "Beauty and the Beast" aren't really possible on the Muny's massive, open stage. But Robert Mark Morgan's scenic designs, Nathan W. Scheuer's lights, and Matthew Young's video designs do a respectable job of replicating the experience, especially in the two big production numbers "Be Our Guest" and "Human Again".

The Beast's final transformation back to human is nicely done as well, using some time-honored principles of stage magic. Robin L. McGee's fanciful costumes and John Metzner's wigs effectively capture the fairytale look so essential to the show.

Matt Lenz's direction and Vince Pesce's choreography make the most of that huge stage, filling it with dancers and the adult and children's choruses for those big numbers. I was a little puzzled by the decision to cut the ballet sequence depicting the comic battle between the villagers and the Beast's servants in the second act, though. It makes the final confrontation between the Beast and Gaston feel a bit abrupt and the "Mob Song" that precedes it somewhat irrelevant, but unless you know the original show well I doubt that you'll miss it.

If you're the sort of theatre-goer who doesn't necessarily see the Disney organization as a leading contender for the title of Great Satan of American Musical Theatre and you're willing to accept "Beauty and the Beast" on its own terms, I think you'll find the Muny's a diverting but not particularly deep evening's entertainment. Its creators have set out to produce a live version of a cartoon musical, and in this they've succeeded admirably.

The Muny's "Beauty and the Beast" is a solid evening of family entertainment, and while smaller fry might get tired and restless at a show that ends just short of 11 p.m., older kids will probably enjoy it just as much as adults. Performances continue on the outdoor stage in Forest Park through August 7. For more information, visit the Muny web site.