Cleveland Pops New Year’s Eve @ Severance Hall
It’s always festive – always fun! It’s the Cleveland Pops at Severance Hall for their New Year’s Eve Concert and Dance, led by founding music director Carl Topilow. The full house was comprised of well-dressed folks in the mood to have a fun time while listening to music they know and love. After the concert there were coffee and cookies (plus a cash bar), dancing in the rotunda and the lower lobby, and a huge balloon drop at the witching hour. What’s not to like?
Especially when the entertainers during the concert were two very notable and entirely charming award-winning witches? Erin Mackey and Stephanie J. Block have played on Broadway and in touring productions of Wicked, although never in the same production at the same time. But their demeanor indicated otherwise. You’d have thought they had been and would be BFF’s! (Best Friends Forever, that is.)
And in between their numbers, the Pops featured the winner of the 2010 Jean L. Petitt Memorial Music Scholarship Competition – James Thompson, student at St. Ignatius and a remarkable young violinist. He demonstrated his musicality in fine fashion in the Zigeunerweisen by Sarasate. The music moves rapidly from sentimental to flashy, with a muted middle section that tests the performer’s lyricism. He seemed entirely at ease on the stage of Severance Hall, where he’ll no doubt perform again a few years from now.
After the traditional rousing opening of the fanfare from Also Sprach Zarathustra (2001: A Space Odyssey), the ladies entered to introduce themselves and launched into “All That Jazz” from Chicago. The auditorium was already warm (due to the 50+° outdoor temps) but the two singers immediately raised the indoor temperature another twenty or more degrees! Whew!
After intermission, they joined forces again for “No More Tears” from Enough is Enough, and the finale from Wicked – “For Good.” Plus the encore – “New York, New York.” Totally different in performing style, they were both spectacular!
On her own, Ms. Mackey gave us “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Think of Me,” “My Heart Will Go On,” and “Popular.” Ms. Block was a tad earthier (but no less charming!) with “Don’t Rain On My Parade,” “Ring Them Bells,” “Cabaret” and “Defying Gravity.” You could haul out an entire thesaurus of superlatives to describe their performances, and be accurate with any of them. They were, in a word – smashing!
The Pops performed several selections by itself: Feuerfest Polka (Josef Strauss) in which we were all encouraged to perform with the horns provided by the Pops; “What’s Up at the Symphony,” featuring Bugs Bunny’s Greatest Hits (all well-known classical pieces), the “Radetzky March,” by Johann Strauss, Sr. and Ohio favorite “Hang On Sloopy.” Mr. Topilow recruited a young lady from the audience named Erica to provide the very necessary sound effects for Leroy Anderson’s popular “Syncopated Clock.” Under the tutelage of Mell Csicsila, she did very well, indeed!
And, establishing a new tradition for Pops Concerts, the first half ended with “Conga” by Enrique Garcia, in which Pops staff members led enthusiastic audience members on a swaying, sinuous, joyous conga line down the aisles of the auditorium’s main floor.
And a very good time was had by all.
The next concert by the Cleveland Pops will be Fri 2/18 with Music of Argentina, featuring tango and other Latin music. Call the ticket office at 216.231.1111 or visit their website: http://www.ClevelandPops.com.
From Cool Cleveland contributor Kelly Ferjutz, who writes: My most recently published book is Ardenwycke Unveiled (e-book and trade paper). Cerridwen has another contemporary romance from me, But Not For Love, currently available only as an e-book, but perhaps will be in print later this year. I hope to soon get around to completing some of the 30+ incomplete books in my computer!Actually, I’ve just re-issued my very first published book (from Berkley in NY 1993) Secret Shores which is available now in regular print, plus large print and as a Kindle.
By the way, Cerridwen has also accepted two of my short stories in their Scintillating Samples (complimentary reads) area: Song of the Swan and Unexpected Comfort. I love photography as well, as you can see here. Occasionally I teach writing workshops and sometimes do editing or ghostwriting on a free-lance basis. But over and above everything else, there’s always been the writing. I can’t imagine my life without it.
And now, after more than a few requests, I’ve started a blog about writing. You can find it here.
One Response to “REVIEW: Cleveland Pops New Year’s Eve @ Severance Hall 12/31/10”
Charles
Thanks Kelly. “It’s all good.”