Oh dear. Sunday is Valentine’s Day, so I’d better tell you about some of the more exciting special concerts. Believe me, there are many more, this is just a sample. Are you getting the impression I’m not a fan of Valentine’s Day? My husband used to say, when I complained about the lack of champagne and flowers, “Darling, it’s a commercial swizz invented to sell a lot of cards and flowers.” Maybe it is, but there are plenty of lovely musical events to mark the day. Here are a few: Valentine’s Day concert – Mabel Mercer Foundation Click here to watch Want romance? Here it is. A Valentine’s Day concert from four of New York’s top cabaret artists and the songs will be romantic all the way. Natalie Douglas, Marissa Mulder, Jeff Harnar and, the diva herself, KT Sullivan, are promising The Nearness of You, All the Way, Because of You, Some Enchanted Evening, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, Our Love is Here to Stay, and, of course, My Funny Valentine. The concert is free and will remain on the Mabel Mercer website on Valentine’s night Feb 14 (7pm ET) and for all the following week.. Tierney Sutton and Alan Broadbent – Birdland Click here for tickets Jazzer Tierney Sutton is one of those understated singers you don’t realise you’re in love with until the song finishes and there are real tears on your cheeks. She’s been nominated for a Grammy for every project she has released in the last decade. Known for her impeccable voice and imaginative treatments of The Great American Songbook, Sutton is heralded as both a jazz storyteller and for her ability to use her voice as an instrument. On this Valentine’s concert she’s pairing with New Zealand pianist Alan Broadbent for a tribute to piano/vocal duos and the show will include both standards and new songs written by Broadbent with British jazzer, Georgia Mancio. Feb 14 at 7pm ET and then available until Feb 21. $20 Andrea Marcovicci A Kern Valentine Click here to watch One of America’s most celebrated cabaret performers, Andrea Marcovicci, will be celebrating the work of composer Jerome Kern live on YouTube. Marcovicci will be joined virtually by Brad Ellis on the piano for this fund raiser for the Actors Fund. All proceeds will go to to help those in need in performing arts and entertainment of whom there are many. The show is on YouTube at 12.30am ET on Feb 15 and then available free for 5 days. A live video chat after-party will follow the performance on https://www.facebook.com/Andrea-Marcovicci-119081591205/ A Night in with Josh Groban Click here for tickets Are you a fan of Josh Groban? His latest live-streamed concert will be a romantic one, taking place on Valentine's Day, Feb 14, and the day after. Groban says that his "rip roarin'" concert will feature "tons of songs I've rarely (or never!) done." February 14, at 8pm ET and the following day at 8pm GMT with on-demand playback for up to 48 hours from each start time. $30 + $3fee. Romeo & Juliet – new film Click here for tickets While we’re being romantic here, ther are two productions of Romeo & Juliet this week, both released in time for Valentine’s Day. Sam Tutty, Emily Redpath, and Derek Jacobi star in a new film version of Shakespeare's play about teenage love, shot under Covid-19 regulations and released online in time for Valentine's Day. This is intended for young audiences and has Derek Jacobi as the Narrator, a character Shakespeare never thought of, so I’m assuming that someone, somewhere, has been hard at work rewriting Shakespeare, always a thankless task. A portion of the ticket proceeds is going to Acting for Others although the producers aren’t telling us how big a portion. Reduced price if you book before Feb 11. For a single it's £15 before Feb 11 £20 after. For a group it’s £20 before Feb 11, £25 after. Booking is less complicated than it sounds. Feb 13-27 £20/£25 Romeo and Juliet – Royal Shakespeare Company This one is just for UK viewers. BBC Two on Tuesday Feb 9 at 2pm and then available for 60 days on BBC iPlayer. The second couple of star-crossed lovers - Bally Gill as Romeo, a role for which he won the Ian Charleson Award in 2019, and Karen Fishwick as Juliet – comes from a 2018 RSC stage production which first aired on the BBC in 2020 as part of the BBC’s Culture in Quarantine programme. Feb 9. Al Hirschfeld- Amplified Dignity Click here to watch The great cartoonist and caricaturist Al Hirschfeld’s drawings graced the arts pages of the New York Times every week for much of his long life. With a few strokes the identity of his subject was unmistakeable and, without words, he showed you what was special about them, what they did, who they were. He was a show business man to the core and there was hardly an entertainer or artist for eight decades who didn’t have an Al Hirschfeld of themselves to display proudly on their walls. Now his estate has published a digital exhibition – Amplified Dignity – of his drawings of Black dancers to coincide with Black History Month. Take a look, you’ll see what I mean. Smithtown - Virtual play Click here for tickets Smithtown is a new play written by Drew Larimore and produced by the Studios of Key West. This virtual production follows four residents of a fictional Midwestern university town who unwittingly become victims of technology gone awry. Cast includes Broadway actors Michael Urie, Ann Harada, Colby Lewis, and Constance Shulman. Streaming February 13-27 $20 5 mins that will make you love String Quartets Click here to watch I have a weakness for the NY Times excellent little series for those who are not usually classical music fans. They ask a few experts which piece they would choose to convince and convert a sceptic to the music they love and each article is devoted to a single aspect of the music. They’ve already done the piano, opera, the cello, Mozart, 21st-century composers, the violin, Baroque music, sopranos, Beethoven and the flute, all of which I enjoyed, taught me things, and introduced me to some music I didn’t know or had dismissed. I’ve shared one or two with you before. This week’s is devoted to string quartets, those delicately balanced foursomes of two violins, a viola and a cello that, if they do it right, manage to merge themselves and their music into a single entity. Judy Collins – Town Hall Click here for tickets In March 1964 folk singer Judy Collins made her New York debut at Town Hall with a show that has become legendary. Featuring music by Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton, Billy Ed Wheeler, and many more, it became emblematic of its time and the recording, on vinyl of course, sold more than any other live folk album ever. Now she is reproducing that concert, again at Town Hall, this time as a livestream. Tickets are $40, which, she says, reflects her desire to keep her band, crew, and technical staff employed during the pandemic. Laudable, but still expensive. If you love Judy Collins, and who doesn’t, it’s steep, but not impossible. The price includes 48 hours of on-demand viewing following the live stream. Feb 12 at 8pm ET. $40 Cabaret at Café Sabarsky: Eric Comstock & Barbara Fasano Click here to watch Much less expensive, free, in fact, is the concert by Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock at another famous New York musical and artistic venue, Café Sabarsky at the Neue Galerie on Fifth Avenue. I’ve told you before about Barbara and Eric, whose regular performance space, Birdland, is currently closed and who, typical of this sunny and talented married couple, not daunted at all, have been keeping my spirits up with a daily song across the Atlantic from their own red-painted living room. Here, however, is a whole concert of songs from various facets of their repertoire – standards, jazz, theatre and movies – and I defy you not to have a good time with them. They always seem to be singing for you personally, whether they’re performing alone in their living room or for hundreds at Birdland or for thousands at Town Hall. These two are dear people and consummate professionals and I don’t know how I’d have survived the pandemic without them. Aspen Music Festival - 2021 Winter Music Click here to watch Talking of famous duos, this week there's an evening of Beethoven Cello Sonatas (the A major, op. 69 and the D major, op. 102, no. 2) from another pair of frequent collaborators, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianist Inon Barnatan, from high up in the Rockies. That is, I don't think the musicians are planning to ski up 8000ft above sea level to Aspen, they'll probably stay warm in their own homes at ground level, but the Music Festival where, as some of you know, I usually spend my summers, is keeping the presence of music alive through this very peculiar winter. These two musicians, though each is a major international soloist, have an almost mystical connection when they play together, which is as often as their very busy individual schedules allow. Because of the pandemic, this virtual concert is possible and I suppose we should be grateful for one good thing it has brought us. Feb 11 at 6.30 Mountain Time and then available on their Facebook page until Feb 14. Stephen Schwartz's SNAPSHOTS: A Musical Scrapbook Click here for tickets This looks to me like a compilation show although it is billed as an original musical incorporating more than two dozen of Mr. Schwartz's songs. It is described as ‘a touching and authentic look into how we fall in love and the poignant power of trusting our hearts and memories.’ Musical theatre aficionados will recall that Stephen Schwartz composed Wicked, Pippin, Godspell, The Baker’s Wife, Rags, Working, Children of Eden, and Enchanted. Not a bad CV. The ticket buying page is more complicated even than most, with some dates already sold out, others available for On Demand viewing only, but since most of us will want to see the show at our convenience at home that shouldn’t put you off. Streaming Feb 13-28 $20 JMI World Tour – Online Gala Click here to watch I’m not entirely clear what this is, but it does seem to have an incredible array of talent. As close as I can work out, the purpose of this free online event seems to be to celebrate the rich and diverse living heritage of Jewish music which can’t be bad, since there’s a lot of it and much of it is very good indeed. Join JMI’s World Tour for stop offs in Morocco, Europe, the Middle East, USA and Canvey Island. Performers include Maureen Lipman with a song from a hitherto unknown Lionel Bart/Roger Cook musical, cellist Steven Isserlis, violinist Nicola Benedetti, violin prodigy Nathan Meltzer, Israeli conductor Tom Cohen, NY jazz trumpeter Frank London, singer Shura Lipovsky, composer Jocelyn Pook, actor Henry Goodman, Israeli actress Ester Rada, singer Jessie Ware, a children’s choir, and a Big Band. Even the hosts are top drawer - BBC broadcaster Suzy Klein, Lord Michael Grade, and historian Sir Simon Schama. Feb 11. 7.30pm GMT Rita Moreno with Animal of the Muppets – Fever Click here to watch There’s not much to laugh about these days so I was delighted to come upon this which made me laugh out loud. Among a trove of little snippets in which the Muppets interacted with their guest stars, I found this one of Rita Moreno trying, and eventually succeeding, in singing a song in the face of interference from Animal Muppet. On a serious note, this wonderful little piece definitively proves the point that all great performers know, which is that if you want the audience to laugh, you have to take the material very, very seriously.
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AuthorRuth Leon is a writer and critic specialising in music and theatre. Archives
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