[NEohioPAL] Review of Patinkin and LuPone concert

[Bob Abelman]

Patinkin, LuPone make beautiful music together

 

Bob Abelman

News-Herald, Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

This review appeared in the News-Herald 5/08/09

 

Certain performers have that certain something-that scarce, hard-to-define quality that freezes time and alters the atmosphere when they take the stage.  With a single look, gesture or note sung in their signature style, they captivate an audience and fill it with the kind of rapture that can only be experienced when thoroughly, wholeheartedly and unequivocally entertained.

 

It's been said that Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra had it.   Barbra Streisand and Liza Minnelli do too. Their live concert performances have become legendary and their raw talent and sheer showmanship have set an impossibly high bar for more contemporary performers.

 

Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin are the next generation of ecstasy-inducing entertainment royalty.  They are currently holding court in a concert simply entitled An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin in PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre.

 

LuPone brings a brassy belt, incredible vocal range and high-energy diva delivery to the table.  She earned her stripes on the London and New York stages in such musicals as Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, Master Class, Sunset Boulevard and Evita.  Patinkin comes equipped with phenomenal stage presence, a tender baritone and fragile falsetto, and immense physicality.  His Broadway credits include The Secret Garden, Sunday in the Park with George and Evita, in which he first shared the stage with LuPone. 

 

Both performers are products of the famed Julliard School of Drama.  Both regularly perform solo concerts that continue to receive critical acclaim.  Both are Tony award-winning actors.  Together, LuPone and Patinkin's talent, training and experience are certainly capable of captivating an audience for an evening and putting on display that rare and elusive certain something.

 

During their first evening in Cleveland this past Tuesday, captivate they do and that certain something they have.  In spades.

  

Delivering a 37-song set comprised largely of Stephen Sondheim and Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein tunes, LuPone and Patinkin completely own the stage.  Accompanied only by a stand-up bass player, Patinkin's longtime pianist, Paul Ford, and a table, two chairs and a dozen standing light posts, the performers let the music speak for itself.

LuPone, alone, is particularly marvelous performing "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Evita.  All of Patinkin's charm and comic timing are in full force during "The God-Why-Don't-You-Love-Me-Blues" from Sondheim's musical Follies.  However, this concert was designed largely for both performers to share the stage, resulting in several beautifully orchestrated scenes consisting of a composite of songs and light dialogue from the same show. One is from South Pacific, and another is from Carousel.  The concert also includes cleverly strung together medleys of songs from a variety of well-known musicals.

Throughout this two-hour production, LuPone and Patinkin appear to be having a most wonderful time performing these songs and performing together.  They have incredible and palatable chemistry and a true affection for one another.  This highly professional and exceptionally well-rehearsed production never appears to be overly staged, lacking in spontaneity or the least bit stale.  In fact, the two-hours fly by.

This concert offers a unique opportunity to witness, first-hand, genuine musical theater genius.  Those knowledgeable and passionate about musicals will be thoroughly, wholeheartedly and unequivocally entertained. 

However, an evening of Broadway tunes largely penned and popularized before the Truman administration can certainly make you feel as if you are wearing your parents' pants. 

Musical theater neophytes may prefer the more accessible starter-production of I Love You Because across the street from the Palace Theatre. This will help prepare them for when An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin returns to the area in February for a limited engagement in Akron.

An Evening with Patti LuPone and Mandy Patinkin runs through May 17 at PlayhouseSquare's Palace Theatre in Cleveland.  For tickets, which range from $10 to $55, call 216-241-6000 or visit www.playhousesquare.org.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20090508/8d5e091c/attachment-0003.htm>