Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The CLO Cabaret serenades the Pittsburgh Cultural District into the new year with "A Grand Night for Singing," an opportunistic revue that revisits the sublime Rodgers & Hammerstein songbook.
Five singers perform three dozen songs, some in fragments, some fully realized, that represent the romantic and playful sides of the legendary songwriting team. Paul-Jordan Jansen, among the youthful newcomers to the CLO Cabaret stage in this production, offers a powerful baritone to songs that we thought we knew but land in new territory -- "South Pacific's" "Honey Bun," sung by a guy?
2 comments:
Does having a male singer perform a song that, when performed in the context of the original show, is performed by a female character really truly count as a twist? Or a big enough twist to warrant a position in the title of the review? Despite having a full understanding of Rodgers and Hammerstein's significance on the world and history of musical theatre, I've never been a huge fan of their work, but was actually excited when I saw the title of this review. Perhaps this production has found a way to breathe new life into these songs! While the opposite-gender casting of the song is interesting (even though I'm nearly certain all of the gender references in the song were switched to fit the heteronormative construct), is that really enough to warrant being called a "twist?" When Patti Lupone sang "Being Alive," it wasn't a jaw-dropping, shocking theatrical twist. It was just her singing a song written for a male character. True, I haven't seen this production. But I have a feeling it's a much more traditional construction of Rodgers and Hammerstein than they'd like to advertise.
This sounds like a fun and entertaining show as well as a masterful tribute to the masters themselves, Rodgers and Hammerstein. I have to agree with Alex that switching around some gender roles in songs isn't a huge twist but it is nice to see old classics being taken out of context and put in a new perspective. My favorite part of this whole idea is that the creators are making a story out of a bunch of other stories. I think it is an interesting challenge to take old musicals that everyone know very well and remake them in a new and captivating way. Then again, the classics will hold true no matter what context they're in.
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