American Songbook at NJ PAC: Shaiman & Wittman

If you want to transfer a hit movie to Broadway, they’re your songwriting team. Hairspray was a huge hit for them. Catch Me If You Can maybe not so much, but it wasn’t a total Lestat level disaster—and now they have Willy Wonka chugging right along in London. Years from now, they could very well be considered part of the Songbook canon, so NJPAC brought them in when they happened to have a free evening. Marc Shaiman sings and accompanies guest performers, while Scott Wittman provides the reminiscences in this season’s final installment of American Songbook at NJPAC, which premieres this Wednesday on NJTV.

Knowing how to construct a show, they kick off their set with “Good Morning Baltimore,” the rousing opener to Hairspray, featuring vocalist Annie Golden, who recorded their original demos for the musical stage transfer. Appropriately enough, Shaiman then performs two of his Oscar nominated songs (penned without Wittman). Frankly, both “A Wink and a Smile” from Sleepless in Seattle and “Blame Canada” from the South Park movie are considerable superior to all of this year’s nominated songs, except the poignantly on-the-nose “I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from Glen Campbell I’ll Be Me. For reasons that hardly need belaboring, Shaiman had to abridge his South Park anthem for PBS, updating the lyrics with Justin Bieber and Rob Ford references in the process.

To their credit, Shaiman & Wittman do a good deal of master-classing and mentoring, which is how they found the young but poised Alex Stone and Micailah Lockhart, who both show remarkable range on their selections from the aforementioned Catch Me if You Can and the Broadway themed television show Smash, which apparently started out all well and good, but got progressively less fun and rewarding as it went along. “Goodbye,” from their Tony nominated but underperforming Broadway show particularly lends itself to dramatic interpretations, suggesting it deserves a songbook life outside the book musical.

Frankly, the same is true of the Marilyn Monroe-inspired “Second Hand White Baby Grand,” also written for Smash, featuring Golden again. However, the highlight of the set has to be Marilyn Maye’s old school cabaret rendition of “Butter Outta Cream,” a quirky novelty-esque number from Catch Me. She totally takes charge of the songwriting partners, but they love it, even though she is obviously winging it.

There is more talking during Wittman & Shaiman’s set than in prior NJPAC Songbook concerts, but their anecdotes and needling are all part of the act. It is also a timely reminder: sometimes the best nominated song wins the Oscar (“The Theme from Shaft” in 1971), but more often than not, it doesn’t (like “Blame Canada” losing to Phil Collins’ Tarzan tune). Some of Wittman & Shaiman’s selected songs are far more likely to become time-tested standards than others, but they fit together into a rather entertaining program, nicely varying the tone and tempo. Recommended for Broadway and movie music fans, the Wittman and Shaiman concerts concludes the current season of American Songbook at NJPAC this Wednesday (2/25) on NJTV, with a later broadcast scheduled for April 18^th on WNET Thirteen.

(Photo: Daniel Cardenas/NJTV)

American Songbook at NJPAC: Maureen McGovern

Maureen McGovern was the Celine Dion of the early 1970s. She recorded the definitive version of the Academy Award winning song from The Poseidon Adventure, “The Morning After,” and performed the Oscar winning “We May Never Love Like this Again” on-camera in Irwin Allen’s The Towering Inferno. Mercifully, she spares us an interpretation of Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On.” Instead, McGovern stretches the definition of American Songbook standard with a set of tunes penned by the singer-songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s. Fortunately, it mostly works throughout her very cabaret-ish set (based on her autobiographical stage show) for this week’s installment of American Songbook at NJPAC, premiering this Wednesday on NJTV.

McGovern opens with Paul Simon’s S&G hit “America,” but her treatment is a bit more up-tempo, as befitting its lead-off spot. It is rather nice, but her later rendition of “59^th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy)” is even better. That tune really is a standard. If you doubt it, check out Paul Desmond’s lovely instrumental version.

Jeff Harris, her musical director-accompanist, arranges many of the tunes in interesting ways, while playing to McGovern’s strengths. Dylan’s “The Times They are A-Changing” is a prime example, nearly giving it the vibe of a military anthem. McGovern adds a vaguely Celtic flavor that mixes terrifically with his insistent piano. Unfortunately, everyone was evidently too intimidated to try to punch up the dreary melody of “We Shall Overcome” leading off a Pete Seeger melody. At least they return to “Times A-Changing” bag for the rousing “If I Had a Hammer.”

Perhaps McGovern’s most personal performance of the night is her take on Joni Mitchell’s “The Circle Game.” It is a sensitive interpretation that should make listeners appreciate the poetry of the tune’s lyrics and the delicacy of its construction, even if they are not great fans of Mitchell (whose music McGovern credited with helping her through her divorce). (For a good jazz cover of a Mitchell tune, check out Dizzy Gillespie’s tight, stratospheric recording of “Both Sides Now.”)

McGovern also performs a Jimmy Webb medley, including “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress,” which had no connection to Robert Heinlein, beyond the Grandmaster giving his okay for the songwriter to use his Hugo winning title. It is pleasant grouping, but it might have benefited from more contrast between the individual songs.

Even though it is not exactly a singer-songwriter composition, McGovern concludes the evening with Al Kasha & Joel Hirschhorn’s “The Morning After,” as she probably did at every other concert since May 1973. It is a solid pop song that sounds better with the more intimate accompaniment. It maybe isn’t quite a standard, but it certainly was a hit. Clearly, it was a fitting closer to a set that nicely broadens the focus of the American Songbook at NJPAC series. Recommended for singer-songwriter fans, McGovern’s NJPAC concert premieres this Wednesday (2/18) on NJTV, with a later airdate scheduled for April 11^th on WNET 13.

(Photos: Daniel Cardenas/NJTV)

American Songbook at NJPAC: Nellie McKay

Probably the last political song to stake a claim to a place in the Great American Songbook was “Brother Can You Spare a Dime,” because an awful lot of people were able to relate to it. To become a standard, a song should speak to universal experiences and it doesn’t hurt to have a catchy melody. Unfortunately, the latest installment of American Songbook at NJPAC featuring Nellie McKay is a bit of ringer that features mainly originals that will appeal to a deliberately narrow audience when it premieres this Wednesday on NJTV.

As it happens, McKay’s set starts quite promising, showcasing her boppish chops on the piano. Her forays into the Great American Songbook are largely novelty-esque numbers, such as a nicely arranged “Knock on Wood” and “The Gentleman is a Dope,” but they seem to suit her impish stage persona.

Of her originals, the up-tempo Latin-flavored love song “Bodega” is by far the best, most in terms of musical interest and performance energy. However, the politically motivated songs are more about the message than getting toes tapping. Frankly, the supposedly ironic critique of feminism ostensibly performed in Michelle Bachmann’s voice already sounds dated, since she is no longer a member of congress. Likewise, “One’s on the Way,” dedicated to Planned Parenthood, is more of an arrogant satire caricaturing twangy music and barefoot-and-pregnant white trash.

McKay is backed by some talented musicians and she seems to have a nice rapport with them, so it is frustrating they are never credited. Unlike the Pizzarelli and Osnes & Fontana episodes, we never hear McKay introduce the band. Most likely this was an editing decision beyond her control, but it is still aesthetically unappetizing for regular jazz and songbook listeners.

Arguably, McKay must be an acquired taste for those who are already on her side of the mountain. As a thespian, she never really made an impression in David Grubin’s Downtown Express and her best moments in the NJPAC concert are at the keyboard or harmonizing with her band. More standards also would have helped. They will be coming next week, when American Songbook at NJPAC gets back on track with Maureen McGovern. For McKay fans, her concert premieres tomorrow (2/11) on NJTV, with a later airdate scheduled for April 4^th on WNET 13.

(Photos: Daniel Cardenas/NJTV)

American Songbook at NJPAC: John Pizarelli

Maybe only Arthur Prysock ever experienced greater spillover success from a commercial gig than John Pizzarelli. For years, Pizzarelli got requests for the Foxwoods song, “The Wonder of it All,” but Prysock actually charted with “Here’s to Good Friends.” Of course, both also had a facility for interpreting the Great American Songbook, particularly Johnny Mercer in the case of Pizzarelli. The vocalist-guitarist takes the stage for an all Mercer concert for this week’s installment of American Songbook at NJPAC, premiering Wednesday night on NJTV.

Yes, it is all Mercer, but Pizzarelli also highlights the veritable hall of fame’s worth of collaborators he wrote with. It doesn’t get much more American Songbook than Jerome Kern, who composed the music for “Dearly Beloved.” Pizzarelli gives it a good healthy swing, featuring short but legit solos from Bud Burridge on trumpet and Kenny Berger on baritone. Acknowledging them by name, Pizzarelli gives the set an old school big band vibe, which is refreshing.

Shifting gears a bit, “Skylark,” written by Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael, gets a stripped down arrangement with only the barest of rhythmic support, but it’s the sort of melancholy song that lends itself to such treatment. However, the medley of Mercer’s four Academy Award winning songs really don’t really fit together so naturally, starting with “On the Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe” (Harold Arlen) and ending on with Mercer’s Henry Mancini collaborations, “The Days of Wine and Roses” and “Moon River.”

Pizzarelli cranks up the swing for an up-tempo high-energy rendition of “Something’s Gotta Give.” A bit surprisingly, he embraces some of Mercer’s more novelty-ish tunes, like “Goody Goody” and “Accentuate the Positive,” doing his best to keep them honest. Of course, Pizzarelli also has the sort of musical theater chops for those sort of numbers. In fact, he reminds the audience he met his wife, vocalist Jessica Molaskey when they were both performing in a Mercer show.

Unlike the Osnes and Fontana season opener, Pizzarelli never sits down for an interview segment with host Ted Chapin, but he has a lot more band to showcase. John Mosca on trombone, Ken Hitchcock on flute, and Konrad Paszkudzki on piano all get some nice, tasty solo spots, while drummer Kevin Kanner and Pizzarelli’s brother Martin on bass lay down rock solid support. (FYI, it is only a limited family affair, with neither their father, guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, nor Molaskey making a guest appearance).

It is just a pleasure to hear good standards get a muscular going over. “Dearly Beloved” has an especially catchy and appealing melody, but it is not exactly overplayed, so it is quite nice to hear Pizzarelli put it into the mix. Thanks to NJTV and NJPAC, it is a lot of fun to have the chance to tap your toe along with the Mercer songbook Again, this is great original programming that ought to be a model for regional PBS stations. Highly recommended, American Songbook at NJPAC: John Pizzarelli premieres this Wednesday (2/4) on NJTV, with a later WNET Thirteen airdate scheduled for March 28^th.

(Photos: Daniel Cardenas/NJTV)

American Songbook at NJPAC: Osnes & Fontana do Duets

They are Broadway stars, but they have serious pop culture cred. Laura Osnes won a network reality show competition to land the leading role in the most recent Broadway revival of Grease. Santino Fontana gave voice to the prince in a little animated movie called Frozen. They also shared the stage together in the recent Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, so they are clearly comfortable performing together. Given their crossover appeal, they are quite the logical choice to kick off the second season of American Songbook at NJPAC this coming Wednesday on NJTV.

For Osnes and Fontana’s concert, everything comes in twos. Throughout their set, they pair one classic with one relatively contemporary thematically related Broadway duet. Not surprisingly, the newer material will be less familiar than the old standards, but those turn out to be some of the set’s best surprises. While they attack a pseudo-novelty number like Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do” with admirable gusto, an unheralded tune like the Off-Broadway ringer “First Date/Last Night” really sneaks up on the audience. They also maintain a sense of the piece’s theatricality in way that is appropriate to the cabaret-like nature of the concert.

Naturally, there are a few selections from Cinderella, including a lovely rendition of “Ten Minutes Ago.” It is odd to think of a Sondheim song as popular crossover selection, but with the Into the Woods movie now in theaters, many more viewers will now be familiar with “It Takes Two.” Frankly, it is a very Sondheim song with some really awkward initial lyrics, but they stick with it and land it like champs.

Arguably, there is something old school about Osnes and Fontana. They can patter and rib each other in between tunes, launching into the next number perfectly on cue. You have to wonder how many performers coming up could handle that kind of cabaret-revue format. They also introduce the musicians onscreen (rhythm section, guitar, and two strings), which seems like the obvious, classy thing to do, but might have easily been cut by an overly time sensitive producer.

Both vocalists are charismatic performers with strong, clear voices (particularly Osnes, who starred in Bonnie & Clyde, a somewhat short-lived original Broadway musical that deserved a better fate). Showcasing artists like them is simple concept, but it’s the sort of real deal arts programming more PBS affiliates should be producing. It is good for the talented, but maybe not quite household name artists, good for NJPAC, and good for the American Songbook. Recommended for fans of Broadway and popular standards, American Songbook at NJPAC: Osnes & Fontana premieres this Wednesday (1/28) on NJTV and later airs on WNET Thirteen on March 21^st.

(Photos: Daniel Cardenas/NJTV)