The heart-shaped balloons festooned around the Severance Hall stage Friday
hinted that something schmaltzy was up the collective sleeve of the Cleveland
Pops Orchestra. And it was. This was "To Broadway with Love," the
ensemble's warm and lively ode to Valentine's Day.
Carl Topilow knows an ardent show tune when he conducts one, but he also
had the good sense to program a bit of romantic levity. Along with ballads,
the program included comic numbers delivered with goofy grace by baritone
William Michals and soprano Joan Ellison.
The couple particularly energized two tunes from Irving Berlin's "Annie
Get Your Gun": the competitive "Anything You Can Do" and the
contrapuntally delicious "Old Fashioned Wedding," written for the
1966 Lincoln Center revival. Ellison, a pert bundle of charm with a light
lyric soprano, would make an adorable Annie, while Michals has the stalwart
baritone and preening presence to bring Frank Butler to dashing life.
Together and alone, the soloists made swooning or fun things of songs from
Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and Lerner and Loewe shows, as well as
two bland items from Alan Menken and Tim Rice's "Beauty and the Beast," in
which Michals had the distinction of playing the Beast and Gaston (no, not
at the same performances) on Broadway. Menken teamed much more successfully
with lyricist Howard Ashman, especially in "Little Shop of Horrors," from
which Michals and Ellison sang the sweetly silly "Suddenly Seymour" to
endearing effect.
And where were Topilow and the Pops amid all this amorous activity? In
spiffy shape, as always, making their way through medleys and accompaniments
with ample refinement and zest. Topilow was the tender clarinet soloist in
Sondheim's "Send in the Clowns" and later picked up a red instrument
for Rodgers and Hart's "My Funny Valentine."
But the night's highlight was trombonist Paul Ferguson in Gershwin's "Embraceable
You." Ferguson, a principal player in the orchestra, shaped the great
melody seamlessly, as few vocalists could, and then improvised around the
tune as if preparing to land a big kiss. In purely musical terms, that's
love.
© 2005 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
