SIMON & GARFUNKEL
More than a tribute show
THE SIMON & GARFUNKEL STORY When: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 10 Where: Conexus Arts Centre
How could a show featuring the songs of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel not be successful?
Given the success of the duo — they have sold over 100 million albums worldwide — it’s no surprise that The Simon & Garfunkel Story has been a major hit on London’s West End and with tours in Europe and North America.
For Ryan M. Hunt and Taylor Bloom, the stars of the current North American tour that will be stopping at the Conexus Arts Centre on Friday, it’s easy to understand why the show has been a huge draw wherever it has played.
“That’s what we say, that our jobs are done for us. As long as we don’t majorly mess it up, people are hearing what they want to hear,” said Hunt during a recent telephone interview from Toronto, before the start of the 19-date Canadian leg of the tour. “We’re lucky that we’re working with some great musicians and we feel that we’re doing justice to it, but as soon as we start playing the intro to a song, they’re already thinking about everything they went through when they heard it the first time.
“It’s such a nostalgic thing for them.”
The show features 28 songs from Simon and Garfunkel’s catalogue, including hits like The Sound Of Silence, Mrs. Robinson, I Am A Rock, Cecilia, Scarborough Fair, Bridge Over Troubled Water, The Boxer and Homeward Bound.
The quality of the set list and the nostalgia of the fans are a wicked combination that results in some lofty expectations for the show, something that Hunt and Bloom have come to grips with.
“There are some people at the shows who think they’re seeing Simon and Garfunkel, which is a really bad expectation for them,’ Hunt said with a laugh. “There’s a little bit of pressure. Taylor and I are both pretty relaxed about it, we don’t let it get to us too much. We’ve been lucky to just get up and do our show every night with no major snafus. The hardest part is the control you have to exhibit, you’re trying to really emulate that sound and do justice to it — that’s the most pressure. We’re all like-minded, we’re there to do the very best we can ... and that helps takes the pressure off because we feel that we’ve got this.
“We’re going to go out and do our show, and they’re going to like us or they’re not, but it appears to us that we’re being liked quite a bit.”
It didn’t take Bloom long to recognize the expectations from the fans.
“The big surprise for me when we first opened was looking out into the audience and seeing the people singing along with the music. For me, it was moment where I thought, ‘I’d better not mess any of this music up because they’ll know if I screw up.’
“It’s kind of a two-sided coin. On the one side, you’re worried about making a misstep that they’ll recognize immediately. And on the other side, they’re there to hear their favourite music and they’re in your corner. So all you have to do is deliver what you’ve been working on and they’ll love you for it. They love the music and they love what Ryan and I bring to it.”
Simon and Garfunkel had a very distinct sound with their harmonies powering the duo to 10 Grammy Awards and a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The key for Hunt and Bloom was nailing the harmonies, something they were able to do from their first time singing together.
“The harmonies took a while, but we were lucky enough to sing together in the audition. Our producer told us they when they heard us sing The Boxer together, it was like, ‘Those are the guys.’ We did a good job of quickly locking in with each other. We got cast in July and we took about a month and a half to get locked in. We’d get together a couple times a week and sing through the entire show to make sure we had everything where we wanted it.”
For those fans taking in the show, Hunt explained that the production is much more than just an imitation of Simon & Garfunkel. In addition to the music — Hunt and Bloom are joined by a four-piece band — the production uses huge projection photos and original film footage to help tell the story.
“We definitely try to make it a piece of theatre,” said Hunt. “We always say we’re not doing impressions — we don’t refer to each other as Paul and Art, we don’t allude that we’re Paul and Art. We give information about Paul and Art, a retrospective spanning their entire career together. When we go into the songs, the idea is to emulate their style and their sound. We’re doing our very best to honour their sound because they do have such a specific sound.
“It’s much more theatrical than it is a tribute show.”