Despite the silliness, Solid musicianship
is on display at André Rieu’s concert, Matthew J. Palm writes.
The first hint that fans of André Rieu are a passionate bunch comes when a woman a decade or so my senior pushes by me to give the conductor-violinist a highfive as he leads a parade of musicians to open his Thursday concert at Orlando’s Amway Center.
To the stirring sound of “Seventy-six Trombones,” Rieu leads the members of his Johann Strauss Orchestra, smiling and waving, across the Amway’s floor. The men sport tuxedos, the women are dressed like a cross between 1980s prom queens and Disney princesses in gowns of fuchsia, peach, ivory and cerulean blue.
There’s a Disney-esque sensibility over much of Rieu’s spectacle — and that’s before balloons drop from the ceiling or the singers break into synchronized choreography that would be right at home on the Cinderella Castle stage.
His Johann Strauss Orchestra has a heartwarming origin story — he started the orchestra in his native Netherlands, rehearsing in an unheated schoolhouse in midwinter, Rieu tells us. His wife brought the musicians soup so they could warm themselves.
His European charm extends to leading the orchestra in an impromptu lullaby when a baby starts crying.
The first half of the program, however, is about laughs, not tears. The musicians mug, rolling their eyes at a particularly showy solo. In this concert, showboating can get you a round of applause — or whacked on the head with a giant mallet.
Victor Borge comes to mind; so does “The Muppet Show.”
Yet despite the silliness, solid musicianship is on display. The sound is beautifully balanced among the instruments, though Rieu lets his percussionists take a heavy hand on the snare and bass drums. When the laughter stops, the beauty of the music shines through.
Rieu performs much that is familiar — “Think of Me” from “The Phantom of the Opera,” a rousing “Hava Nagila” and Ravel’s “Bolero,” which has a delicious slow burn to its finale.
And in a steady stream of encores — the show ran nearly three hours — he surprises with pleasing arrangements of pop tunes such as Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Little Richard’s “Tutti Frutti,” which kept its zip in an orchestral setting. The ever-popular “Stars and Stripes Forever” had a particularly appealing snap to it (and a sequined pompom routine from the choir).
But Rieu also works in high art — a lovely “Tales from the Vienna Woods” Strauss waltz, with an LED backdrop so gorgeous you could virtually smell the pines. Singers deftly navigate arias from Franz Lehar’s “The Land of Smiles” and Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly.”
And, of course, there’s Strauss’s “Blue Danube.” Couples of all ages and skill levels dance in the aisles: A mom and her daughter, two men in shorts, seniors who know their way around a waltz, laughing twentysomethings giving it their best shot.
It might have sounded trite when Rieu said, “Music brings people together, that’s the beautiful thing about music.” But his concert proved the words are true.