Total immersion in the Great American Songbook
Sometimes complete saturation in a particular musical genre is quite the order of the day, and just such an evening was delivered by the Royal Bangkok Symphony Orchestra on Jan 31 inside the Main Hall of the Thailand Cultural Centre, as English conductor Martin Yates steered the musicians through an enormous 27-number set list. Some patrons may have begun to wonder just what time they would get home that night as Harold Arlen’s Somewhere Over The Rainbow approached towards the end of the second half, but certainly nobody was complaining about the quantity of material covered. Such was the quality of performance.
West End stage stars Emma Williams and Ashley Day worked effectively together as a very slick duo, they wove their way through their individual solo songs, duets and transitions with speedy ease. Both artists were clearly delighted to be visiting Thailand especially for this Broadway/Hollywood classic-songs tour de force, and in a nice touch which reflected the title of the show, in fact had musical stands on stage with their books of timeless tunes placed thereon for them to read from in performance — as if from the bible of American popular songs written predominantly from the 1920s to the 50s on Broadway and in Hollywood.
George Gershwin; Irving Berlin; Cole Porter; Rodgers & Hart; Jerome Kern; Harry Warren — these are but some of the principal players we associate with the Great American Songbook, a fabled collection of lyrically and musically brilliant invention and genius, which has prompted some musicologists to propose it should be considered the USA’s own subgenre of classical music.
With such committed and exhilarating interpretations as were delivered at the evening’s entertainment, it is hard to reason against this sentiment. Of course, the likes of Kurt Weill are part of the modern pantheon of operatic creative forces in any case, and it was a particular joy to hear balletically poised Ashley Day render the Threepenny Opera’s showstopper Mack The Knife with such verve, while his singing of Knickerbocker Holiday’s highlight September Song was perhaps the musical pièce de résistance of the entire show.
Williams is a star of stage and screen who first appeared on UK television aged 14 in the popular drama Heartbeat, and in film in Steve Coogan’s The Parole Officer in 2001. She was still only 18 when she played the character Truly Scrumptious opposite Michael Ball in the original cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at the historic London Palladium, and her vast experience as actress and singer was in evidence at the Thailand Cultural Centre.
She first wooed the audience in sultry fashion with Gershwin’s The Man I Love, and returned for her next solo spot with a truly delicious arrangement of a much later classic which has been permitted into the Songbook’s hallowed halls — Send In The Clowns by Stephen Sondheim. A sensuously delicate classic even in its original version, this concert’s arrangement took the hushed nature of the tune to even further extremes. The effect was electric, and one could have heard the proverbial pin drop as a serene calm was cast in the auditorium.
The two stars joined forces for the culmination of the first half, a well-paced medley entitled Hollywood Romance which strung together in smooth sequence With A Song In My Heart by Rodgers & Hart, Anything Goes by Cole Porter, Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man O’ Mine and Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Jerome Kern, and You’re The Top. That last gem of lyrical/musical élan is of course also the sole work of Porter — it wouldn’t have been out of place to tweak the text in this instance: “You’re the top! You’re the Colosseum. You’re the top! You’re the TCC!”
As the second half got under way the RBSO certainly rose up to this exclamation as they wowed the audience with the same songwriter’s challenging Silk Stockings Overture, the outer sections of which make considerable technical demands on the violin section in particular. Other standout numbers that punctuated an increasingly enthralling second half included Frank Loesser’s ode to the vagaries of gambling, Luck Be A Lady from Guys And Dolls, with the programme finishing in cheery bonhomie with Irving Berlin’s Puttin’ On The Ritz.
Musical director Martin Yates had made many humorous and timely interjections throughout the evening, but was especially endearing when he described an interval telephone call he had just enjoyed with his son back in the UK.
“Please say hello to Thailand and the TCC from me!” his boy had politely requested, having previously holidayed in the Kingdom himself with great enjoyment.
And so it was that the glittering atmosphere within Bangkok’s premier classical venue transcended the oceans this evening, as encore Lullaby Of Broadway by this writer’s favourite songsmith of the whole bunch, Harry Warren, united everyone’s imagination in the spiritual home of the Great American Songbook — the Big Apple itself.