By Kent Mancuso
“Queens is alive with the sound of music!” How appropriate that the 2001-2002 Queens local theater season should close with a musical revue based on the songs of Rodgers and Hammerstein, “Some Enchanted Evening,” presented by Beari Productions in Middle Village.
I could fill pages by taking lines from some of the magnificent tunes included in this show and substituting references to our grandly musical borough of Queens. “It’s a grand place for singing.”
Indeed, Beari Productions’ show is in line with an honored tradition of community theater musicals throughout this borough. Many of them are of high quality for an incredibly low price, about $12-14. Granted we often hear only a piano or synthesizer rather than a full orchestra and we hear local performers, but Queens’ theaters have quite a roster of excellent performers whose names on a flier assure quality that could often transfer quite easily to the professional stage.
Recently, for example, Douglaston Community Theatre mounted a production of “Two-by-Two’ by Richard Rodgers, which the TimesLedger described as “good as any Broadway production.” Recently too, Parkside Players of Forest Hills mounted “The Little Shop of Horrors” and “Once Upon a Mattress,” both nicely done. Theatre a la Carte’s “As Time Goes By” from two years ago was as stylish as a revue could be. “My Fair Lady” and “The Sound of Music” were presented by St. Mary’s Drama Guild in Woodside over the past few years on a most professional scale. Highest praise goes to Free Synagogue of Flushing Theatre Group for this past year’s “Fiorello.” And these are just some of the recent musical offerings in Queens.
Beari Productions itself has done wonders with musicals and revues, such as a fine production of “Godspell” some years back and last June’s nifty bee-bop revue, “Juke Box Saturday Night,” which featured golden oldies, beautifully sung ballads (The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was unforgettable), and a spectacular rendition of Andrea Bocelli’s hit song, “Con te Partiro,” with a climatic high note from the tenor and soprano that must have reached Toledo.
I was rather hoping that some of the fine singers from that revue would return for Beari’s current Rodgers and Hammerstein production. Instead, however, Beari has selected singers who are largely new to local theater. The result was a mixture of freshness and innocence, though tainted by a lack of stage presence and musical expression.
“Musical expression” is the term for what a singer does to convey the meaning of the words of the song. Any good song is an opportunity to “act the moment.” Well-developed musical revues require singers to change style, vocal dynamics, and even technique to give each song its individual character and mood. In Beari’s show, we had a lot of smiling faces, but often without any real sense of what they were singing or ability to adapt to different songs. What a waste of Hammerstein’s gorgeous lyrics!
The revue revolves around a “show within a show” plot line. In Act I, we meet a group of singers in rehearsal for a show. Each of the singers is identified in the playbill with a character name. However, there was no dialogue and, thus, no characters were ever developed, except that they pantomimed gestures, walked toward and away from each other, and gave each other naughty glances — all very confusing and unnecessary. Act II had them all in evening attire performing their numbers in concert style. Perhaps the director might have opted for the same concert style for the entire evening to avoid all the confusion.
And yet Beari’s production was still entertaining. How could it miss by presenting hit after hit, tunes that you can hum on a summer evening? And hum I did as I left the theater, songs such as “It’s a Grand Night for Singing,” “Hello, Young Lovers,” “This Nearly Was Mine,” “If I Loved You,” and of course, “Some Enchanted Evening.”
The singers themselves displayed a mixture of talents. Adam Borys was a vocal standout with his resonant, deep baritone sound that swelled throughout the theater. However, his presentation style was woefully stiff, so that he never blended into the ensemble. His best moments were his solos, but then too he needed more ease in acting his songs. Alison Feuer Pascuzzi, the one name in the playbill that I recognized, has a huge smile and a rather wooden presence. Her plush contralto works well with lyric numbers, whereas the character songs (“I Can’t Say No”) needed character.
Cas Marino colored his rich high baritone voice with a naughty Cheshire Cat smile most of the evening, which worked well with his lighter songs. However, you just can’t sing a deeply romantic ballad (“Younger Than Springtime”) with your hands in your pockets and without really holding those final high notes. You just can’t. Alisa Slek’s bright, light soprano worked well with her sweetie-pie pose (“It Might as Well Be Spring”), but lacked the color and mature style for more romantic ballads. Millie Maldonando made her stage debut in this production and showed some nice instincts that may serve well in the future.
The costumes were about all there was to the stage décor, and thus, might have been more carefully coordinated and selected. Some singers were decked in rather unflattering sweats (Act I) and gowns (Act II). The tuxedos in Act II were well-worth the investment.
A definite plus was the contribution of the musical director, Alan Kingsley. More than just preparing a thoroughly rehearsed group of singers, Kingsley himself displayed the refined talents of a concert pianist. Always careful not to overpower the singers, he managed a wide range of dynamics in his accomplished playing. In fact, I often wanted the singers to stop a moment and allow him to take center stage, for his playing was so much more expressive than they were. Bravo, Mr. Kingsley!
All in all, quite a pleasant — if not completely enchanted — evening in Middle Village is guaranteed. And if $14 seems a bit steep for a local theater ticket, you should know that you are paying for a “book” revue (that is, a “professionally compiled” show, for which the producers are probably paying high royalties) and the theater is air-conditioned. Hostess/director, Debbie Bendana, has a bossy Ethel Merman charm about her that puts a smile on your face before you leave the theater. Beari Productions is a definite plus in the local theatre circuit and are definitely worth a visit at Trinity Lutheran Church, 63-70 Dry Harbor Road, Middle Village. Some Enchanted Evening continues on Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 4 p.m. For reservations, call 736-1263.
Theater News
During the summer months, look forward to student productions at Queens College, at Kissena Boulevard and Horace Harding Expressway. Starting in mid-July, they usually do three summer productions, one of which is a musical. In August, look forward to “The Wizard of Oz” at St. Gregory the Great in Bellerose, a group that is dedicated to putting on a Broadway-style musical each summer.
