Review: Lyrics & Lyricist's STARDUST: FROM TIN PAN ALLEY TO BROADWAY at 92NY

(Kathleen Marshall, pictured above.)

The cast was excellent, but like all L&L concerts, the real star of the show was the music itself. The songs were played by a five-piece band, with arrangements that evoked the originals, artfully arranged and music directed by David Chase and Gregg Anthony Rassen. The band featured Rassen on piano, Robin Zeh on violin, Aaron Heick on reeds, Taja Graves-Parker on trombone, and George Farmer on bass. Marshall provided just enough context to give us the historical context of the song selection or explain the themes connecting the choices, from an arrangement of songs highlighting some of the female songwriters working in Tin Pan Alley (“You Oughta Be in Pictures,” “Can’t We Be Friends?”, “A Fine Romance” and “The Way You Look Tonight”) and songs that made it into wider modern American pop culture that you might not have even realized were originally from Tin Pan Alley, like “Hello, Ma Baby!”, an 1899 tune made famous by the Warner Brother’s “One Froggy Evening” cartoon. The evening was fast-paced, informative and entertaining, with an eye towards nostalgia. When the band started playing the well-familiar strains of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the audience erupted into a cheerful singalong. Several of the cast were prepped with trays of crackerjack packages, tossing them into the audience.

The narrative underlying the whole show was the inception of the Tin Pan Alley business from the late 1800s through its decline. Ragtime was one of the first big hit genres. We opened with a medley of Irving Berlin’s “Play a Simple Melody” sung by the entire company, with wonderful counterpoint and harmonizing, Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf Rag”, and Berlin’s “Alexander’s Ragtime Band”, which Marshall pointed out is a song about the ragtime craze, but not in ragtime. They used the stage on the screen to give extra context and history to the songs, showing covers of some of the sheet music, photos of the songwriters, and more.

By the end of the program, Marshall explained how the advent of the record changed the sheet music game and began to change the Tin Pan Alley business model, pointing out that 1925 was the first year when records overtook sheet music in sales. They used the 1938 Gershwin tune “Love Is Here to Stay” to dramatize what a family gathered around the piano singing from sheet music would have looked like back in the day, with the entire company singing in harmony. The final number, George M. Cohan’s “Give My Regards to Broadway,” was a wonderful way to bookend the show and emphasize the entwined relationship between early Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. The show presented a great range of the highlights of early 20th century popular American music, leaving the audience with some great tunes to hum as they exited the 92NY theater into the cold wintry air.

Lyrics & Lyricists continues on May 16 and 17 with Lyrics & Lyricists Jr., a family program inspired by Lyrics & Lyricists, and Every Kind of Light: The Love and Lyrics of Alan & Marilyn Bergman June 6 to 8.

All photos by Richard Termine

Find tickets to these and more concerts at 92NY on their website here.