Sondheim NY Philharmonic Concert

[Chowd95]

Sick in bed on New Year's Eve and just finished watching this concert. Wow was it good. Bernadette was the host and Katrina Lenk came out to sing a few songs from Follies, but other than that it was all orchestral medleys of his scores. The orchestrations were gorgeous (they included a great new arrangement of Assassins) and the musicians were just flawless. My only advice is turn it off right after the encore and before Auld Lang Syne

[JPeterman]

Just got back from the show. We were sitting in the second row right in front of the spot where Bernadette introduced each piece.  The show was wonderful ... Katrina was fantastic!

[Auggie27]

The symphonic performances are glorious. Ms. Lenk was an unfortunate choice for those two Follies numbers, middle age ruminations on love/regret. To compensate, she over characterized them and ended up coy and arch, and because of nerves, vocally tentative and histrionically overcooked. The songs are iconic because they don't need that much push to put them over; just a trust in the character voices and the lyric. Lenk is a gifted theater artist; this wasn't her night in my opinion. 

[ArtMan]

Auggie, Was that Katrina who was singing Losing My Mind?  I was flipping the channel and it caught my eye.  I had thought it was Samantha Banks.  Even though I only watched 30-40 seconds, whoever was singing it, I didn't think was doing a good job.

[Auggie27]

It was Ms. Lenk, and the interpretation was bizarre.

[Chowd95]

Auggie27 said: "The symphonic performances are glorious. Ms. Lenk was an unfortunate choice for those two Follies numbers, middle age ruminations on love/regret.To compensate, she over characterized them and ended up coy and arch, and because of nerves, vocally tentative and histrionically overcooked. The songs are iconic because they don't need that much pushto put them over; just a trust in the character voices and the lyric. Lenk is a gifted theater artist; this wasn't her night in my opinion."

I feel like they should have had her perform "Being Alive" considering they promoted the revival a few times. "Losing My Mind" was underwhelming.. she didn't seem completely comfortable vocally

 

[ArtMan]

Now I only watched for fourty seconds, but I had the impression she was reading the lyrics from the teleprompter.

[broadwayboy222]

As someone who thought Katrina's performance in the Band's Visit was among the best I have ever seen, I could not help but feel as though this truly showed what concerns me over her casting in Company....  Her incredibly unique vocals, which I just do not believe to be suited to singing traditional Musical Theatre scores. Her voice, in my opinion, closely resembles that of an Edith Piaf type (Piaf revival starring Katrina, anyone?) So, for those who didn't watch, just imagine Edith Piaf singing Losing My Mind and Could I Leave You. Additionally, count me in the party of those who just did not understand what Katrina's interpretation of Losing My Mind was...... grinning through the entire song like a giddy young ingenue? Don't think that's quite what Steve had in mind....... Last, I guess I have answered my own question in thinking now that it's because Sondheim did not compose the Overture to Gypsy that it was not an option to be performed in this show, as when they began with the Forum Overture, I could not help but think "why on earth would they not choose to begin with one of the most iconic Overture's in the entire musical theatre cannon?!" Haha. Oops. However, overall, a simply gorgeous night of music. 

[JaredBway]

broadwayboy222 said: "As someone who thought Katrina's performance in the Band's Visit was among the best I have ever seen, I could not help but feel as though this truly showed what concerns me over her casting in Company....Her incredibly unique vocals, which I just do not believe to be suited to singing traditional Musical Theatre scores. Her voice, in my opinion, closely resembles that of an Edith Piaf type (Piaf revival starring Katrina, anyone?) So, for those who didn't watch, just imagine Edith Piaf singing Losing My Mind and Could I Leave You. Additionally, count me in the party of those who just did not understand what Katrina's interpretation of Losing My Mind was...... grinning through the entire song like a giddy young ingenue? Don't think that's quite what Steve had in mind....... Last, I guess I have answered my own questionin thinking now that it's becauseSondheim did not compose the Overture to Gypsy that it was not an option to be performed in this show, as when they began with the Forum Overture, I could not help but think "why on earth would they not choose to begin with one of the most iconic Overture's in the entire musical theatre cannon?!" Haha. Oops. However, overall, a simply gorgeous night of music."

 

She made me very nervous for Company.  I wonder who her cover(s) will be.

 

[CATSNYrevival]

Was this on pbs or something? What did I miss?

[Chowd95]

CATSNYrevival said: "Was this on pbs or something? What did I miss?"

It was and I believe they'll be replaying it throughout the night.

[ljay889]

Will they post this on their website?

[ljay889]

Will they post this on their website?

[ljay889]

I just saw a very small clip of "Losing My Mind" on Twitter. Sometimes it sounds like she unintentionally sings with an accent, when she doesn't have a natural accent. Her "Last Midnight" at the JRB/Sondheim concert was very good, but it worked with her unique/quirky sound. 

In terms of Company, I'm going to trust Elliot and Sondheim on this one. 

[bwayobsessed]

I saw Katrina live and I thought her performance of Losing my Mind was enchanting. She was performing a song not a character. This isn’t a Follies concert and therefore I thought her interpretation of the lyrics was really interesting: going from losing her mind because she’s in love to losing her mind because she is not loved back. Could I Leave You I Thought was also well done.

[benfox2]

ljay889 said: "I just saw a very small clip of "Losing My Mind" on Twitter. Sometimes it sounds like sheunintentionally sings with an accent, when she doesn't have a natural accent. Her "Last Midnight" at the JRB/Sondheim concert was very good, but it worked with her unique/quirky sound.

In terms of Company,I'm going to trust Elliot and Sondheim on this one."

I think I watched the same clip you did, and I definitely agree on the accent. Just seems like she didn’t quite have a handle on if she wanted to sing with or without it. It really struck me as a lack of practice with the song. I imagine for company she will have an easier time ironing this out with all the rehearsal/preview time.

On a different hand, does a recording of her ‘last midnight’ exist? I’ve searched but haven’t found one.

[A Director]

I thought it was a wonderful concert. Katrina Lenk was terrific.  There is nothing in the lyrics to suggest "Losing My Mind" can only be sung by a middle-aged woman.

[qolbinau]

Did Bernadette sing anything? I don’t like that she has apparently been reduced to introducing others to sing??????

[NightMusic3]

Caught the first half and recorded the rest. Superb orchestral suite of Assassins by Michael Starobin. A couple of the others were Don Sebesky's arrangements from the Symphonic Sondheim album. Bernadette Peters introduced each piece and noted at the beginning the focus of the concert was on Sondheim's music rather than music and lyrics. Thus the lack of vocal performances, except for Katrina Lenk's.

[benfox2]

qolbinau said: "Did Bernadette sing anything? I don’t like that she has apparently been reduced to introducing others to sing?????? "

According to a random tweet I saw, her and Katrina sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ at the end. I agree it’s strange that such a legend was resigned to simply hosting and not being a performer but, it’s not like legends haven’t  hosted before(company reunion concert).

[carnzee]

qolbinau said: "Did Bernadette sing anything? I don’t like that she has apparently been reduced to introducing others to sing?????? "

Someone on Twitter said that having Peters in front of an orchestra and not sing is orgasm denial.

[JPeterman]

Live, Katrina was great. It seems like all of us who were there enjoyed her performance, and people who saw it on tv did not. Maybe something was lost in the translation.

When I got the tickets many months ago, there was no mention of Bernadette Peters. I remember I was surprised to hear about her involvement only very recently. For one reason or another, from what I can tell, she was added a few weeks ago and maybe that is why she didn’t sing. Or maybe she didn’t want to sing, who knows. But she was very cheerful, in good spirits and looked dynamite.

[benfox2]

JPeterman said: "But she was very cheerful, in good spirits and looked dynamite."

Doesn’t she always?? ??

[Auggie27]

The symphonic performances were simply beautiful. The “Sunday” suite was especially rich and engendered emotion with every subtle segue to another piece of the Iconic score. The unhurried tempi lent an ideal formality. And they tore into the “Merrily” overture with a perfect attack; it’s never sounded fresher. The percussive components were in no way softened by the larger orchestra. Overall, a sublime night.

[broadwaybabywannabe2]

last night the NY PHILHARMONIC sounded wonderful, truly...Katrina on the other hand sounded not quite right for both numbers...her voice is not what you might want for standards such as 'Losing My Mind', but i thought her 'Could I Leave You' was a little better,  as it is more a character-driven song...having seen Katrina in The Bands Visit i know she can act a song as well as anyone, but to have here just stand there and belt out 'Mind' was god awful...Company makes me nervous...

btw...HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL US BROADWAY QUEENS!!