THE MUSIC OF ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER, now on stage at the Hummingbird Theatre, is a musical survey of some of the composers many hits.
At this late date, it appears that Lloyd Webber's career is in decline. Two of his more recent shows were such dismal failures in London they have yet to be staged in North America and his latest opus is playing to diminishing audiences at Broadway's Minskoff theatre.
The whole concert seems hastily improvised. There is no narration to explain the songs and how they fit the various narratives. There is also the underlying problem of Andrew Lloyd Webber's choices of lyricist. Whether talented scribe like David Zippel or a mere hack like Charles Hart the words are always bland and uninspired, often content to repeat the same lines over and over. Only when he worked with Tim Rice did he have a lyricist who could create interesting wordplay to go with the tunes. A concert staging such as this only reinforces the emptiness of some of the lyrics.
When you have a chance as we do here to sample so many songs back to back you realize how often the composer recycles the same melodic ideas. Moreover these are songs that are designed to be heard in different shows with a variety of settings and periods. Yet songs from PHANTOM, set in the Paris of 1881, sound exactly like songs from SONG AND DANCE, which is set in present day New York. As pretty as some of the tunes are, after a while they all begin to sound alike. This may explain why several people left at intermission and more seemed to be drifting out of the theatre all through the second half.
There might be another problem. Top-billed is Michael Burgess who on opening night was in terrible voice and displayed none of his trademark stage charisma. He flubbed several lyrics, and his delivery of "I believe My Heart" from THE WOMAN IN WHITE was pure torture. The song did not sit comfortably in his range and when he reached the high phrases he wasn't even in the general vicinity of the notes!
It is no pleasure to report that one of our most beloved entertainers is being showcased so poorly. At least his "Music of the Night" was nicely sung but awkwardly staged. When the supporting performers eclipse the supposed star, you know the show is in trouble.
The real star here is Liz Callaway who made the most of several opportunities to show off her powerful voice with "I don't know how to Love him"," Whistle Down the Wind" and "Memory." She was joined on stage by Broadway veteran Alice Ripley who got a little over-emotional in "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" but joined Max Von Essen for a nicely sung "Too Much in Love to care."
Both he and Michael Lee provided the requisite strong male voices, with Lee particularly effective in "Superstar."
The Hummingbird has always had sound problems, and indeed some of the orchestral passages suffered from odd noises coming from the speakers. Nevertheless the 32-piece orchestra conducted by Edward G. Robinson sounded sensational and took the spotlight several times to offer orchestral medleys from the various musicals. The tunes from ASPECTS OF LOVE came off best this way, while the odd sounding Overture from THE BEAUTIFUL GAME left many in the audience puzzled.
There was no such confusion when the hit parade of songs appeared. Songs from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and EVITA seemed like old friends. The programming, however, lumped too man unfamiliar songs together. The decision to group songs by show worked against the evening since they were not presented chronologically, and with no narration of explanation to set each number up all the audience had to go on were projections of the logos from each show. This made for a very static stage and the performers for the most part stood there holding their microphones and singing.
The concept needs to be rethought because with so little to look at one might be better staying at home and sampling a "Best of Andrew Lloyd Webber" Cd.
