The stage of Morristown, NJ’s MPAC this Thursday, April 18, 2019 is set with a grand piano, stand-up bass, and drums. Colored lights illuminate the red velvet curtain in front of an audience of mixed ages who are all waiting for tonight’s show — a concert by singer, pianist, and legendary interpreter of the Great American Songbook, Michael Feinstein, along with his special guest, former contestant on TV’s Rock Star: Supernova and guest vocalist for Pink Martini, Storm Large.
The lights dim and Feinstein — dressed in his sparkling tuxedo — takes the stage along with the members of his trio featuring Tedd Firth on piano, Phil Palombi on bass, and Mark McLean on drums.
Opening with a upbeat pair of love songs, Feinstein’s voice is clear and strong on Nat King Cole’s “L-O-V-E” as he sings with feeling, “Love is all that I can give to you” before segueing into the Lerner and Lowe classic, “Almost Like Being In Love.”
Crooning “There’s a smile on my face/For the whole human race/Why, it’s almost like being in love,” he holds out the last note, his beautiful vibrato capturing audience members’ hearts.
Welcoming the MPAC crowd, Feinstein says, “This is one of the most beautiful theaters — it makes me feel close to you.”
“I love singing the Great American Songbook,” reveals Feinstein, explaining, “I consider a great American song to be a song that transcends the time when it was written,” before acknowledging some of the newer contributors to the Songbook including “Billy Joel, Jimmy Webb, Neil Sedaka, Paul Simon, and Carole King.”
After announcing the members of his band, Feinstein introduces his next number — a medley of two songs he especially paired together — Harold Rome’s “Wish You Were Here” and Carole King’s “So Far Away.”
His voice sounding resonant and compelling, Feinstein croons, “They’re not making the skies as blue this year/Wish you were here,” accompanied solely by Tedd Firth’s piano on this 1952 hit for Eddie Fisher.
Segueing into King’s 1971 composition from her top-selling album, Tapestry, the interplay between Feinstein and his musicians builds and swells on “So far away/Doesn’t anybody stay in one place anymore,” before Feinstein’s voice decrescendos to a soft and floating cloud by the end.
Revealing that the arrangement of his next song is “a nod to the disco era” — and joking that it has “that ’70s beat we all wanted to escape, but now look to for nostalgia,” — Feinstein performs Harry Warren’s “I Only Have Eyes for You.”
Set to a mid-tempo disco rhythm, Mark McLean’s driving drums incite audience members to tap their dancing feet as Tedd Firth plays up and down the piano keyboard and Feinstein sings, “Are the stars out tonight/I don’t know if it’s cloudy or bright/I only have eyes for you, dear.”
Following hearty applause, Feinstein tells the crowd, “Thank you for time-traveling with me.” At this point, he introduces tonight’s special guest star, singer Storm Large, stating, “She can sing anything — metabolize anything — and make it her own.”
Here, Feinstein and Large perform a duet arrangement of a pair of Harold Arlen tunes — “Stormy Weather” and “When the Sun Comes Out.”
Accompanied at first only by Phil Palombi on bass, Large’s sultry and sexy voice rings out as she sings, “Don’t know why/There’s no sun up in the sky/Stormy weather,” before trading the lead off to Feinstein, the pair ultimately ending up singing “When the sun comes out/And the rain stops beating on my window pane” together in perfect harmony as the band deftly accompanies them.
The audience cheers and Feinstein takes leave of the stage, at which point Large jokes, “I’m a keeper of the American Songbook, too — but just in another part of the library.”
Here, she launches into a unique arrangement of AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.”
Moving to the number’s jazzy beat as she sings, “She was a fast machine/She kept her motor clean/She was the best damn woman I had ever seen,” Tedd Firth follows up with a piano solo as Large dances around and exclaims, “There’s some AC/DC fans here in Jersey!” before concluding to resounding applause.
Taking time to chat with the MPAC audience, Large says, “It’s a pleasure to play here — there are no bad seats, and the sound — how does it sound out there?” at which point the audience happily cheers and applauds.
Acknowledging, “In the past few years, we lost a lot of artists. This is a wonderful song about a loss by someone who died in 2016,” Large performs an emotional rendition of Prince’s hit for Sinéad O’Connor, “Nothing Compares 2 U.”
Her voice crying as she tells the song’s story with her soul, Large invites the audience to sing along with her on the well-known “Nothing compares/Nothing compares to you” chorus.
Explaining how she wanted to give “some teeth” to her next number — a song originally performed by Olivia Newton-John in Grease — Large performs a reimagined rendition of “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” With theatrical flair and style, she creates a compelling character through movement and vocal inflections and changes the mood, tone, and demeanor of the classic ‘50s-style song into a dominating and fun tongue-in-cheek version.
A highlight number of the evening is Large’s performance of Peter Allen’s “Quiet Please.” Revealing that the song was initially inspired when singer Julie Wilson was performing on stage at a club but patrons at a nearby table were being rude, she says that Allen wrote the words, ’Quiet please, there’s a lady onstage,” on a napkin. Later, he took the idea and wrote a song around it for his former mother-in-law, Judy Garland.
Starting as a ballad, but ending with an upbeat disco feel, Large sings “Quiet, Please, There’s a Lady on Stage” from her heart crooning, “She may not be the latest rage/But she’s singing and she means it/And she deserves a little silence.”
By the end, the audience is on its feet applauding as Large exits the stage.
Following a short intermission, Feinstein returns with a rollicking rendition of Alan Lerner’s “Come Back to Me.” With his trio playing brightly and quickly, Feinstein’s voice pleads as he sings, “Hear my voice where you are/Take a train, steal a car/Hop a freight, grab a star/Come back to me.” Tedd Firth plays short staccato chords on the piano and Mark McLean plays a rhythmic drum solo as audience members’ heads bop to the beat.
The crowd cheers, and Feinstein follows up with a medley which starts out with Sammy Cahn’s “All My Tomorrows.” Opening as a ballad, Feinstein’s vocal is full and resonant as he vocalizes, “But I’ve got lots of plans for tomorrow/And all my tomorrows belong to you,” before he and the band switch over to a free and breezy rendition of the 1969 Spiral Starecase hit, “More Today than Yesterday.”
On this number, Feinstein shines, his easy and inviting demeanor eliciting cheers from music lovers in the crowd.
Singing a song which Feinstein says “takes on a much deeper resonance when you get older,” he performs Paul Williams’ 1974 hit for Helen Reddy, “You and Me Against the World.”
Opening with an introduction which includes another composition by Williams — his 1970 smash for The Carpenters, “We’ve Only Just Begun” — Tedd Firth’s piano swirls and fills as Feinstein sings with emotion, “And when one of us is gone/And one of us is left to carry on/Then remembering will have to do/Our memories alone will get us through” on this poignant and nostalgic interpretation.
Feinstein follows up with an upbeat version of “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter” before performing a slow jazzy rendition of Jo Stafford’s “You Belong to Me.” Crooning the famous lyrics, “See the pyramids along the Nile/Watch the sun rise on a tropic isle,” Feinstein holds notes and bends them with style on this audience pleaser.
Acknowledging, “This is the oldest song you’ll hear tonight,” he follows up a bluesy up-tempo version of WC Handy’s “St. Louis Blues.” With Phil Palombi playing a funky jazz riff on his bass, Feinstein adds a classy, soulful vocal sound before he ends by joking, “So who says Jews can’t sing the blues?”
Taking a seat at the piano, Feinstein plays a selection of American Songbook standards including “Embraceable You,” “My Funny Valentine,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.” His piano cascading while he plays, the master musician expertly accompanies himself with style and grace as his band of musicians in deep blue club lighting listen intently to his piano and voice as it builds in intensity and emotion.
Following enthusiastic applause, Feinstein thanks the audience acknowledging, “Music only survives because people want to share it. Thank you for keeping it going.”
Here, he performs his final solo number of the evening. Opening with a classical sounding piano intro, Feinstein and Co. segue into a rollicking version of Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire.” Standing behind the piano as he plays — pounding his fists on the keyboard — Feinstein boogie-woogies through this rock ’n roll classic to great applause.
After taking a well-deserved bow, he invites Storm Large back to the stage for an encore duet of Peter Allen’s “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love.”
On this compelling power ballad, Large adds her powerhouse voice to Feinstein’s passionate and classy performance, the duo ending together with a sustained note, kissing one another at the conclusion, and leaving the stage hand-in-hand with the crowd on its feet wanting more.
As audience members make their way out of the MPAC auditorium, we chat with several in the crowd who share their opinions of tonight’s performance with us.
Remarks Donna from Morristown, “This concert was the best! I’m a Michael Feinstein fan — he has such an expressive baritone voice,” before noting, “and this is my second time seeing Storm Large. I first saw her with Pink Martini — where she sang in seven different languages — but I saw a different side of her tonight.”
Adds her friend — also named Donna from Morristown — “This was one very enjoyable concert. It made me very relaxed; it was just wonderful.”
Marsha from Upper Montclair comments, “Michael Feinstein is wonderful — he’s so subtle, and Storm Large is a tsunami — she’s a force of nature,” to which John from Upper Montclair adds, “She was just amazing. Every time she was onstage it lit up.”
Nicki from Madison contends, “Michael Feinstein’s voice is amazing. He has such a very pure sound — his vibrato and falsetto are just stunning. I listen to a lot of Broadway, so I enjoyed his performance a lot,” before adding, “and Storm Large is so awesome — she’s so free on stage.”
Her friend, Amy from Madison, concurs noting, “It was so great to see her singing her heart out.”
Marcia from Brick asserts, “Tonight’s show was a great pairing of two contrasting, yet complimentary, performers. Storm Large is so theatrical — you can’t help but want to see what she’s going to do next — and Michael Feinstein is like a nice warm glove — he makes you feel so at home and relaxed.”
Lastly, we chat with Lynnmarie from Long Island who remarks, “I love that Michael Feinstein represents music that isn’t performed that often any more. I’ve been a fan of his for about 12 years, and his voice was just incredible tonight,” before she concludes with a smile, “I love him more today than yesterday.”
To learn more about Michael Feinstein please go to michaelfeinstein.com. For more on Storm Large, please click on stormlarge.com. For further info on upcoming performances at Morristown’s MPAC — including Bernadette Peters on May 11, An Evening with Styx on May 20, and The Happy Together Tour 2019 starring The Turtles, Chuck Negron, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, The Buckinghams, The Classics IV, and The Cowsills on June 24 — please go to mayoarts.org.
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