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Tuesday, May 5, 2015

I Love a Piano

 
Going back to the weekend in Indiana. So much great stuff happened that I still want to share. The play we went to was a musical review of Irving Berlin songs, called I Love a Piano. It's been said that Irving Berlin does not have a place in American music, he IS American Music.

The show featured 56 of his songs... not just excerpts either. Here's how the stage looked.

I Love a Piano

The orchestra was located behind the scrim Art Deco piece.

I Love a Piano

The scenes were divided by decade, beginning with the 1910s. The kids in the cast pretty much non-stop danced and sang for over two hours. How about a little Charlston? My mother always said she could dance it, but she never offered to show me!

I Love a Piano

I don't remember exactly which song this went with, but it was set in the 1930s in Manhattan during the height of the Depression.

I Love a Piano

And of course, there were plenty of heart-tuggers associated with WWII

I Love a Piano

One of Berlin's late works was Annie Get Your Gun, which is one of my favorites. They did several songs from it. Here Frank and Annie sing "An Old Fashioned Wedding."

I Love a Piano

And, of COURSE, "There's No Business Like Show Business."

I Love a Piano

The finale was appropriately, "I Love a Piano."

I Love a Piano

The kids did quite a good job! And I'm pretty sure that although many people my age know the words to many of those songs, I suspect the students had to learn most of them cold. Great performance!


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2 comments:

Ann Thompson said...

That sounds like it was a good show.

Lin said...

The oldies are the best! It's fun that the kids were introduced to those classics. They will stick with them forever.