WordStage Makes Its Mark
MONTPELIER — Tim Tavcar’s WordStage seems to have finally made its mark. A hybrid of music and theater, it didn’t seem to attract either camp. But, this year, it seems to have found its audiences. Earlier this year, a substantial audience filled the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center for a program on oddball French composer Erik Satie, told through his letters and music.
Saturday evening, in the aftermath of the flood, another substantial audience showed up for “The Musical Circle of John Singer Sargent.” Sargent (1856-1925), perhaps the most successful portrait artist of his era, was an intimate of such composers as Johannes Brahms, Edvard Grieg, Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel.
Tavcar’s program tells Sargent’s story through his correspondence with Isabella Stewart Gardner, a wealthy and eccentric philanthropist and art collector, creator of the Boston art museum bearing her name.
Tavcar as Sargent and actress Carol Spradling as Gardner delivered effectively dramatic readings of the correspondence, highlighting both their personal relationship and their relationships with the cutting-edge music at the time. Their relationship with these great composers highlights the fertile interaction among the arts in that era.
Between readings, the composers were represented by performances of their music by bass Erik Kroncke, a Vermont singer with international opera experience, and pianist Mary Jane Austin, perhaps the state’s most accomplished vocal accompanist.
Vocally most successful were four songs by the Norwegian composer Grieg. Here, the darkness of Kroncke’s impressive voice successfully brought out the near-Slavic harmonic language of these powerful songs. Only in “Posein (Posy)” did the singer unnecessarily push his voice to the point of hardness. Mostly, Kroncke sang sensitively and expressively and, in “Jeg Elsker Dig,” warmly.
Austin was much more than an accompanist; she was an effective duo partner, delivering the rich power of this music. But she alone was responsible for the most beautiful moment in the program with her deliciously warm and expressive performance of the Berceuse by Gabriel Fauré, which closed the program. Her performance of Debussy’s “La Cathedrale Engloutie (The Engulfed Cathedral)” was also crystalline and touching.
Their performance of four Brahms songs was also expressive, but Kroncke’s edgy voice is not ideal for the warm and lyrical Brahms. And rhythmic irregularities prevented Ravel’s “Pavane pour une infante defunte (Pavane for a Dead Princess)” for solo from being entirely effective. Still, the performances were certainly heartfelt.
WordStage again has proven successful in creating an entertaining and artistically rewarding program illustrating the history of great art and music.
For information about upcoming WordStage productions, go online to http://www.wordstagevt.org.
By Jim Lowe
Staff Writer - Published: May 31, 2011
Oddball composer proves entertaining
MONTPELIER — Erik Satie would be a joke as a composer if his music hadn’t been so good. In fact, though never quite successful in his lifetime — and not much so after his death in 1925 — he was greatly admired by Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky.
WordStage presented “Eccentricities of the Velvet Gentleman: Erik Satie” to an enthusiastic audience Sunday at the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center. Joined by pianists Mary Jane Austin-Reynolds and Eliza Thomas, Tim Tavcar became Satie, telling of his life as a misfit, illustrated by samplings of his music.
Tavcar, an actor, director, singer and choral conductor, created WordStage to illustrate the great personalities in the history of music and theater. A longtime Montpelier resident, Tavcar has moved back to his native Cleveland but returns to this area regularly for various projects. (He will be appearing in Lost Nation Theater’s production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” as well as presenting lectures on opera at the University of Vermont.)
Satie was never a big success, but he was always known among composers. He is best known for his early “Gymnopedies” (1888), short works for solo piano. And his ballet, “Parade,” remains in the standard repertoire. A collaboration with the designer Jean Cocteau, it was premiered in 1917 by Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes with sets and costumes by Pablo Picasso and choreography by Léonide Massine. That’s pretty heady company.
Both works were illustrated by Austin-Reynolds and Thomas, two very fine yet often unheralded pianists (perhaps because they eschew solo playing in favor of collaborations). Austin-Reynolds played the “Gymnopedie” No. 1 with finesse, bringing out its beautiful and occasionally pungent lines. Satie’s music never dared to be straightforward; it was always a bit askew — though never abrasive — with an underlying pathos.
Thomas and Austin-Reynolds joined in two selections from “Parade” reduced from the orchestra score for one piano, four hands. The two pianists were clearly comfortable playing together and delivered the witty dance of “Prelude de Rideau Rouge” and the brightly colorful movement of “Acrobates.”
Thomas proved a sensitive and compelling pianist in “Gnossienne” No. 3, a forlorn lament. (Gnossiennes and gymnopedies were inventions of Satie, as were the words.)
Tavcar was Satie, reading the composer’s own words. From his being called lazy at the Paris Conservatory, to failing to find a place in the French music establishment, it was the tale of a misfit.
Satie’s sense of humor — a somewhat bizarre one — permeated his life as well as his music and perhaps saved him. Tavcar’s delivery was compelling and entertaining, while Satie was funny — sadly funny.
When Debussy complained that Satie’s music lacked form, he responded with his “Three Pieces in the Form of a Pear.” Austin-Reynolds and Thomas played two of these pieces; what charm, what wit.
For more information about WordStage and its upcoming performances, go online to www.wordstagevt.com.
By Jim Lowe , Staff Writer – Times-Argus
Published: April 5, 2011
Speak Low - the letters, Diaries and music of Lotte Lenya and kurt weill
Dark Weill-Lenya story brightens winter woes
MONTPELIER – Today, composer of Kurt Weill and singer Lotte Lenya bring back memories of his "The Threepenny Opera" and the dark decadence of pre-World War II Germany. But this most talented and colorful couple had a strong impact on American theater, and their "open" marriage makes their story fascinating.
This was made clear, Sunday afternoon at City Hall Arts Center, at the final performance of "Speak Low: The Words and Music of Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenye," WordStage Vermont's musical theater showcase opening Lost Nation Theater's Winterfest '09.
Weill (1900-1950), while in Germany, was best known for his 1928 collaboration with the Communist writer Bertolt Brecht, "The Threepenny Opera," which has been performed worldwide ever since. Weill also collaborated with Brecht on the darkly satirical 1927 opera, "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny," which has enjoyed worldwide popularity recently.
In 1935, Weill fled Europe for the United States and began writing sophisticated Broadway musicals. Although "Johnny Johnson (1936), "Knickerbocker Holiday" (1938 with Maxwell Anderson), "Lady in the Dark" (1941) and "One Touch of Venus" (1943 with Ogden Nash), are hardly household names, many, many of their songs remain familiar and popular today.
From her initial role, starring as the sultry Pirate Jenny, Lenya was an integral part of Weill's work and life. Although she had trouble breaking into American theater because of her unusual voice and German accent, she developed her own career here, as well as continuing her collaborations with Weill.
Almost as interesting as the music was the off-again, on-again marriage between Weill and Lenya. Despite their many extra-marital affairs, the two remained collaborators, confidantes and friends – and the details are intriguing, humorous and delicious without being tawdry.
WordStage Vermont's "Speak Low," created by Artistic Director Tim Tavcar, proved musically and intellectually rewarding as well as just plain fun. Songs, all ably accompanied by pianist Dan Bruce, were interspersed with short readings from biographical snippets and pithy excerpts from the subjects' letters.
The real singers proved to be the women, Carol Spradling and Kathleen Keenan, both well-known in musical theater circles. Spradling used her brilliant voice touchingly in "Stay Well" from the Weill-Anderson "Lost in the Stars." Keenan achieved a rich sultriness that proved touching as well in "Surabaya Johnny" from the Weill-Brecht "Happy End."
The guys were no slouches, either. Tavcar, a veteran tenor, achieved real tenderness in the well-known "September Song" from "Knickerbocker Holiday." Bruce, not known as a singer, delivered accuracy and real pathos in "Love Song" from the Weill-Alan Jay Lerner "Love Life." The ensemble pieces were well sung and attractively choreographed, particularly "The Saga of Jenny" from the Weill-Ira Gershwin "Lady in the Dark," and in the ever-famous "Mack the Knife" from "The Threepenny Opera."
WordStage has created an unusually successful way to educate without becoming pedantic. The only consistent problem was an over-theatricality, which cut back the emotional power in such an intimate theater space. Still, this was a pleasurable afternoon of theater, a welcome break from real-world woes
By Jim Lowe Times Argus Staff
Published: February 5, 2009
Flower and Hawk | Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Art of Courtly Love
BURLINGTON – The idea that women got their power from the "women's lib" movement is surely disproved by Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204), one of the most powerful and enigmatic women in history. Not only did she become queen of France, she was queen of England. As portrayed in the play and subsequent film, "Lion in Winter," she could be quite Machiavellian and, like many of her powerful male counterparts, spent a good deal of time in prison.
However, WordStage Vermont's production, "Flower & Hawk: Eleanor of Aquitaine and the Art of Love," Saturday at St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral, also focused on her development of a royal court as a center for the arts and genteel romance. (The program was presented Nov. 22 at the T.W. Wood Gallery & Arts Center in Montpelier.)
WordStage Vermont, which brings together music and literature, conveyed this great woman's power and emotional depth, both with a sampling of entertainment at the queen's court and a deeply moving contemporary solo opera about this politically savvy woman.
Best known for his opera "Susannah," American composer Carlisle Floyd (b. 1926) wrote both the music and libretto for the 60-minute opera "Flower and Hawk" for soprano Phyllis Curtin in 1972. Imprisoned by her second husband, Henry II of England, after she conspired with their sons in an attempted coup, Eleanor reminisces about her life – full of heartbreak and happiness. Extremely dark throughout, it ends in joy.
While the opera is complex harmonically and rhythmically, the music is very accessible because it is lyrical and direct. Written first for soprano and orchestra, Floyd created his own piano reduction of the orchestral score.
Saturday's virtuosic performance by soprano Lisa Jablow and pianist Paul Ennis was a truly moving experience. Jablow, professor of music at Johnson State College, has a brilliant and direct voice, which she colored to evoke Eleanor's rapidly changing moods. Ennis, a member of the Vermont Contemporary Music Ensemble who lives in Stowe, also colored her playing with a broad palette to reflect these dramatic situations. Both parts are amazingly complex, yet Jablow and Ennis made the experience natural and convincing.
Contrasting the darkness of the second half of the program was the bright music of court in the first half. Plainfield's Fyre & Lightning Duo – Steven and Kathy Light – delivered a rich and colorful performance of music of the era on a variety of instruments. Kathy Light's lyrical soprano proved ideal for the poetic songs of Guillaume Machaut (1300-1377). She also played tenderly on a harp of the time while Steven Light performed accurately and expressively on various instruments from recorder to Medieval bagpipes.
Actor Tim Tavcar, WordStage's artistic director and the program's author, provided intriguing and witty commentary throughout.
Although Tavcar's expert diction was easily understandable throughout, printed librettos of the sung material would have helped, more because of acoustics than articulation problems.
The program, like most WordStage Vermont presentations, was fascinating, musically rewarding and fine entertainment.
Jim Lowe - The Times Argus: December 3, 2008
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