The Catskill Chronicle

Story by Carol Montana

Photos courtesy of Michael D. Bloom and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts.

“Hello New York. Hello Bethel Woods,” said Keith Lockhart, the dynamic and personable conductor of the Boston Pops, telling the large audience how thrilled he was to perform once again at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on Saturday, July 31.

Enjoying an easy rapport with the audience, the Poughkeepsie native launched the concert with the Light Cavalry Overture by Franz Von Suppe, the Austrian composer of over four dozen operettas.

This year, the Boston Pops is celebrating their 125^th anniversary. So Saturday evening included a bit of history and retrospective, the first half of the program being a tribute to Arthur Fiedler (Pops conductor from 1930-1979), John Williams (conductor from 1980-1993 and current Conductor Laureate), and ending with a sing-a-long led by Lockhart who took over as the 20^th conductor in 1995 at the tender age of 35.

The Fiedler section included the aforementioned Light Cavalry, and a delightful piece called The Typewriter composed by Leroy Anderson in 1950, in which a percussionist uses a real typewriter as a solo instrument. Lockhart felt the need to describe the device to those under 35. “It’s an analog word-processing device,” he said to great laughter. During the piece, a video montage of scenes from Fiedler’s career flashed on two large screens on either side of the stage.

Fielder’s homage concluded with Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin performed by the orchestra and pianist Michael Chertock, whose performance elicited an excited ovation for this difficult and intense piece of music. Chertock was a delight to watch as he played hand-over-hand, with lightning dexterity and musical brilliance.

The John Williams section consisted of the fun and rousing Main Title from Star Wars and the Flying Theme from E. T. The Extra -Terrestrial.

Just before intermission, Lockhart announced that Fielder was the innovator of the audience /orchestra sing-a-long that has become so popular with Pops’ fans. “People like to sing along with a symphony orchestra,” Lockhart said, “as long as there are lots of them and it’s dark.”

Then he talked about the program Beatles Rockband, a music video game Lockhart described as “the 21^st Century equivalent of Mitch Miller’s ‘follow the bouncing ball.’” Unfortunately, technology reared it’s sometimes ugly head and the program refused to start – twice. At which point, the unflappable Lockhart stated, “As is so often the case with 21^st Century technology … sometimes analog is best. Want to sing some Beatles?” The stalwart tech crew refused to be defeated, however, and got the Rockband program working by the second song.

As predicted, the audience loved the sing-a-long to the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart Clubs Band, With a Little Help from My Friends, Twist and Shout, and Yellow Submarine.

After intermission, Lockhart introduced Tony Award winner, and Broadway, film and TV sensation Idina Menzel who performed –accompanied on piano by her music director Rob Mounsey – songs from her hit musicals Rent and Wicked, and from her hit TV series Glee.

While she may have been in perfect voice, Menzel appeared to be unfocused. She was also flustered by the earbud she had to wear in order to hear the orchestra, continually fussing with it. She appeared quite distracted and, at one point, forgot the words to a song to the point where Lockhart had to help her out. Additionally, her rambling comments were often difficult for some in the audience to understand. Many in the audience, however, were delighted with her performance. Menzel ended her set with the song Tomorrow from the Broadway hit Annie.

As has been the custom since 1900, the orchestral version of Stars and Stripes Forever by John Philips Sousa, which was premiered by the Boston Pops in 1897, served as the grand finale to a grand evening.

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*In addition to the professional musicians on the main stage, during the intermission, the Liberty High School Jazz Band took their places under the “pavilion on the hill” overlooking the main event, adding their own musical talents to the evenings musical extravaganza.