On Saturday night, a few hundred people quietly but anxiously walked into The Barbara B Mann Performing Arts Hall, each socially distanced and all wearing masks before their temperatures were taken upon entering.
Many, like me, wondered what this new era of live performances would look like after being culturally deprived of live theater for 7 months or more plainly put about 215 days.
It had been over half a year and the lobby was noticeably void of the large billboards showcasing upcoming broadway performances seemingly replaced with sterile hand sanitizers stationed throughout, but upon entering the auditorium that typically houses 1,874 people it was clear things had changed.
All of the seats had been flagged and suddenly a few hundred people who had filed in seemed to have disappeared before SWFL’s premier stage.
That’s because no more are you sitting elbow to elbow or overhearing conversations around you. Instead, people were spread out and at a significant distance and while it seemed unusual it felt safe and even relaxing at a time when so many of us have been a bundle of nerves after leaving the safety of our homes.
Within minutes, the entire stage was filled with musicians who were likewise socially distanced and dawning uniform Gulf Coast Symphony masks and clearly eager to perform after a long sabbatical thrust upon them.
The cold reality of the men and women who had spent long months of being unable to work and perform could be heard in Maestro Dr. Andrew Kurtz’s voice as it cracked with overwhelming emotion while thanking the returning crowd which had flocked to the previously dark stage.
He spoke but a moment about how proud and thankful he and his orchestra members were to finally be able to return even before a shadow of a crowd who would normally attend.
The crowd’s desperation for a live performance was also felt as they burst into a hardy welcoming and affectionate applause.
Emotion and appreciation were clearly on display and commanding center stage.
It was then Maestro Kurtz turned his back to the anxious group and focused on his eager instrumental ensemble who were awaiting his direction.
Each was armed with string and percussion instruments which began producing the rich and wide range repertoire of musical theater they were designed to.
The baton Kurtz used unified the orchestra to perform memorable songs from South Pacific, Kiss Me Kate, and Guys and Dolls.
However, it was the moment that veteran actor and baritone Tyler Putnam and his mezzo-soprano wife Sarah Nordin took the stage that the audience members knew they were at home, as the couple’s powerful and untroubled voices echoed throughout the chamber, delivering a sense of calm and excitement that theater lovers had longed for.
Putnam and Nordin command the stage with world-class voices that can best be described as nothing less than celestial as they allowed us to relive the golden era of Broadway with memorable songs and they even find time for a little dancing to add action to this otherwise blissful one hour evening that is certainly long overdue.
But it is Sarah Nordin’s unembellished emotional finale that delivers with chills and determination allowing everyone in the audience to know that all in the world will be okay and that live theater will return better and stronger than ever despite the pandemic that has crippled it.
“Some Enchanted Evening” delivers with multiple levels of pure raw emotions.
Don’t deprive yourself any longer of pure live entertainment. “Socially Distanced Saturday” performances are limited to less than 500 tickets per event at Barbara B. Mann Performing Arts Hal
"pure" - Google News
October 26, 2020 at 09:51PM
https://ift.tt/3jyv72m
2's Review: 'Some Enchanted Evening' delivers multiple levels of pure raw emotions - NBC2 News
"pure" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3d6cIXO
https://ift.tt/35ryK4M
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "2's Review: 'Some Enchanted Evening' delivers multiple levels of pure raw emotions - NBC2 News"
Post a Comment