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First Night
August 19, 2002
By Richard Morrison
The Times
No musical anniversary is knowingly overlooked
by the Proms. Indeed, so noteworthy does the BBC consider
the Richard Rodgers centenary that in addition to this celebratory
concert, it is turning over a good chunk of the Last Night
of the Proms to Rodgers' songs as well.
That's fine by me. Recent studies may
reveal Rodgers to have been a bit of a bounder, not least
to his wife. But he wrote the 20th Century's sweetest tunes,
and plenty of them: an astonishing 900 songs for 40 Broadway
shows.
We could have done with more of them
here. Instead, the first half was given over to three rather
disappointing orchestral pieces. The overture to Babes in
Arms would be unobjectionable except that it contrives to
omit the two tunes from that 1937 musical which everyone knows:
The Lady Is a Tramp and My Funny Valentine. Victory at Sea,
a "symphonic scenario" drawn from Rodgers's soundtrack for
a TV documentary, is much more indicative of the work of that
master-orchestrator Robert Russell Bennett than it is of Rodger's
melodic genius. In fact its tunes must be among Rodgers's
least inspired. And although Slaughter on Tenth Avenue -- the
celebrated ballet sequence from On Your Toes -- does have one
achingly beautiful tune, it was played so routinely by the
BBC Concert Orchestra under David Charles Abell, that a newcomer
to Rodger's music might be forgiven for wondering what all
the fuss was about. Given that the second half was to devoted
to a potted version of Oklahoma!, the first fruit of Rodger's
collaboration with Oscar Hammerstein, the first half should
have included some counterbalancing lyrics from his (far sassier)
shows with Lorenz Hart.
Still, Abell proved far more able, and
Oklahoma! far more that OK, when that 1943 masterpiece did
arrive. Kenneth Richardson's stage direction worked wonders
on a small strip of platform in front of the orchestra, giving
us not only the bare bones of the action but a homely hoedown
or two as well. And in a cast packed with seasoned West End
and Broadway talents, the personable Brent Barrett was outstanding
as Curly, Lisa Vroman sang Laurey's gorgeous melodies with
winning grace, and Klea Blackhurst achieved the
near-impossible -- deft comic timing in the Albert Hall --
as Ado Annie, the "girl who can't say no".
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