The opera department performed “The Lyric Kings: The Music of Cole Porter and Steven Sondheim” on Tuesday, Nov. 11 and Wednesday, Nov. 12 in Thorley Recital Hall. There will be two more shows on Nov. 13 and 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Each showing is free and open to the public.
“Professor Modesitt always does really well under pressure,” said Opera Assistant Leahrose Schinzel. “She knows exactly what she wants, and when she does change her mind about things, they always end up looking way better than before. She’s done a great job with what little budget we had for this show and ones in the past, using not just what we’re given but personally going above and beyond to put on good productions.”
The show featured nine performers, all of them sopranos or altos. Other faculty who contributed to the show included accompanist Sunny Chen and choreographer Nancy Owen.
The first half of the show featured songs by Cole Porter, including “Anything Goes,” “Under My Skin,” “Let’s Do It” and “Let’s Misbehave”. Between numbers, the performers examined Porter’s life and his journey to the height of Broadway and film music fame.
Porter’s grandfather wanted him to become a lawyer and sent him to boarding school. Porter brought a piano and found that his natural talent for music helped him make friends. After an arduous beginning to his career in the world of musical theater, Porter wrote a ballet called “Within the Quota,” one of the first symphonic jazz-based compositions.
The second half of the show featured songs from musicals by Stephen Sondheim, including “Into the Woods,” “Company,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Sweeney Todd.” The performers also looked at his life between songs, including the reason why the show was called “Lyric Kings.”
“Sondheim and Porter both came up with lyrics before music when writing,” said Schmidt. “Sondheim always cared about the emotion and the words more than the accuracy of notes. He wanted people to embody the roles and words of his music.”
Around the age of 10, Sondheim became friends with James Hammerstein, son of Oscar Hammerstein II, author of “Oklahoma!” and “The Sound of Music.” The latter became a surrogate father and musical mentor to Sondheim for 20 years. Sondheim later wrote his first musical, “West Side Story,” for Leonard Bernstein and started a long and successful career in music.
“My favorite part of the show is when they sang “Not While I’m Around” from “Sweeney Todd,” that’s one of my favorite Sondheim songs,” said attendee Kaitlyn Belen. “They did a wonderful job. You can tell they worked very hard on the show, and they should all feel very proud.”
One performer who felt especially proud was Maddy Zobel, who celebrated her birthday on opening night and said her favorite part of the show was singing the complicated harmonies in “Putting it Together.”
Zobel also mentioned how impressed she was with the efforts of Modesitt and her fellow performers to put on a quality show that represents the school and music department well while giving everyone a chance to shine.
For information on upcoming events, go to the music department website.