Hello. Hope you had a safe 'n' sane Fourth of July. My wonderful friend Carolyn and I spent the evening up at the Hollywood Bowl, listening to a rousing selection of patriotic songs (and a few ringers) and watching the closing fireworks display which was so loud, you couldn't hear the Sousa marches the orchestra was playing at the time. But it was a heckuva fireworks presentation and a terrific evening of music. Along with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra (John Mauceri, conductor) the performers were Marilyn Horne, Brian Stokes Mitchell and a band of characters from Sesame Street.
Mitchell, one of my favorite Broadway-type performers, was in especially fine voice, even better than when I saw him in Ragtime and Kiss Me, Kate. I didn't get to see his recent stint in a revival of Man of La Mancha…and judging from the way he sang "The Impossible Dream" at the Bowl, I think I missed something wonderful. I've heard that song sung by some of the best but I've never heard it sung better. The guy really is an amazing talent.
Speaking of Impossible Dreams, Stokes (as everyone calls him, I hear) pulled off quite a feat last night. There he was, singing up a storm on the stage of the Hollywood Bowl for its Independence Day program. At the same time, he was the narrator for the Macy's Fireworks Celebration which was broadcast live from New York last evening. How did he accomplish this bi-coastal feat? Beats me. He doesn't explain over at his website, which — by the way — was nicely designed by my pal Daniel Will-Harris.
Marilyn Horne was terrific, too…but you know who I was really thrilled to see? That is, assuming it was him: Caroll Spinney. When I heard they were going to have Sesame Street characters at the Bowl, I figured we'd get some third-string touring apprentice Muppeteers, not the original Big Bird. Well, I think it was Mr. Spinney in the suit. It said it was in the program book but I wasn't 100% sure that it wasn't a good impersonator. At one point, Oscar the Grouch (the other role Spinney originated) made a brief cameo appearance and that sure didn't sound like the real Oscar to me…which made me more skeptical about who was playing Big Bird. I finally decided it was Spinney but that someone else played Oscar because it would have been too awkward for him to get out of the Big Bird costume to do Oscar's two lines, then get back in. That's my story and, as the saying goes, I'm sticking to it. The rest of the Muppet Crew was great. Kevin Clash, the original (and, I think, only) Elmo played Elmo. Fran Brill played Zoe and Carmen Osbahr played Rosita. A gent named Eric Jacobson played Grover, doing a darn good job of imitating Frank Oz, who first performed the character. (And it says in my program book that the Additional Muppeteers were Alice Dinean, Drew Massey, Paul McGinnis and Matt Vogel, for those of you charting such things.) They put on a real fine show, and the audience loved singing along on some of the classic Sesame Street tunes.
One other "star" of the evening was the new bandshell covering the stage of the Hollywood Bowl. It just recently replaced one that dated back to 1929, though that one underwent extensive refurbishment and alteration over the years. The "all new for 2004" model is larger and visually stunning, though I can't vouch for its allegedly improved acoustics. Maybe we were just sitting in the wrong place, or maybe the sound crew hasn't mastered its intricacies yet, but I kept wanting to grab up the remote and tap the Volume Up button. Everything was audible but it fell a wee notch shy of the perfect level. I have tickets again for a few weeks from now and I hope it's a tiny bit louder.