When the Broadway superstar and concert soloist steps on stage for the Oct. 6 and 7 BYU Spectacular homecoming event, it will be Mitchell’s fifth performance in the state, following three guest artist invitations from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and a previous BYU de Jong solo concert.
“Each time I have performed in Utah, I had a great time and the audiences seem to enjoy what I do,” Mitchell said in a Deseret News interview from his Manhattan home. “The audiences are very warm and very appreciative. There is a built-in appreciation for music that is so much a part of the LDS culture. Utahns know that music can be divine and can touch a person’s spirit in a unique way.”
Following his BYU concert last May, BYU vocal-performance students had the unparalleled opportunity to attend an intimate master class taught by Mitchell. “And we just fell in love with him, as a performer and a gentleman,” said Janielle Christensen, artistic director for Spectacular. “He is a great talent and shares so many of our same values as far as the performing arts and how they can enrich and enlighten us to become better individuals.
“He does so much more than sing a song. Mr. Mitchell makes the song live and makes you feel better. He has an intense vision that he brings to performing that involves light and truth and his own joie de vivre.”
His joy-enfused performing is a unique trait that has been heralded as “happiness bursting out of him that is as natural as breathing” by the New York Times’ Stephen Holden. The reviewer has also called Mitchell “a singer who dares you to be happier than you ever dreamed.”
Utah concert audiences were first introduced to Mitchell’s powerhouse baritone at the 2008 O.C. Tanner Gift of Music American Songbook concert that featured Mitchell performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony. Not only did concertgoers respond enthusiastically to his joyful, commanding performance, but a warm friendship developed between Mitchell and the choir’s musical director, Mack Wilberg.
“I can count on one hand the number of conductors-composers-arrangers that I enjoy working with, and at the top of that list is Mack Wilberg,” Mitchell said. “I feel like I’ve known Mack forever. I’m just nuts for him.”
Wilberg speaks just as enthusiastically about Mitchell and his contributions to the choir’s excellence. "Brian Stokes Mitchell is one of those rare complete performers," Wilberg said. "He can do it all: sing, play, compose and arrange. And he does it all with such great charisma and aplomb. He is a true friend of the choir.”
The Tony Award-honored Mitchell was raised in a musical household and said his family recognized the majesty of Mormon Tabernacle Choir music.
“When I was asked to perform with the choir, I was, of course, very excited but also slightly intimidated. The choir is a wonderful American institution and widely known for its musical gifts. But after I started working with Mack and the choir, I realized, Wow. You can’t work with better people.
“And the Conference Center is an amazing performance space. Even though it’s a 21,000-seat hall, it has a very intimate feel.”
His most recent choir performance was at July’s Pioneer Day commemoration concert with soloist Linda Eder, the first time the event had featured guest artists.
Mitchell’s “Ring, Christmas Bells” performance with the choir at the 2008 Christmas concert was the first DVD release of the annual event — and both the CD and DVD are strong sellers and critically acclaimed, both within and outside the LDS recording community.
One of the songs, “Through Heaven’s Eyes,” a Stephen Schwartz composition that Mitchell introduced in the animated hit “Prince of Egypt,” is “consistently in the top-five downloads of all of the choir’s recordings every reporting period,” according to the choir’s general manager, Scott Barrick.
The number of Mitchell’s choir performances is unprecedented. “We wouldn’t have someone back three times unless he is wildly popular,” Barrick said.
While it was not on the evening’s song list, at the personal request of the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mitchell performed “Impossible Dream,” which President Thomas S. Monson has said is among his favorite songs, at the Christmas performance he attended. Mitchell received one of his four Tony nominations for his role in the 2002 Broadway revival of “Man of La Mancha.”
“The song ‘Impossible Dream’ is very powerful,” Mitchell explained. “It was such a joy to sing it for President Monson. He responds to ‘Impossible Dream’ the same way that everyone does. You can’t help but be affected by its strength.”
Mitchell sees the great power that is transferred through song.
“Music for me is the most sacred of the arts,” Mitchell said. “I say that because music communicates in a way that no other art form can. All great art has a spirit that we recognize and appreciate, but music goes directly to your heart.
“When I perform, I try to tap into that part of me and try to touch people in a metaphysical way that I don’t fully understand,” he said. “It’s wonderful space, but also a terrifying space and a joyous and happy space.”
At the BYU event, Mitchell will perform both solo and with the university’s student performing groups. The Spectacular artistic director explained she was astonished to find Mitchell so willing to perform songs for the two-night event outside his usual concert repertoire.
“His concern for his BYU performance was not personal but he wanted to know how he could help to make the show the best it could possibly be,” Christensen said. “We feel that it was a magical moment that we were able to make this performance happen.”
Among other songs, Mitchell will sing “They Call the Wind Maria,” in a “Paint Your Wagon” segment with Men’s Chorus and the Philharmonic Orchestra, and “Stand By Me” in the Young Ambassadors’ trio of numbers dedicated to families. Additionally Mitchell will perform “Make Them Hear You,” a song he premiered in the hit 1998 Broadway show, “Ragtime.” In the show’s finale, he will sing “Impossible Dream” with the Men’s Chorus and Philharmonic Orchestra.
The sophisticated, glowingly brilliant and completely enthralling musical at Pioneer Theatre Company is a not-to-be-missed production.
While the unsentimental plot ostensibly revolves around a family coping with mental illness, the central theme is a powerful one: familial love and loss. The “rock” music is not backbeat-driven, vocal wailings, but better described as rock-influenced Broadway ballads that contribute perfectly to the storytelling.
To describe the poignant trigger and its repercussions at the dramatic core of the musical would be revealing details that the play’s authors, honored with a Pulitzer for this work, clearly intend to unfold gradually during the course of the play. There are birthday cakes, prom dates and the “next to normal” daily routines of any other American family.
The score, full of insightful wit and with the impact of a boxer’s punch, has music by Broadway veteran Tom Kitt and first-time lyricist (and book writer) Brian Yorkey and earned the team a hard-fought Tony. While including rough words not often spoken in Salt Lake households, the songs have a freewheeling, conversational tone and ping-pong through the family’s highs and lows.
Modern-day housewife Diana Goodman suffers from bipolar depression, but that is perhaps a too-simple explanation for her anguish. Her husband, Dan, is engaged in supporting her and finding effective treatment. The Goodmans have a son and daughter, each with their own story to tell. The other characters are Natalie Goodman’s boyfriend, Henry, and two health professionals, each played by a single actor.
In one of the show’s first productions after its Broadway run, Karen Azenberg directs a confident, highly professional cast, and each performance is beat-for-beat emotionally on target — heart-wrenchingly so. Because the play is virtually sung-through, the singing is a major component, and the professional PTC cast has soaring, octave-ranging beauty yet not as full-throated as anticipated.
The interwoven “You Don’t Know”/“I Am the One” by Judy McLane as Diana and Jonathan Rayson as Dan is raw and searing and one of the play’s highlights. The actors immerse themselves in their roles and bare their individual anguish with ferocious intensity.
The vibrant duet is followed by a masterful “I’m Alive” by Matt Dengler, whose character provides both inspiration and despair. His role is the play’s linchpin, and the terrific young actor is nothing short of amazing.
As the teens at the beginning of a relationship, the talented Ephie Aardema is a bundle of frustrations and angst as Natalie and the guilelessly charming Alex Brightman is ideal as Henry. In smaller roles, a noteworthy Ben Crawford humanizes the two doctors. His pharmacological version of “My Favorite Things” is a welcome moment of lightheartedness.
Lawrence Goldberg leads the vital but uncredited pit orchestra, light on percussions that added so much radiance to the original recording. The tri-level set design by George Maxwell grounds the production in reality yet hints at the family’s upheaval. Michael Gilliam’s lighting adds tension, and costume designer Carol Wells-Day continues to explore color intensity as a dramatic tool.
Unforgettable theater leaves audiences with much to ponder, and PTC’s “Next to Normal” is an illuminating production. Snippets of the show’s powerhouse ballads reverberate long afterward.
There is no real resolution in “Next to Normal” and no answers are offered. But we learn that "even the darkest skies will someday see the sun."
PARK CITY — In “The Fantasticks,” boy meets girl, boy loses girl and boy gets girl back. But it’s more — much more, to borrow a lyric — than a simply told fable. It’s a blissful celebration of the art of theater.
The Broadway in the Mountains production, at the Egyptian Theatre through Sunday, is a lovingly crafted tribute to the original staging of “The Fantasticks.” The show debuted in 1960 at Greenwich Village’s 153-seat Sullivan Street Theatre and continued playing there for 42 years, becoming the world’s longest-running musical and creating a record unlikely ever to be equaled.
There is a legion of theatergoers who recount their visits to the off-Broadway landmark, with its half-oval seating arrangement that required patrons to walk across the stage to their seats, with wistful accounts of seeing the iconic roles performed by Kristin Chenoweth, F. Murray Abraham, Glenn Close, Elliot Gould or Liza Minnelli.
This is an enchanting “Fantasticks,” with insightful performances and wonderful music. Director Terence Goodman retains many elements of the milestone production and juxtaposes reality with theatrics. His decisions underscore the whimsical allegory about the romance of a young couple, Matt and Luisa, who find their relationship tested by their meddling fathers and the bandit, El Gallo. Goodman wisely relies on his skilled actors to invite audiences to recall their own memories of this delightful musical or to experience its joys for the first time.
New York actor Dennis Parlato takes a mature approach to the swashbuckling role of El Gallo, the musical’s narrator and puppet-master. Having played the role, after being cast by the show’s creators, in the Sullivan Street production and the New York City revival, Parlato knows the part of El Gallo well. Firmly understanding the half-sentimental, half-cynical tone of his character, the actor makes the philosophical storyteller accessible and familiar. His singing of the tender “Try to Remember” is just right.
The trip to Park City would be worth it alone to bask in the performances of Parlato and four other startlingly talented actors. Jim Dale as Henry, the enfeebled Shakespeare thespian, and Andy Johnson as his sidekick Mortimer, the specialist in dying scenes, milk all the humor in their roles as they participate in El Gallo’s raid to warn Matt of the hardships of the world.
Masterful entertainers Jonathan McBride and W. Lee Daily play the conniving widower fathers who trick their offspring into falling in love. Their Tweedledum and Tweedledee performances wholly embrace their characters’ vaudevillian roots and further delight in their wink-wink additional roles the director has devised.
While it’s to his credit that the director has cast actors the same age as their characters, Gracie Brietic and Taylor J Smith charm and give their all to their roles but ultimately disappoint. To be most effective, the couple’s progression from puppy love affection to become more world-aware with a wise, realistic view of love is readily apparent.
As Luisa, the lovely Brietic is full of wide-eyed wonder in “Much More” and has a lovely voice but her upper register is noticeably weak. Smith makes an appealing “callow fellow,” and his “They Were You” is tenderly sung but “I Can See It” should be more full-throated.
Musical director Anne Puzey leads the exemplary accompaniment of piano, harp and percussion and does credit to the timeless melodies.
The squares of multi-colored confetti tossed into the air are justified at the show’s conclusion. “The Fantasticks” is a show that lives up to its name.
While widely known for her ability to belt out an emotional Broadway ballad, Salonga impressed with the interpretive skills she brought to standards by a variety of composers and her keen, often self-deprecating sense of humor. She also radiated warmth and good cheer to the enthusiastic audiences.
Salonga surprised the audiences with her opening selection of “Feeling Good,” from the 1965 musical “The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd.” But her jazzy interpretation set the tone for the evening of “just fun stuff,” as she later explained.
Following up with Lerner and Lowe’s “On the Street Where You Live,” Salonga’s exquisite technique and commitment to the song was evident. And her rich, creamy vocal tone was also heard in her lush interpretation of the Gershwins’ “Nice Work If You Can Get It.”
Relating that she listens to a wide variety of music, Salonga showed her enjoyment of contemporary songs by covering Lady Gaga’s “Pokerface” and Bruno Mars’ “Forget You.”
The Tony-winner is popularly known for performances as two Disney princesses. To introduce “Reflection” from “Mulan,” Salonga expressed her disappointment at being asked to record a shorter, now-official version. “So now I have to make sure that Mickey Mouse is not in the audience, so I can sing the long, original version,” she said.
Salonga invited an audience member to join her for the “Whole New World” duet from “Aladdin.” “It’s either a train wreck, which is always quite entertaining, or it can be pretty good. Sometimes.”
The evening turned personal as she introduced songs related to meeting her husband and the joy brought by their 5-year-old daughter.
“Blackbird” became a song about romantic timing that revolved around the words:“You were only waiting for this moment to arrive.” The Beatles’ hit was combined with Kander and Ebb’s “A Quiet Thing,” which is about the sweetness of discovering love.
Before an emotional, goose-bump-inducing version of “I’d Give My Life for You” from “Miss Saigon,” Salonga expressed that, after giving birth to her daughter, she now more fully understands the commitment mothers make to their children.
The evening included two “Les Miserables” offerings: “I Dreamed a Dream” and “On My Own,” which Salonga said was her audition song for “Miss Saigon.” After listening to her heart-wrenching version of the Boublil-Schonberg compositions, it’s easy to understand why she landed the career-making role. And why the de Jong audience responded so enthusiastically to her first Utah performances.
PROVO — For its annual Spectacular, BYU invited a Broadway leading man to help celebrate “a true Renaissance man” of the university — and the homecoming event became truly spectacular.
Inviting the nationally known Brian Stokes Mitchell to headline the two-evening revue of BYU’s performing groups was not only an inspired decision, it was fortuitous that he accepted. While area guests have previously served as Spectacular narrators, this year marked the first time a performer of his high caliber was the show’s emcee and thrilling entertainer.
And it was befitting as Spectacular acknowledged the contributions by Gerrit de Jong Jr., appointed BYU’s first College of Fine Arts dean in 1925 but also an accomplished musician, linguist and scholar. A brief video tribute to de Jong was projected on the football field-sized screen at the rear of the Marriott Center performing space midway through the show.
Mitchell explained that de Jong “was consumed by a passion for art and he knew that there is beauty within us.”
To began the show, Mitchell soloed with “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” accompanied by the full BYU Philharmonic, that introduced his charismatic stage demeanor along with his grateful, beaming smile. The Men’s Chorus, lankishly choreographed, was invigorated during the ensemble’s “Paint Your Wagon” medley when the Tony-winner joined the massive group to sing “They Call the Wind Maria.”
While acknowledging that he has become “a BFF with the entire Mormon Tabernacle Choir,” after an unprecedented three engagements, Mitchell said that singing with the Men’s Chorus, “that band of brothers, was an experience I will not soon forget.”
In the effusive “Family” segment by the Young Ambassadors, Conlon Bonner and Delaney Westfall were the lead singers on “We Are a Family” and “Love You, I Do,” and Mitchell joined the group to perform “Stand by Me” with the group’s soloist Tim Cooper.
To end the evening, Mitchell showed his affinity for jazz with an expressively phrased Gershwin medley, followed by the little-known Cy Coleman-Carolyn Leigh gem, “It Amazes Me,” that was infused with his trademark joie de vivre. In his rendition of “Make Them Hear You,” the full strength of his powerful baritone was showcased and his “Ragtime” showstopper became a ferocious declaration. For each of these solos, Mitchell was paired with his pianist, the gifted Tedd Firth.
Continuing the theme of an unwavering commitment to a dream, Mitchell encouraged the audience to strive for high ideals as he began “Impossible Dream” from his Tony-nominated Don Quixote role in “Man of La Mancha,” accompanied by the Philharmonic. With his virile, long-sustained high notes that soared heavenward, Mitchell made us believe that the impossible might just be within our grasp.
And you’re sure to be charmed.
A spectacle-filled “Mary Poppins” opened on Labor Day weekend at the Capitol Theatre, to the delight of fans of perhaps the most-popular children’s musical movies of all time.
The stage version combines new arrangements of the unforgettable Sherman Brothers’ double-Oscar-winning songs from the Disney 1964 film with new Broadway-style ballads by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. The script by Julian Fellowes is an odd mix of Disney’s “chim chim” cheer and the more dour stories of the original author P.L. Travers’ books, but it boasts practically perfect performances, many from actors who honed their roles in New York, along with Disney-style wizardry that delight.
Led by a prim Steffanie Leigh in the title role and Nicholas Dromard as her chimney-sweeping dancing partner, Bert, the cast is uniformly pleasing. As conceived in the original show, Dromard, a superb singer, tap dances horizontally up one side of the stage’s proscenium and then upside down across the ceiling. The same computer-driven, wire-suspended harness flies vocally proficient Leigh off the stage and into the audience.
The script calls for the talented Laird Mackintosh as George Banks to confront the gorgon nanny from his childhood in an new, ill-conceived addition to the story. Mrs. Banks, a spry suffragette in the Disney version, is now a lonely former actress, well played by Blythe Wilson.
The Banks children have much larger roles and are much more bratty than in the movie. Utah County native Talon Ackerman played Michael opposite Camille Mancuso on opening night. Though multiple child actors rotate the obstreperous roles, both on Broadway and in the national tour, Ackerman and Mancuso are troupers and completely in step with the adult actors.
Rachel Izen (Mrs. Brill) and Dennis Moench (Robertson Ay) do nice comic turns as the put upon household staff, and Q. Smith as the evil nanny Miss Andrew is a powerhouse singer.
The big-cast musical numbers, choreographed with great flair by Matthew Bourne, are crowd pleasers, and the Banks’ Cherry Tree Lane home, which reveals like a pop-up book, is nearly as impressive as the original Broadway creation.
“Mary Poppins” is a fun family event. And you’ll impress your children if you can say that magical word backwards. It’s dociousaliexpilisticfragicalirepus.
And it’s the only hit musical about treating a psychological disorder.
“Next to Normal,” recently on Broadway where it was honored with Tonys and, uncommon for a musical, the Pulitzer, is being staged at the Pioneer Theatre Company Sept. 16 through Oct. 1.
“It’s a tough subject but it’s also great theater,” says director-choreographer Karen Azenberg. “It’s just too good to not see.”
The characters of “Next to Normal” are not larger than life or stock cardboard cutouts, but our next-door neighbors — their struggles, yes. And also their joys.
“The storytelling is key,” Azenberg adds. “The music of ‘Next to Normal’ has been classified as rock ’n’ roll, and it is really quite brilliantly written and so appropriate. But because of that, it’s easy to get sidetracked from this very truthful story that is told just so beautifully.”
While the storyline can sound like yet another tedious “disease of the week,” Lifetime TV drama, the characters are vividly three dimensional, and there’s no quick-fix solution that fits within a typical format. Also, the plot is not easy to discuss without giving away crucial details that unfold on stage.
Diana Goodman, a middle-aged wife and mother living in suburbia, is manic depressive. Her patient husband Dan has been shepherding her through treatments and therapy, certain she can be helped. They have two children: Gabe, who Diana loves steadfastly; and Natalie, who is full of teenage angst. The only other characters are Natalie’s boyfriend, Henry, and the two doctors who treat Diana.
The names of songs reveal portions of the storyline. They include “My Psycho-Pharmacologist and I,” “Superboy and the Invisible Girl” and “Why Stay?”
“Calling ‘Next to Normal’ a rock musical can have a negative connotation,” says music director Larry Goldberg. “This is not ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’ Musical shows that have used rock as the only musical style have not been largely successful. This show uses a wide range of musical styles, including classical, folk, waltz and Celtic. The music is used to express the characters’ strong emotions, and the musical styles are used very intelligently.”
The Salt Lake staging of “Next to Normal” is the musical’s only third production after its successful New York run and national tour and a major coup for PTC.
“It’s incredibly liberating to take on a new piece,” says Azenberg. “It’s a tremendous opportunity to look at it fresh and decide how to approach it. And the actors are also able to make their own contribution and own their role more completely.”
Azenberg is also pleased with the caliber of talent she cast for the production.
“This is a phenomenal cast,” she says. “I was completely blown away with the level of talent in this production. I was able to cast my first choice for each of the roles, which isn’t always possible.”
Playing the two lead roles are Judy McLane as Diana and Jonathan Rayson as Dan.
McLane will return to her role as Tanya in the New York production of “Mamma Mia” and has appeared in Broadway productions of “Kiss of the Spiderwoman,” “Aspects of Love” and “Chess.” She earned acclaim for her lead role in the recent “Johnny Guitar” off Broadway.
Rayson appeared on Broadway as Seymour in “Little Shop of Horrors” and in “A Year with Frog and Toad,” and off Broadway in Christopher Durang’s “Adrift in Macao” and “That Time of Year.” He recently released a solo CD, “Shiny and New.”
The remaining cast members have impressive credits. Matt Dengler (Gabe) appeared in the recent Broadway productions of “A Little Night Music” and off Broadway in “The Fantasticks”; Ephie Aardema (Natalie) toured in “Fiddler on the Roof” as Chava and “The Sound of Music” as Leisl; Alex Brightman (Henry) played Boq in Broadway’s “Wicked” for two years; and Ben Crawford (Doctors) performed on Broadway in “Les Miserables” and “Shrek.”
