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Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Quick Hit Theater Review: I Left My Heart -- Music Theatre of CT

Christopher DeRosa, Johnny Orenberg and Jordan Wolfe. Photo: by Regina Madwed/Capitol Photo Interactive
I Left My Heart . . .: A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett
Conceived by David Grapes and Todd Olson
Directed by Kevin Connors
Musical Direction by Max Haymer
Music Theatre of Connecticut, Westport

Summary:
More than 30 tunes made famous by Tony Bennett are combined with short stories about the singer by three performers (Christopher DeRosa, Johnny Orenberg and Jordan Wolfe) accompanied on stage by musicians Max Haymer, piano; Chris Johnson, drums; Dan Asher and Richa Zurkowsky, alternating bass in a brisk one-hour-10-minute revue.

Highlights:
A mostly grey-haired matinee audience the day I attended thoroughly enjoyed, smiling, bopping heads, tapping feet and singing along with classics like "Fly Me to the Moon," Night and Day," "That Old Black Magic," and of course, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
DeRosa has a nice singing voice and brings a stylish, confident smoothness to his solos. All three do a nice job of presenting Bennett's songs without trying to imitate him.
Scenic and technical designer Scott Holdredge gets kudos for creating a really terrific sound mix which allows us to hear all three voices harmonizing, all of the instruments and doesn't blow us out of our seats in the very tiny space.

The real star here, though, is the talented Haymer, skillfully tickling the ivories. He's great, whether providing accompaniment in the background or getting a chance to show off his jazz skills.

Lowlights:
Though the voice blend nicely, Orenberg and Wolfe are weak on solos.

Information:
I Left My Heart runs through May 6 at MTC's studio theater, 246 Post Road East, Westport. Performances are Fridays at 8 pm, Saturdays at 4 pm and 8 pm, Sundays at 3 pm. Tickets: $25-$45.
$5 off for seniors/students (subject to availability). Reservations suggested. Call 203-454-3883.
This show concludes the theater's 25th anniversary season. Just announced for next season: Next to Normal, Ancestral Voices and The Cole Porter Project. For information, visit http://www.musictheatreofct.com/1213.html.
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Lauren Yarger with playwright Alfred Uhry at the Mark Twain House. Photo: Jacques Lamarre)

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced
numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont
Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.”

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway
League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway
run.

She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill
Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/. She
is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), CT Press Club's award winner of first place for web editing and second place in feature writing for the web in 2012.

She is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and is a theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer. She previously served as Connecticut theater editor
for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web. Yarger is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly and freelances for other sites. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She is a freelance writer and playwright and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She served as a judge for the SDX Awards presented
by the Society of Professional Journalists. She also is a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle (awards committee).

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts,
the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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