Some Enchanted Evening...

I am refusing to believe that summer is over - I mean, it hardly even got started. In clinging to my delusions, I grabbed a pair of tickets for the Rodgers & Hammerstein concert, featuring Kelli O'Hara and Jason Danieley (taking over for the ailing Paulo Szot) that was performed at Ravinia on Labor Day's Eve - or, as I've been hearing it called lately, School Year's Eve (AKA yesterday). Ravinia, with it's lush green lawns and happy people picnicking always says summer to me, even though this year, more often than not, I've needed to bring a jacket with me when I have gone. Last night, it was a bit cool - in the 70s when we left home, lower when the evening was over. We arrived to find a PACKED parking lot (we had to park in the final row, practically in the bushes) and an even more PACKED park. Did that many people love R&H? Was Highland Park chock full of secret Kelli O'Hara fans? Was everyone, like me, clinging to the final happy and carefree days of summer? Well, it turned out there was some kind of Highland Park celebration happening, that brought in a crowd of old folk on buses. Let me tell you - these people take their picnicking seriously. Blankets, chairs, pillows, candelabra, 18 course spread... the works!

For us, it was early dinner (at home), drive to the park (which rather accounts for the car-in-the-bushes-scenario, does it not?), brief snack at one of Ravinia's many (delightful yet overpriced) dining emporia - in this case, a delicious chocolate toffee cupcake (PS bravo to whoever decided to introduce my favorite pastries into the mix at Ravinia. I will love you forever.) a brief turn around the lawn, and then into the pavilion for the show.

The performance was introduced by Ravinia's head honcho, Welz Kauffman, who dedicated the evening to the late Erich Kunzel, who'd passed away last week. The Ravinia Festival Orchestra was led by Ted Sperling, who also served as our guide for the evening. He introduced all of the pieces for us, providing some conductorly commentary, jokes and little stories.

The program included music from Oklahoma - which began with Mr. Danieley, off stage, singing "Oh what a beautiful mornin'." Just a word on him, here - this was his Ravinia debut, and the first time I'd heard him perform, although in my recent Playbill.com explorations, I've become positively addicted to Seth Rudetsky's Onstage & Backstage column - I've been reading his older posts (obsessively, every day)and he talks about Jason Danieley quite a bit, in his role in The Full Monty, particularly. So I knew who he was and - he was wonderful. Such a beautiful voice - he sang "Soliloquy" from Carousel so incredibly gorgeously, and his "Some Enchanted Evening" was also glorious. JD, you can sing to me anytime you want. I will listen {swoon}!

Speaking of Carousel, is there anything more glorious than the "Carousel Waltz"? I really don't think there is. The music is so freeing, I almost felt as though I could step out of the pavilion and be in a fairground, seeing the carousel twinkling festively in the background, the carnies hunkering lecherously around the rides... oh, wait, that's the Morton Grove carnival I am thinking of now.

And then there was Kelli O'Hara. I saw her (about a million years ago) in The Light in the Piazza. It was officially the second show I saw on Broadway (Avenue Q being the first. More on that - on the eve of its closure - later in the week). I never got around to seeing her in South Pacific - it was on my list a few times, but then other things would take over on my New York trips. But she is really just amazing - cute as a button, and she looked incredible, considering that she had a baby 10 weeks ago! WOW! She sang "Cockeyed Optimist" and "I'm in Love with a Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific, "Mister Snow" and "If I Loved You" from Carousel something billed on the program as "I Have Confidence" from The Sound of Music, which was really "Climb ev'ry mountain" (which brought me back to my 8th grade graduation ceremony, of all things, because we had to sing that song. We all wanted to sing something like "That's What Friends are For" or "From a Distance" or something, but instead we got stuck w/that clunker...Kelli sounded much better singing it than we did as a bunch of seriously cheesed off eighth graders.)

She also was joined by Ted Sperling on "Ten Minutes Ago I saw You" from the made-for-Julie-Andrews tv special Cinderella. What a charming and multitalented guy. Just add some zany hair, and I think he'd be my favorite conductor.

They ended with "An Old Fashioned Wedding" from Annie Get Your Gun which is not, as you may have noticed, by Rodgers & Hammerstein, but by Irving Berlin. The show was, according to Mr. Sperling, produced by R&H, which is why he included it in the evening, plus, he just really liked the song. There were two encores - one by either R or O and Jerome Kearn (I don't remember now what he said. And I didn't recognize the song, either, so sorry about that. Use your imagination and think of a beautiful duet, sung by voices that would be at home sung by angels sitting on clouds in heaven and you get the idea.) Then, finally, there was "Getting to Know You" from The King & I. Just when I was taking another trip down memory lane - I sang this song as a duet with a classmate for a Solo & Ensemble competition, and I sang harmony. We got a damn 2, after all the effort and gorgeous harmonizing - we were invited to sing along! So much fun! And I still remembered my harmonies!

Another gorgeous night at Ravinia. Only one more trip there is left for this summer in a few weeks for Bill T. Jones'dance commission honoring Abraham Lincoln. Oh by the way - rumor has it that the national tour of South Pacific will be making a stop at Rosemont Theater in November. "I won't be there," Kelli told us (she will be back in New York) "But see it anyway!" Well, if you say so...