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“It’s Good To Have You Near Again,” a song composed by André Previn, provided the title for a lively, entertaining cabaret show by singer Sylvia McNair and pianist Ted Taylor performed last Thursday night at the Avram Theater at Stony Brook Southampton.
Combine songs by Harold Arlen, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, and other great American composers with Sylvia McNair’s lovely soprano voice and charming narration and Ted Taylor’s versatile, virtuoso piano, and you have an evening that can’t fail to lift the spirit. Enthusiastic applause and bravos underlined how good it is to have such fine music in this recently renovated fine theater again.
Ms. McNair has won two Grammy Awards and has made more than 70 recordings of music that ranges from Mozart to Jerome Kern. She has had a distinguished opera career that spanned some 20 years. In 1999, as she told the audience, she felt herself propelled into a major career change by her love of the “Great American Songbook.”
Her opening number by Stephen Sondheim, “Everybody Says ‘Don’t’” is a song about daring to defy conventional wisdom. Using that warning as her motto, Ms. McNair illustrated some moments of her great crossover. “I would be singing Cleopatra—or Violetta (in La Traviata)—but what I really wanted to sing was…” And here the diva burst into popular song.
The singer’s funniest example was the aria in which the sultry strains of Carmen’s “L’amour, l’amour” morph into an equally steamy “Whatever Lola wants, Lola gets” from “Damn Yankees,” complete with shimmies and hip rolls.
Mr. Taylor, who is an opera conductor and acclaimed soloist in his own right, provided a grandiose, operatic accompaniment, with the merest hint of a sardonic smile on his face.
In a more serious mood, Ms. McNair gave beautiful expression to Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of You,” and Cole Porter’s “In the Still of the Night.”
“Summertime,” from George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess,” was, for this listener, the high point of the concert, showing Ms. McNair’s artistry in all its richness—from powerful fortissimo to the softest of sustained notes that seem to float in the air forever.
Ms. McNair unveiled two surprises during her show. The first, she told the audience, made her “nervous.” She had convinced her longtime friend, opera singer Christine Goerke—who is also co-creator and artistic director of the Music at Southampton series—to sing a duet. Ms. Goerke, also professing nerves but showing none, joined Ms. McNair in “Climb Every Mountain,” in a new arrangement by Mr. Taylor.
This lovely song, performed without microphones, brought many of the audience to their feet. The acoustics in the Avram Theater are so good that little or no amplification is needed for trained voices—especially those accustomed to the Metropolitan Opera stage. It was a pleasure to hear them “au naturel.”
The second surprise, about halfway into a show that was performed without intermission, was less lofty. In fact, it was introduced as “ridiculous,” by the star herself. With great ceremony, Ms. McNair undraped a violin, took a moment to tune it—a string had broken in rehearsal—and launched into a rollicking country-fiddlin’ segment as the audience attempted to clap along in rhythm. Well, she did major in violin at the Indiana University School of Music—but probably not with the “Orange Blossom Special” as her ultimate performance goal.
Another mood change brought the bittersweet title song—“It’s Good to Have You Near Again,” by André Previn, with lyrics by his wife Dorie. This was followed by “Tonight” and other selections from “West Side Story.” Ms. McNair and Mr. Taylor were in perfect harmony to create a moving, haunting reminder of the late, great Leonard Bernstein.
The evening ended with a classic Richard Rodgers piece, “With a Song in My Heart.” For an encore, Ms. McNair left the stage and walked through the audience singing “It’s a Wonderful World.” At the top of the auditorium steps, she bestowed hugs and kisses on several patrons in wheelchairs, while the rest of the audience stood again for an extended ovation.
The concert, the third in a series of eight, was a treat, and should serve as a “heads-up” for the rest of the season. Still to come are classical song recitals, jazz, and cabaret performances through August 28. It’s good to have these musical treasures near again.
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