The drive to the Villa Roma is a very pretty one, especially on a
beautiful Spring day like this past Friday. After driving for what seemed
like weeks (but was actually only three and a half hours) I've decided that
Callicoon is at the very edge of the world. No one told me I'd need my
passport to get there!! But the area, and the hotel and grounds are lovely.
As Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote...."I'll begin at the very beginning...
a very good place to start." Since the last time I heard Anthony sing,
his voice has changed. It's become so much bigger, richer, and more
powerful, I was really nonplussed. It was always a beautiful, lyrically
sweet voice. But now, his tones are very large, ringing, and perfectly
centered. And the best part is that he hasn't sacrificed any of the lyricality
of his voice, nor has he lost the ability to float his top notes as if on a
breath of air. In some cases, a singer can only have one or the other.
But Anthony's top-notch vocal technique has improved, if that's possible,
and as any singer will tell you, it's the technique that is the cornerstone
of a great voice, and a successful career.
Anthony was in spectacularly fine voice. And although I'm not usually
given to superlatives, I feel it was the best I've heard him sing. He
began his program with "Vienna Mine" and even his first notes were
clear and focused. No warm up notes needed. The program was the
usual mix of "something for everyone" as Anthony likes to say.
Although there were no arias, the concert included some of
my favorites from the Kearns bag of musical magic...."Down by the
Salley Gardens" "Because You're Mine" "The Old House" "Empty Chairs
at Empty Tables" from Les Miz, "McBreen's Heifer" which the audience
loved, both "Kittys" (Me Love, and From Coleraine), and a relatively
new one-"Sur Les Ponts de Paris" (Under the Bridges of Paris,
originally performed by Eartha Kitt). This he dedicated to the single
girls. With its great English translation....."under the Seine with you....I'll
make your dreams come true," it was definitely an audience hit. He
sang the famous "Finiculi, Finicula", before which he asked the
audience to sing "la, la, la" when he told them, and "shut up when I
tell you to stop!" And to make sure we did, he gave us the sign of
slitting his throat, when we should shut up! He sang a song which I
had never heard him do, but it's a well known one......"Estrellita",
which he sang in English, as Star of Love. Written by Manuel Ponce
in 1912, it's deceptively simple, achingly beautiful, and with difficult
soft high notes, it was gloriously sung. The creme de la creme of the
concert was "The Lord's Prayer" No one sings it the way Anthony
Kearns does. It was extraordinary. He began softly and reverently,
and his tones on the words "the power and the glory" were ringing
and exquisitely sung, It was spine-tingling.
Of course "Danny Boy" made its required appearance, and it
always elicits an "awwww" from the audience, because it signifies
the ending of the program. For his first encore, Anthony sang a fabulous
"Granada" which propelled the crowd to its feet. The concert finally
ended with the wonderful "I'll See You Again" from Noel Coward's
"Bittersweet."
I could never forget Patrick Healy's immeasurable contribution to
the program. As always, he charmed the audience with his funny
stories, including a few new church bulletins, and his lilting "Galway Bay"
and "The Dear Little Girl with the Hint of a Brogue," which I haven't heard in
quite some time. The biggest lie of this or any other year, is Patrick's
statement that he's only there for comic relief, to give the tenor a rest,
and that he has no entertainment value whatsoever. He is the best,
and audiences wherever he travels, adore him!
It was a long trip to Callicoon. But the reward was rich. Hearing
Anthony Kearns and Patrick Healy..........was the top of the mountain.
Berta Calechman
