Continuing their summer of in-house-produced American songbook concerts, Cadogan Hall offered a programme featuring Broadway and West End star Kim Criswell.
Although it was billed as being part of the 'Gershwin and Friends' season, Criswell eschewed the temptation to follow too predictable a route and instead plumped for a mixture of popular George Gershwin standards and songs written by Ira Gershwin (George's lyricist elder brother) with other composers. Thus the concert ran the gamut of styles from upbeat numbers like 'I Got Rhythm' from the Gershwin's Girl Crazy to the more classical inflection of 'My Ship' from Weill's Lady in the Dark.
Criswell's technical security as a singer is exemplary, and she is remarkably secure across a wide vocal range. Nevertheless, it was when she was belting the big band numbers or softly negotiating the gentler songs that she was seen at her best. 'Strike Up the Band' was a magnificent opening, immediately injecting the concert with atmosphere and introducing the different sections of the ensemble cleverly. One of the features of the programme was the emphasis on Ira Gershwin's long development, and his early song 'Oh Me, Oh My, Oh You', written for Two Little Girls in Blue (1922) with Vincent Youmans, was given a charming performance by Criswell here, as was another semi-rarity, 'Boy Wanted', composed by the Gershwins for a show that closed during its out of town tryouts called A Dangerous Maid in 1921 and salvaged for their London musical, Primrose, in 1924.
Occasionally the ambitiousness of the programme got slightly on top of Criswell, in that she relied on the texts for the songs or arrangements she knew less well; the unusual version of 'Somebody Loves Me' (which has lyrics by Buddy De Sylva and Ballard McDonald) she sang here has an unfamiliar interlude with comic lyrics, but they were slightly lost on us, and I found that the voice was overwhelmed by 'Sweet and Low-down'. But 'Swanee' lies ideally for the singer and she did it brilliantly, both here and in 'I Got Rhythm' showing her ability to belt in true Merman style, and in taking on Polish actress Lyda Roberti's comic classic 'The Lorelei' from the underrated Pardon My English, Criswell showed her prowess as a comedienne.
But some of the most attractive singing came in 'Embraceable You' and 'I Can't Get Started With You' (the latter an Ira Gershwin-Vernon Duke number written for the Ziegfeld Follies of 1936), two numbers which allowed Criswell to unwind a little and not push too hard. Although 'Summertime' was competently sung, Criswell's soprano voice is not to my taste, and I found 'My Ship', 'Love Walked In' (given as an encore) and 'Long Ago and Far Away' (created by Ira Gershwin and Jerome Kern for the movie Cover Girl in 1946) similarly lacking in the richness of tone that other interpreters have brought to these songs. However, these were the only momentary lulls in an otherwise superb second half that also included the satirical 'By Strauss', the lively 'They All Laughed', an unusually fast version of 'Love is Here to Stay' and the evocatively intoned 'They Can't Take That Away From Me'. These latter songs are vintage Gershwin and ideal material for as keen an interpreter as Criswell.
Yet the knock-out performances came near the end, with astounding renditions of 'The Man That Got Away' – Ira Gershwin's incisive lyrics set to Harold Arlen's music for Judy Garland in A Star is Born – and 'The Man I Love'. Emotional generosity was coupled with a vocal abandon that suited these extrovert pieces, and it was impossible not to be sucked into the sheer panache of Criswell's delivery. The singer also excelled in her linking narratives, which set the scene perfectly and helped the audience to engage even further with Criswell's bubbly personality. The BBC Big Band revelled in their showcase numbers, which included 'It Ain't Necessarily So' and 'Nice Work If You Can Get It', and although they occasionally threatened to drown Criswell out a couple of times, that's to be expected at this sort of event.
The concert was vastly more successful than the recent Cole Porter event at the same venue, whose format was less engaging and whose soloists did not always deliver the goods. The joy of Criswell's concert was the fact that it celebrated the Gershwins as key contributors to the Broadway and Hollywood scenes in a genuine, unpretentious way. The arrangements were either the originals, careful restorations or faithful big band versions that helped evoked the era in question far more vividly than the two-piano creations in A Swell Party, and Criswell exuded a much larger personality than the four singers in the Porter evening could muster. If Cadogan Hall presents further programmes like this in the future – which I hope they do – the large accompanying forces, period arrangements and quality of performer on offer here are surely an indication of the direction in which they should go.
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