Excitement at the Boston Pops

I was a guest of Janet Wu of NBC Channel 7 last night at opening night of the Boston Pops 2007 season.  The event featured Ben Folds playing to an audience seated cabaret-style at cocktail tables.  We had some of the best seats in the house, right in the center the equivalent of 6 rows back.  To my left was journalist Dana Bisbee, holding hands lovingly with his wife during the romantic pieces.  To my right sat Tamara Wieder, Managing Editor at Stuff@Night Magazine and the Boston Phoenix, with her beau.

Conductor Keith Lockhart, comfortable and confident in front of the spotlight, has all the presence (and possibly ego) of a rockstar, or at least a pro golfer.  His style as a conductor is energetic and attractive to watch (quite a trick when all you can see is someone's back), graceful and relaxed, never agitated.  His speaking style was showman-like, tastefully reminiscent of a circus promoter, appropriately enough, as the orchestra began the evening with the Carnival Overture by Dvorak.

Lockhart wore a stylish tux with a black collar shirt unbuttoned at the neck, a sweaty glow, and no tie.  The Pops fans wore expensive spring cocktail dresses and dashing suits and ties.  The production values were stunning as well.  Movie posters and album covers from the Sound of Music and Phantom of the Opera were projected onto large screens above the orchestra while the musicians played the overtures under lighting timed with the music.  The tables were adorned with color-coordinating cocktail bouquets, and some of the bigger donors were treated to popcorn, pink champagne on ice and bowls of M&Ms, in addition to an appetizer and cocktail menu with a waitress on call.

The music, at first, was typical Pops fare: fun, familiar sing-along standards (I missed the singing).  The percussion during the Dvorak seemed particularly exquisite to me.  The strings sounded a little muddy.

Suddenly, less than a half hour into the concert, a fight broke out in the balcony, presumably fueled by the cocktails offered as part of opening night ceremonies before the early concert.  When the first incredibly loud scream echoed through Symphony Hall, Lockhart continued conducting, craning his head back to make sure nobody was waving a gun around or something.  Seeing nothing, he continued the music. 

Not less than a minute later, the screams sounded again.  Looking up to the second set of balconies, I saw men and women dressed in fancy clothes fighting.  It's pretty high up there and I can imagine a tumble wouldn't be healthy.  The orchestra stopped while Lockhart waited long enough for things to quiet down, but not long enough for gossip to start running about the hall.

Lockhart handled the interruption gracefully, the orchestra successfully distracted from the tussle when they restarted the music, and Lockhart began the next piece as the applause was still sounding in the hall -- preventing the audience from exchanging shocked comments and hypothesizing about the cause of the fight.  Very skillful.

Lockhart did a nice advertisement for Fidelity partway through the concert, because they are a major donor of course, and presented Fidelity's "Inspire the Future" award to music teacher Ben Das (sp?), who beamed onstage.

The Pops finished their half of the concert by playing the soundtrack to a "movie" starring Keith Lockhart traveling around on the Boston T, watching orchestra members busking on the platform.  Sounds corny, but it was really cute.  And then, the fun began.

When Ben Folds came up on stage, about 10 yards away from me, I was so proud I almost cried.  Proud of the stuffy Boston elite for letting the Pops branch out enough to cross this chasm from old to young, from traditional to anti-establishment, from upper-crust to pizza.  Proud of Ben Folds fans for coming to the dressy opening-night concert in everything from baseball caps and jeans to bridesmaids' dresses.   Proud of Ben for coming so far since I first saw him crawling on the piano and jumping on the keyboard at Brownie's in New York City in about 1993. 

Ben Folds is not just a huge talent, an intellectual who thumbs his nose at mainstream rock, a classically trained musician, an amazing composer, and a rock star in his own right.  He's able to cross genres enough to appeal to classical music fans and play under the gold leaf "Beethoven" scrollwork above the stage.  That's pretty damn cool.  Ben played 7 or 8 songs. He really rocked them.  His voice sounded a little tired, perhaps from the afternoon's rehearsal.  His piano playing was as vivacious as ever.  I think he definitely blew a few minds last night.

Sadly, the orchestration of his pieces, done by friends, wasn't quite challenging enough for the Pops, and the strings looked nonplused, almost bored as they played accompaniment for Ben's fireworks.  I would have liked to see more of a chance for the orchestra to shine. 

Ben tried to give it to them, by leading an improv session in the middle of his set, but they didn't really know what to make of it.  Maybe it's really hard for a very large group to improvise and still sound good so they just didn't play at all.  Or maybe these musicians have been playing controlled orchestration for so long that they've lost the joyful abandon inherent to music?

The audience, on the other hand, was never bored.  I wonder if the Pops faithfuls have ever heard such passionate hoots and hollers in other standing ovations over the years.  "I really like my new band," Ben said.  Me too.

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