The NAC Orchestra’s got rhythm in this toe-tapping Gershwin celebration and Principal Pops Conductor Jack Everly is on the podium.
From 1924 until 1937, brothers George (music) and Ira (lyrics) Gershwin worked almost exclusively with each other, composing over two dozen scores for Broadway and Hollywood. Their style and sound defined the Jazz Age. The shows they worked on elevated popular musical comedy into a sophisticated art form, contributing classic songs such as “I Got Rhythm”, “They Can’t Take That Away From Me”, “Someone To Watch Over Me”, “Embraceable You”, and “The Man I Love.” With librettist DuBose Heyward, the brothers created “American folk opera” Porgy and Bess, which returned to Broadway for the 2011-2012 season.
George Gershwin also garnered great acclaim as a piano virtuoso, conductor, and composer of such celebrated works as Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Performing Rhapsody in Blue on this concert, our pianist, Michael Chertock, explains “the music of George Gershwin makes a person feel like there’s a party going on somewhere. A really great party, and if you play your cards right you might get invited.”
Vocalist Judy McLane is currently starring on Broadway as Donna in Mamma Mia!, after 7 1/2 years in the role of Tanya, and she is taking a week off to join us here. The orchestra will use the original orchestrations and arrangements of the songs that Judy will perform, and maestro Everly tells us that “…what Judy does with them is very, very special”
“…old movie magic is conjured up delectably, just by the sounds alone.” -The Baltimore Sun
NAC Orchestra, All Gershwin, All Pops! November 15-17
