by Amal Bouhabib
December 19, 2000

Opera may take the cake when it comes to lyricized drama, but there is something endearing – and definitely all-American – in the many Broadway tunes that have come out of that vast-spanning territory over the last century. No one quite makes love look so rosy or so rhymingly simple as Rogers and Hammerstein.

For a good hour last Friday, a packed UNESCO Palace theater got a taste of that 100 years of song-theater, from the hokey country-bumpkin tunes of Oklahoma to the more poignant melodies of Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story.

Kurt Ollmann and Teresa Seidl, both American vocalists with international reputations, glided through the 11 Broadway tunes with evident ease, accompanied by pianist John Ferguson. The three are part of a touring troupe called American Voices, founded by Ferguson in 1992, which aims to promote the lesser known American music styles – like Broadway, jazz, and ragtime – in countries around the world. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Kodak sponsored Friday’s concert, in collaboration with the American Embassy. Ollmann’s clear baritone, coupled with his ability to remain consistently in character in spite of a bare and too-brightly lit stage, gave authenticity to Broadway tunes like Slap that Bass from George Gershwin’s Shall We Dance and the better known Cole Porter tune, Begin the Beguine. He played up the appropriate kitsch and caboodle in the tune She Loves Me, a funny Mid-western solo from All-American which features “hah” and “bah” as part of its lyrics.

Seidl’s voice was no less impressive, though her opera roots shone through in her strong vibrato on tunes like If I Loved You, a melodic soprano solo from Gershwin’s Carousel which ends on a piercingly high note. Her singer’s discipline was evident: volume whistled through her voice like air, projecting throughout the theater and then receding into quiet phrases. Particularly pleasant was their final piece, one of the more famous duets from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera – the only Brit composer on the roster – which allowed them a few lines of well-held harmony.

Ferguson’s two solos on the piano, both Eubie Blake ragtime songs, were certainly one of the highlights of the evening. Weighty chords in the left hand and a rambling right hand up and down the keyboard in playful ragtime swiftness, captured the purely American pre-jazz form perfectly.

Perhaps the highest point of all though, was the entrance of the Lebanese National Symphony Orchestra, which accompanied the American musicians for a Christmas program that brought the concert to its end.

One of Beirut’s newest cultural concepts and, so far, one of its better-kept secrets, the National Orchestra played the carols with such finesse that it’s hard to believe it was only formed this year. Starting with an upbeat delivery of the popular tune Sleigh Ride, the 90-member orchestra played the holiday spirit to a tee, complete with bells, a harp and a colorful percussion section.

A string orchestra suite, with carols like O Little Town of Bethlehem and Away in a Manger, spotlighted the orchestra’s massive string section who, with some 57 members, make up the bulk of the National Orchestra. And undoubtedly the added sound helped support the vocalists, who joined the orchestra for some of the noels, like White Christmas and O Holy Night. Seidl’s voice was perfect for O Holy Night, although the voice most frequently and easily associated with the song is that of opera tenor Placido Domingo.

The concert ended with a sweet version of Silent Night, interrupted only briefly by some abortive chants at the back of the theater chiding the US Embassy. In any case, US Ambassador David Satterfield, who sat in the front row next to former first lady Mona Hrawi, seemed unruffled and pleased as the two-hour show came to a close – as did the hundreds of audience members who were treated for a night to the prettier side of American culture.