An Elegant Evening at the Ambassador
In their return to Ambassador Auditorium after 21years, the Masters of Harmony were at one with their Pasadena venue Saturday evening as they presented their 2010 Spring Show, “Music In the Air.” Both the Masters and Ambassador Auditorium were elegant. For the past several shows that I’ve seen, the Masters have come to command the stage, to fill it with their musical and visual presence. Saturday evening’s show again confirmed that command.
The announcer representing the Ambassador told of the tribulations of the auditorium, how it closed in the mid-nineties and how it had almost faced the wrecking ball when it was saved by the Harvest Rock Church and re-opened in 2004. Now it serves as a home for the church and its ministry while also furthering the performing arts as a top-rate venue.
Looking around the auditorium and the lobby, one would think it was Masters alumni night. Everywhere I turned, I was shaking hands with someone I had sung with or someone I had come to know on the risers over the years since I retired from the chorus. We were all turned on by another Masters masterful performance and by the skill of its director, Mark Hale. One of my guests remarked that watching Mark direct shows the love he has for what he does with the chorus.
With a strong visual statement in black suits and white ties, the Masters opened the show with “Harmony,” low key for a Masters’ opener, but quite effective at setting the character of the show: you’re going to hear HARMONY tonight. Masters’ repertoire is always varied and the people around us ate it up. "Blues In The Night” came right on the heels of the opener and evoked memories for me of that great MOH quartet, Nightlife. However, the chorus puts its own spin on that number to good effect.
What particularly impressed me on Saturday night was the quality singing of the soloists all of them throughout the performance; my guests especially remarked upon these artists. When you have soloists that do for the solo what the Masters do for harmony for me you’ve partnered a new level of performance. It was a joy to hear.
The quartets that stepped out for some of the songs gave the appearance that the Masters can call on anyone in the chorus to join with three other guys and make beautiful music, furthering the dynamic of the song. Of course, I like this because it makes more apparent the role of the quartet in barbershop music. If you do it with the Masters, however, you’ve got to be good or you’ll mess up that dynamic. These guys are good!
I got my first taste of Doug Maddox doing one of his “bits” a fractured pseudo-French voice-over-the-PA-system thing about proper etiquette in the theater. It was, I believe, at this same Ambassador Auditorium, and I was a newly minted Master of Harmony. Twenty-one years and numerous “bits” later, Doug was at it again “informing” us about some little known facts related to the song at hand, in this case Bach’s “Fugue In D Minor,” which the chorus rendered in sterling fashion reminiscent of the Swingle Singers.
A pleasant surprise appeared next in the form of Catcher Block, a quartet I had not seen or heard before. However, I did know two of their singers, tenor James Sabina and baritone Kelly Shepard, former Masters singers who are now partnered with lead Tim Marron and his brother, bass Mike Marron from the Evergreen District. We should expect to hear those good sounds in the future.
Broadway show songs are a big feature with the Masters and Saturday’s show had plenty of them, from the songs of the Opener Medley to “Together, Wherever We Go,” where Masters’ choreographer Justin Miller’s step-teaching interplay with the chorus gave the audience comic relief and a tour de force of choreographed moves.
I was delighted to see, in the Broadway show set, the return of “Make Our Garden Grow,” the finale from the Broadway show Candide, with music by Leonard Bernstein. The Masters first brought this beautiful anthem to life some 15 years ago, and it was great to hear it performed once again.
I really looked forward to seeing the 2009 International Quartet Gold Medalist Crossroads four tremendously talented singers in their own right combined to produce fabulous ensemble music and a thoroughly entertaining package. With a stage full of energy, that’s exactly what Crossroads did with songs like “Sixteen Tons,” featuring bass Jim Henry; “Via Dolorosa,” highlighting baritone Brandon Guyton; and a hilarious hairpiece send-up of “Blue Bayou,” called “Blew By You,” with lead Mike Slamka. Fred Farrell’s tenor was so artfully present in these songs that he was featured without being featured. They wound up their set with a rollicking lickety-split medley of American folk songs to bring the audience to its feet.
The Masters of Harmony can successfully follow anyone and they did so with some of their most entertaining numbers. My favorite of the closing set was “Hallelujah,” while for my special guest it was “Mary, Did You Know?” Masters’ songs new to me were “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” a good choice for the chorus, and the Patriotic Medley, which beautifully closed the show to a standing ovation.
Kudos to Mark Hale and his team of musical wonders, and to the Masters of Harmony for another fabulous show of champions!
The announcer representing the Ambassador told of the tribulations of the auditorium, how it closed in the mid-nineties and how it had almost faced the wrecking ball when it was saved by the Harvest Rock Church and re-opened in 2004. Now it serves as a home for the church and its ministry while also furthering the performing arts as a top-rate venue.
Looking around the auditorium and the lobby, one would think it was Masters alumni night. Everywhere I turned, I was shaking hands with someone I had sung with or someone I had come to know on the risers over the years since I retired from the chorus. We were all turned on by another Masters masterful performance and by the skill of its director, Mark Hale. One of my guests remarked that watching Mark direct shows the love he has for what he does with the chorus.
With a strong visual statement in black suits and white ties, the Masters opened the show with “Harmony,” low key for a Masters’ opener, but quite effective at setting the character of the show: you’re going to hear HARMONY tonight. Masters’ repertoire is always varied and the people around us ate it up. "Blues In The Night” came right on the heels of the opener and evoked memories for me of that great MOH quartet, Nightlife. However, the chorus puts its own spin on that number to good effect.
What particularly impressed me on Saturday night was the quality singing of the soloists all of them throughout the performance; my guests especially remarked upon these artists. When you have soloists that do for the solo what the Masters do for harmony for me you’ve partnered a new level of performance. It was a joy to hear.
The quartets that stepped out for some of the songs gave the appearance that the Masters can call on anyone in the chorus to join with three other guys and make beautiful music, furthering the dynamic of the song. Of course, I like this because it makes more apparent the role of the quartet in barbershop music. If you do it with the Masters, however, you’ve got to be good or you’ll mess up that dynamic. These guys are good!
I got my first taste of Doug Maddox doing one of his “bits” a fractured pseudo-French voice-over-the-PA-system thing about proper etiquette in the theater. It was, I believe, at this same Ambassador Auditorium, and I was a newly minted Master of Harmony. Twenty-one years and numerous “bits” later, Doug was at it again “informing” us about some little known facts related to the song at hand, in this case Bach’s “Fugue In D Minor,” which the chorus rendered in sterling fashion reminiscent of the Swingle Singers.
A pleasant surprise appeared next in the form of Catcher Block, a quartet I had not seen or heard before. However, I did know two of their singers, tenor James Sabina and baritone Kelly Shepard, former Masters singers who are now partnered with lead Tim Marron and his brother, bass Mike Marron from the Evergreen District. We should expect to hear those good sounds in the future.
Broadway show songs are a big feature with the Masters and Saturday’s show had plenty of them, from the songs of the Opener Medley to “Together, Wherever We Go,” where Masters’ choreographer Justin Miller’s step-teaching interplay with the chorus gave the audience comic relief and a tour de force of choreographed moves.
I was delighted to see, in the Broadway show set, the return of “Make Our Garden Grow,” the finale from the Broadway show Candide, with music by Leonard Bernstein. The Masters first brought this beautiful anthem to life some 15 years ago, and it was great to hear it performed once again.
I really looked forward to seeing the 2009 International Quartet Gold Medalist Crossroads four tremendously talented singers in their own right combined to produce fabulous ensemble music and a thoroughly entertaining package. With a stage full of energy, that’s exactly what Crossroads did with songs like “Sixteen Tons,” featuring bass Jim Henry; “Via Dolorosa,” highlighting baritone Brandon Guyton; and a hilarious hairpiece send-up of “Blue Bayou,” called “Blew By You,” with lead Mike Slamka. Fred Farrell’s tenor was so artfully present in these songs that he was featured without being featured. They wound up their set with a rollicking lickety-split medley of American folk songs to bring the audience to its feet.
The Masters of Harmony can successfully follow anyone and they did so with some of their most entertaining numbers. My favorite of the closing set was “Hallelujah,” while for my special guest it was “Mary, Did You Know?” Masters’ songs new to me were “On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe,” a good choice for the chorus, and the Patriotic Medley, which beautifully closed the show to a standing ovation.
Kudos to Mark Hale and his team of musical wonders, and to the Masters of Harmony for another fabulous show of champions!
