It was a Grand Night for Singing at FLO!

After hearing a presentation a few months ago by Gerald Floriano, Artistic Director, about Finger Lakes Opera (FLO), a number of friends and I decided to make the journey to Geneseo for their performance of A Grand Night for Singing, a musical revue of Rodgers and Hammerstein songs (we weren’t quite ready to take the opera plunge).

Floriano explained that FLO was in its third year of performances at SUNY Geneseo; the first, in 2013, was simply a concert of various opera selections, and last year’s production of Bizet’s Carmen was completely sold out. This year, in addition to staging Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore in the Wadsworth Auditorium, they were presenting this revue, in a smaller space on the campus. Eager to support the arts, and to hear some classics from the American Songbook, 13 of us made it a girls’ night out, with dinner beforehand at the Big Tree Inn.

 

Doty Hall was the perfect space for this intimate show, and was nearly sold out. Five extremely gifted singers, accompanied by five equally talented musicians, filled the space with music. It was refreshing to hear unamplified voices, and to have the opportunity to appreciate the vocal training required to project and enunciate. From the chilling opening medley, I was transported. The evening offered songs from the familiar (Carousel, South Pacific, and The King and I dominated, although Walter Bobbie, who wrote the book for the original Broadway show, threw us a few bones from Cinderella and Sound of Music) to the less recognizable (including selections from Allegro, Flower Drum Song, and Me and Juliet).

The choreography was just enough to keep the songs moving, and the theatre was small enough that every seat provided a great view of the stage and the performers’ facial expressions. There was almost no dialog to interrupt the music, so when the evening ended, two hours and 30+ numbers later, we wished it were a concert with encores, instead of a scripted show. I drove home with snippets of “Impossible” and “Something Wonderful” running through my head. Wouldn’t it be great if they did Putting it Together or Marry Me a Little next year?