Last night, George and I went with our friends the Trautmillers to see and hear the "Portrait of Leonard Bernstein" concert at Stanford Lively Arts.  As a long time musical theater/American songbook/Bernstein fan, I was the catalyst for this evening. And now I feel really bad about that.

It was not good. It was expensive for us as community members not affiliated with Stanford.  And we kept hoping it would get better as the program went along--but it only improved by small degrees.

Most of the time, this blog discusses books. And I aim for a balanced even tone. But this was so bad, and so many people were subjected to it (a full house last night)--and I feel so guilty about dragging three people to the performance--that I am going to use my blog to vent today. If you were there and you liked it, so much the better. Write and defend your position--and explain to me what I missed.

I guess I should let you know who's who in the cast: Mezzo soprano Judy Kaye and baritone WIlliam Sharp alternated between operatic and cabaret style singing. They are well known, long time Bernstein collaboraters and have a great following on the East Coast. Maybe it was jetlag?  David Shimoni was at the piano. The program was created and narrated by Bernstein's daughter Jamie.

And now, drumroll....

Comments (as best I can recollect) heard at the Leonard Bernstein tribute at Stanford last night:
Me: This sucks
George: Keep your voice down
Christine: If this were actually good, would we be having this much fun?
Rich: There's highbrow and lowbrow. I think this is unibrow.
Older couple in front of us: Don't worry honey. When we get home, we'll just dig out our old West Side Story album.
Christine: I think Jamie Bernstein (the 57-year old daughter who narrated) has had "work done." Did you notice her jawline?"
All of us in unison: "There's a face for us...somewhere a face for us."
The bottom line: Awful, pretentious, uninspired and tired cabaret singing, pianists missing notes which is really inexcusable when playing Bernstein, plus Jamie, the gushing narrator who offered little fresh insight.
First half was the worst: Odd choice of material: Arias and Baccaroles was the last performance piece Bernstein ever wrote--not sure where he wanted to go with it, (maybe a look back at his life?) but  last night it sounded like a bad high school musical. Some (polite) critics have called it "inaccessible" One number, Little Smary was apparently a lullaby that Bernstein's mother sang to him. No wonder he was known for staying up all night. Then there was a Yiddish wedding song sounded like a funeral song.
Second half: Lukewarm, badly performed renditions of songs from better known works like On the Town. A  Walt Whitman inspired song about love between men from the short-lived musical 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue--which might have worked if we could have heard the lyrics.
One word sums it all up: Nudne (pronouned nood-nah)  What is nudne? It  a Yiddish word used to describe the boring, obtuse annoying output of a nudnik.  I know this word well, because I myself have been guilty of the crime. All book group leaders have nudnik potential.  I am sure you'll agree that there are a lot of nudniks running around Silicon Valley, and Stanford, and the world of performing arts.  Even Lenny, who is one of my heroes, could be a nudnik at times. But last night he (and the audience) deserved better.