Music Reviews

Jul 13, 2008 - The Reno Philharmonic and singer Debbie Gravitte team up for a lovely mid-summer night's Pops on the River

By Jack Neal

The Reno Philharmonic’s annual open house and town bash along the Truckee River, Pops on the River, scored another big hit Saturday night (7/11/08) in Reno’s Wingfield Park. As the orchestra’s featured soloist, Broadway singing star and Tony Award winner Debbie Gravitte sang over a dozen songs from the best of the best of America’s popular standards. It was another beautiful Nevada night under the stars for Reno's Artown Festival.

It’s hard to hold attention for a crowd of thousands who have been dining and wining for nearly two hours before opening curtain. But the orchestra, under the direction of guest conductor Timm Rolek, and the dynamic Gravitte cut threw the hi-ho good times for a nearly two-hour concert that didn’t diminish anyone’s fun one whit.

This year’s program was dedicated to the late Veronica Cooper who did so much over the past decade to make sure the orchestra’s Pops on the River concert was an enormously fun party that both enhanced the orchestra’s reputation and helped pay its bills. This year’s event did both in the grand manner Veronica Cooper always held as her goal and was a fitting tribute to her Reno Philharmonic legacy.

Without Barry Jekowsky, its resident conductor for a decade, the concert marked the beginning of a new era for the orchestra. Unlike past Pops on the River concerts, guest star Debbie Gravitte grabbed center stage and held it for virtually the entire program. It’s a formula that works, when someone has the magnetism to hold an audience via the force of personality and loads of talent. Debbie Gravitte has what it takes to make a go of a one-woman show and that’s basically what this year’s Pops on the River turned out to be.

Opening with “Let Me Entertain You” from Jule Styne’s wonderful “Gypsy,” Gravitte moved and crooned and slinked through an upbeat “I Enjoy Being a Girl,” to a Broadway-baby belting of “If He Walked into My Life” that collectively added up to the kind of memorable performances from which show-business legends are made.

Building steam with a poignant “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina,” a haunting “I Dreamed a Dream” from “Les Miserables” and a naughty, but oh-how-nicely-suggestive version of Cole Porter’s “My Hearty Belongs to Daddy,” Gravitte was on a binge of song and patter that despite some rough edges (rehearsal time for such concerts always being in short supply) was - as in Schwartz’s “Defying Gravity” - gravity defying enough to soar.

As the Reno Phil’s summertime maestro, Timm Rolek has what it takes to provide the orchestra with the leadership it needs to fill in the gaps with considerable style while the orchestra is on the road to selecting its new conductor. The orchestra’s one major solo spot - selections from Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” - was, once adjusted for amplification, what it should have been – exceptional and pleasing. And, of course, there’s always the thrill of Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes” and all those fireworks (the concert’s traditional finale). Not to be forgotten in the fuss (and given the fuss, that’s fairly easy to do), the orchestra itself played very well indeed.

For a vast audience that slides past the crest to the back-lot downside of Wingfield Park’s landscaping, sightlines at the Amphitheater leave much to be desired. For those past that crest (about half of Saturday’s audience) elevating the performance area with three or four foot risers would add immeasurably to the pleasure of huge numbers of people. Expensive? Yes! Doable? Yes! Necessary? You bet!

Kudos to Reno Philharmonic executive director Tim Young and his staff for shepherding the orchestra so handsomely through this transition period. Kudos also for the Reno Philharmonic Guild Board and Pops on the River Committee for its devotion to furthering the orchestra’s considerable cultural legacy.

The Reno Philharmonic Orchestra with conductor Timm Rolek continues its summer season as part of the Lake Tahoe Music Festival July 19 (2008) at 7 p.m. at Homewood Mountain Resort (West Shore Lake Tahoe) in a concert featuring trumpeter Christian Scott’s Quintet ($50, $25, $15); August 2 (2008) at 7 p.m. at Tahoe-Donner Golf Course (Truckee, California) in a Broadway Night concert featuring singers Sal Viviano and Rachel York ($50, $25); and August 9 (2008) at 7 p.m. at Homewood Mountain Resort (West Shore Lake Tahoe) in a White Nights Finale featuring pianist Jeffrey Biegel ($50, $25, $15). For information call 530-583-3101 or 775-323-6393. For tickets call 530-581-1184 or go on line at TahoeMusic.org.

For information about the Reno Philharmonic’s 2008-2009 season call 775-323-6393 or go on line at renophilharmonic.com.