Cornelius Bates

February 2, 2010

“My Brazilian Romance: A Tribute to the Music from Brazil”

Metropolitan Room  –  January 20, 24

I don’t think many people would dispute the claim that Brazil has been the source of one of the world’s great bodies of music. But it is not easy music—at least not for gringos: the rhythms can be complex and tricky, and the melodies subtle. I submit that many people who attempt to perform it fail to pull it off persuasively. Fortunately, vocalists who take the plunge typically stick just a toe in the water [say, are those metaphors oxymoronic?] and include only a single song in their program. Cornelius Bates, however, has dared to put together an entire evening of this material. I am delighted to report that the results are smashing.

It’s hard to know where to begin to sing his praises. Since in my experience Brazilian ballads generally prove more problematic than catchy up-numbers, I’ll start there. Though one has heard “Meditation” (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Newton Mendonça; English lyrics by Norman Gimbel) countless times—it’s the one that begins “In my loneliness…”—Bates’s version stands out because he imbues it with more meaning and clarity than most other singers manage. “Manhã de Carnaval” (Luiz Bonfá, Antonia Maria), popularly known here as the theme from Black Orpheus, is sensual, mournful, and altogether lovely. Oscar Castro-Neves and Luverci Fiorini’s “I Live to Love You (Morrer de Amor)” is quite pretty—though Ray Gilbert’s English translation is a bit sticky and suffers by comparison with the darker original Portuguese lyric, and the song is set uncomfortably high for Bates’s voice

Most of the selections are of the lively variety, and they range from infectious to downright irresistible. In “One Note Samba” (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Newton Mendonça) Bates dances an adorable little jig with percussionist Nanny Assis; with his spirit-lifting performance, he shows how to take a thoroughly familiar song and make it fresh and personal. For last summer’s MetroStar Talent Challenge, Bates, who was a finalist, and musical director/guitarist Marcos Vigio devised a joyful Brazilian arrangement of Lennon & McCartney’s “I Want to Hold Your Hand”; he repeats it in this show, and it’s a real keeper. On the other hand, I think it was a mistake to turn “Midnight Sun” (Johnny Mercer, Sonny Burke, Lionel Hampton) into a zippy bossa nova; this treatment robs the song of its dreamy, romantic quality.

A pairing of “Avião” (Djavan; English lyrics by Emily Saliers) and “Aqua de Beber” (Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes; English lyric by Norman Gimbel) builds in passion and intensity and ends up with the audience undulating, clapping and screaming; it’s something to behold. With high-energy instrumental accompaniment, Ary Barroso and Bob Russell’s classic samba “Brazil” becomes a crowd-pleasing sing-along. And speaking of the accompaniment, there were times when for my money, the splendid instrumentalists (the aforementioned Vigio and Assis, and Robert Di Pietro on percussion and Michael Leonhart on horns) could have played on and on.

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About the Author

Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written cabaret and theatre reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch on the Internet. He covered cabaret monthly on “New York Theatre Review” on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre weekly on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre. A critic for BistroAwards.com, he is also the site’s Reviews Editor; in addition, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.