Rich Flanders & Celia Berk

November 11, 2010

“Double Standards”

Don’t Tell Mama  –  August 20, November 5

When they met a few years ago, Rich Flanders and Celia Berk discovered they liked singing together—so much so that they decided to do something about it: With the assistance of musical director and arranger Alex Rybeck and director JoAnn Yeoman, they recently presented the New York debut of their show “Double Standards.” Flanders tends to sing in a voice that is mild and unassertive and sometimes not quite rounded, though he occasionally displays moments of fullness and strength. His voice put me in mind of George Gobel’s singing in Let It Ride. (I mean this to be descriptive, not as criticism—we all know, for example, how commanding an interpreter of songs Fred Astaire was despite not having a commanding voice. And I don’t know whether the vocal quality I observed the night I saw their show was representative of Flanders’s voice today, or just of that evening, for it is quite unlike his singing on “Yondering,” his award-winning CD of songs of the American West, in which he displays a more hale-and-hearty sound, reminiscent of Gene Autry.) Berk, on the other hand, has a richer and more robust voice. Two very different sounds.

Despite the vocal differences, their voices complement each other nicely, for example in “Canadian Sunset” (Norman Gimbel, Eddie Heywood), Leslie Bricusse and Henry Mancini’s “Two for the Road,” and a medley of “If You Feel Like Singing, Sing” (Mack Gordon, Harry Warren) and Irving Berlin’s “Let Me Sing and I’m Happy” Their standout offering is a pairing of Rodgers and Hart’s “Isn’t It Romantic?” and “Wasn’t It Romantic?,” which Marshall Barer and Hugh Martin wrote for Jeanette McDonald to sing in a not-to-happen Broadway musical; everything about this number and their performance is lovely.

However, though they are a personable duo, and while the music they make is certainly agreeable, there is little distinctive about what they offer. One notable exception is Flanders’s affinity for Western songs; his performance of Bob Nolan’s “A Cowboy Has to Sing,” complete with yodeling, is very appealing. Their interpretations respect the writers’ intent, but they seldom get below the surface and illuminate meaning or explore nuance. This is true of their duets (for example the Gershwins’ “He Loves and She Loves”) and solo turns (Flanders’s delivery of Maxwell Anderson and Kurt Weill’s “Lost in the Stars” and Berk’s rendition of Oscar Hammerstein II and Jerome Kern’s “The Folks Who Live on the Hill”—though she realizes some depth at the end of the song, but in doing so she takes on an unhappy demeanor, a curious choice).

In addition, there is a blandness about the proceedings. Berk’s peppy performance of “I Said Good Morning” (André Previn, Comden & Green) and the addition of Flanders’s whistling and Berk’s kazoo to “Banking on the Weather,” a depression song by Joe Young and Sammy Fain, provide welcome injections of energy. However, when a mock conflict between the two singers is introduced to the Gershwins’ “Mine,” the intention is unclear and the device seems a superimposed bit of hokum.

Finally, there are a couple of regrettable choices. From time to time the vocal arrangement to “And the Angels Sing” (Johnny Mercer, Ziggy Elman) has one of the pair singing only a partial line while the other sings the complete line. Of course this device has often been employed satisfyingly; however, here it seems to come from left field, with no apparent dramatic or musical reason for those few words to be sung by themselves. The effect is jarring and just plain peculiar. And for much of “Moonglow” (Eddie DeLange, Will Hudson, Irving Mills) the singers are positioned on different sides of the stage, which contributes to their seeming unconnected—both physically and emotionally. They come together by the end, but that’s too late.

I should add that most of my reservations about the evening apply principally to “Double Standards” qua stage offering. I believe the deficiencies are likely to prove less problematic on recordings of this program, which are scheduled to be released soon. This disparity stems from the differences (a) between the two media and (b) between the demands and expectations of an audience and those of a listener.

 

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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.