iz dos geven a niu-yorker kabaret?

Here's the reason I ask.

With cabaret-style, you get a bit of banter between the songs, a bit of insight into how they came to be or some words to set the stage... 

so to speak.

(A little pun to get things rolling!) 

However, this third SVF13 concert had a simple title with a complete absence of that word: "David Friedman: My Simple Wish". 

See what I mean?

And yet, the entire evening's entertainment was most def cabaret!

Even the title song was pure whimsy, sung with as much panache and moxie as Tevye exhibited when he fantasized about being wealthy!!!

Indeed, I laughed repeatedly during "My Simple Wish", especially with Eric Sebek emoting so well during his performance!!!

And what, pray tell, had Friedman's 'wish' been?

To be "rich, famous, and powerful"!!!

Hahahaha!!!

Two out of three ain't bad... as I knew nothing of him before last night.

Even so, I took him to simply be a long-time piano-playing friend of Sherrill and Maria, and a fellow who occasionally wrote music.

Even when I took this photo before the show, when my volunteer duties were waning, I still thought that.

See that tall guy in the glasses and yellow shirt, standing to the right?

That's him, quite possibly chatting with Sherrill and Maria as they also stood.

Well, I'm here to say I was mistaken.

David Friedman just may be famous as well as the other two things he mentioned in "My Simple Wish".

I realized that later in the program, when he broke out the big guns: the songs in several of my favorite Disney musicals for which he was the conductor.

Say what???

Yes, Angela Lansbury sang to him when she recorded "Beauty And The Beast" - done every bit as soulfully tonight by Samantha Talora.

Yes, Robin Williams sang to him when he recorded "Friend Like Me" - done in very animated fashion by James Wright III, with the others backing him up.

Yes, Judy Kuhn sang to him when she recorded "Colors Of The Wind" - done in beautiful voice by the charming, and intelligible, Ina Torres O'Ryan.

[I made sure to compliment her on not "losing the words", as so many sopranos and mezzo-sopranos do when they're swinging for the rafters.]

And, yes, Tom Hulce (my "Amadeus"!) sang to him when he recorded "Out There" - done by Peter Lake in that tenor tone I so love!

Wow.

David Friedman has also written songs for other Disney productions, he's written songs for original Broadway musicals, he's regularly written songs for the "Today Show" on morning television, and he's written books.

Wow.

This was quite a show, tonight, and much more than I'd expected.

Many thanks to David Friedman for being a storyteller and entertainer!

Also, happy 75th birthday, as this year is a special number for him. 

Many thanks to the six singers of his songs - Eric, Ina, James, Samantha, Ashley Nunez (not visible in the photo), and Peter - for bringing out the heart in those songs!

Many thanks to the Savannah Voice Festival for allowing me to be a volunteer!

 

And many thanks to Asbury Memorial Church - and especially to Randy - for making this an easy, and beautiful, venue for SVF13, even on this rainy day!

Right place, right time...

i thank You, God.