Brahms to Broadway
Jason Buckwalter, baritone
Andrew Stewart, piano
St Anne’s Church, Annapolis

Jason Buckwalter is not only an excellent singer, he is also a fine actor, with a deft touch for comedy. He made his entrance in “Largo al factotum” from offstage, after Andrew Stewart, his accompanist, had already begun playing—imitating Figaro’s entrance in the opera. He also acted the aria (Buckwalter is no stranger to the opera stage, having recently made is company debut with the Washington National Opera).

The recital continued with three sets of art songs: excerpts from longer sequences by Brahms and Finzi, and Ravel’s Don Quichotte à Dulcinée. Buckwalter prefaced each set with spoken program notes. The Brahms was fine, although Stewart was occasionally a bit too loud when the accompaniment was particularly vigorous. Ravel infused the first and last of the Quixote songs with a strong dose of Spanish flavor, and Buckwalter’s acting skills came to the fore in the third, the Don’s drinking song. (It was interesting to learn that these songs were originally written for potential inclusion in a film starring Feodor Chaliapin; Ravel lost out to Jacques Ibert.) The Finzi songs, from a series of Shakespeare settings, were quite effective.

Buckwalter closed the recital with a set of songs from Broadway (in reverse chronological order, as he pointed out). First came “I’m not wearing underwear today”, a brief and bawdy number from Avenue Q—and one of the tamest number from that musical, as Buckwalter pointed out. Next up was an intense number from Parade (which made me sorry I missed its recent production in the area). Last was “Where is the life that I led?”, which was dedicated “to the gentlemen in the audience”, and which also gained from Buckwalter’s acting ability.

As an encore (“one for the road”), Buckwalter and Stewart offered “If Ever I Would Leave You” from Camelot.

Program