Word: pianos
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...first 90 minutes of the show were a smooth arc of excitement and unapologetic razzle-dazzle: a lyric Try to Remember by Harry Belafonte, a monologue delivered at giddy white heat by Robin Williams ("What excitement backstage-everyone's standing around in little pools of Perrier"), a dingbat piano solo by Dudley Moore, and film clips of such stars as James Cagney, James Stewart and Bette Davis, who then showed up at center stage to greet one another and an S.R.O. audience of 6,000 who had paid from $25 to $1,000 for the privilege of waving back...
...Rescued by a series of inspired recordings with such jazz giants as John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, Monk eventually achieved both celebrity and steady work. But he remained an enigma. He wore skullcaps and dark sunglasses, and during performances, when the spirit moved him, he would arise from his piano to dance about, tapping his foot to the beat of the music. "Jazz is my adventure," said Monk. "I'm after new chords, new figurations, new runs." Some of his most noteworthy pieces, now part of standard repertory, include 'Round About Midnight, Blue Monk, Hackensack, Epistrophy and Straight...
...history are often easy to identify: the birth of the romantic symphony with Beethoven's Eroica, for example, or the founding of German Romantic opera in Weber's Der Freischütz, or the full flowering of the twelve-tone system with Schoenberg's Op. 25 Piano Suite. Endings, however, are more elusive. When precisely did the Baroque conclude? Did the symphony die with Brahms or Mahler, or is it still a vital form? These are moot questions...
...Cannery Row. For one thing, no one seems to do any work. And there are some rich people in town, but there's nowhere for them to live. And there's a guy who plays trumpet on the wharf whenever anything romantic happens. And there's also a piano on the wharf (and another in, of all places, Doc's laboratory) so that Mac can liven up spontaneous parties with his honky tonk jazz. And everyone speaks in cliches, and the sky is always purple and torrid like one of those sea scenes from Woolworth...
...every twist and unexpected turn, illustrating its ripples with flowing figurations of their own. The third movement's bold, thrusting opening is similarly reflected in the dance, which includes some rapid-fire footwork for D'Amboise inspired by the rat-a-tat-tat of the piano. Paradoxically, Robbins is most, and least, successful with his extended bagatelle in the second movement. Into a vivid world of women - the girls in dark red, Calegari and Kistler in brightest white - Robbins suddenly injects the dark, powerful presence of Mel Tomlinson, effecting a stark, dramatic contrast. He then spoils the mood...