Phoenix relives the magic at Michigan

The Phoenix Ensemble, directed and founded by University School of Music graduate Annunziata Tomaro, makes its second appearance at Michigan Theater, as part of its premiere season. In a continuing effort to extend the boundaries of performing art, the upcoming event attempts to merge theater and music on a grand scale.

One of the most recent additions to the musical society of Ann Arbor, the ensemble is composed of 35 musicians and is the only source of community orchestra in the area, during winter and spring seasons.

Tomaro has worked in collaboration with internationally famous conductors such as Gustav Meier and Fred Ormand and was selected outstanding conductor in the Conductor's Guild's 1995-1997 Conductor Workshops.

Courtesy of the Michigan Theater Annunziata Tomaro conducts the ensemble.

Her founding of the Phoenix Ensemble was motivated, among other things, by a desire to perform pieces, both classical and other, which are not considered to be among the most culturally prominent in today's time. The inclination is toward, for example, Debussy's "Danse Sacre et Danse Profane" as opposed to Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik." Fusion with the other performing arts is an attempt to "create classical music that is more vibrant and has a wider appeal, while retaining its essential quality," Lisa Powers, vice-president of the Institute for the Humanities at the University, said.

Titled "Relive the Magic: An evening with Tony Amore," and directly inspired by Frank Sinatra, this performance is undoubtedly one of the highlights of the musical season and promises to be quite a treat for a wide range of audiences. Andy Kirshner, current Fellowship student at the Institute for the Humanities, hopes to transcend the boundaries of ordinary theater with the accompaniment of the 35-member ensemble. He plays the character of aging pop superstar, Tony Amore, but uses him as more than merely a tool to generate the entertainment expected of a musical or theater piece. He seeks to comment on a variety of issues, ranging from difficulties associated with celebrity to the impermanence of man.

Himself a composer and performer, Kirshner has a background jazz and classical composition, in addition to theater. He has received nation-wide recognition in the form of awards, fellowships and commissions. "Relive the Magic" has a deep significance for him. It was inspired, he said, by "the music and persona of Sinatra, the1940s-1970s history of the American popular song and my own experience of caring for my father, who has Alzheimer's Disease."

The show begins with the final stage appearance of the 80-year-old Amore on his TV "retirement" concert. The once debonair and ruggedly confident performer is but a mere shadow of his former self, due to the effects of his advancing years. We are subsequently taken, throughout the course of the piece, taken to various stages in the performing life of the legend. The night will also include dialogues with his son, Tony Jr., played by Malcolm Tulip. It is he who has organized the "retirement concert" and tries to keep it from getting out of hand.

The music, consisting of seven songs composed by Kirshner, are rooted in the American Jazz tradition. The piece was, in fact, "originally based on a jazz song-cycle," according to Powers. Performed by some of Ann Arbor's prominent jazz musicians, these songs are within the realm of the theatrical aspect of the piece. Through their widely varying styles (ranging from Bop to Bossa Nova, Swing to Easy Listening), they depict the passage of time and of Amore's career.

They highlight one of the themes of the piece; aging and the similarities in the effects it has on both the celebrity as well as his audience. The songs are glued together with poetic monologues by Amore, in which he sentimentally recalls the decades gone by. Kirshner intends this to work at several levels, which, though not entirely independent of each other, are not detrimental to one another's quality. "I'm trying to create something that is entertaining and funny, but is also a meditation on aging and memory and loss of self," he says.

04-09-99