One-Woman Gershwin Extravaganza

Another event in this year's concert series was tonight: Fascinating Gershwin, a vehicle designed to showcase the multiple talents of the featured performer, Janice Martin. At her Web site, you can watch excerpts from past performances! We were pretty impressed with what we saw tonight.

On stage with Janice were a pianist, a percussionist, and an upright bass player, and they were all fine musicians. There was no doubt, however, that they all played second fiddle to Janice . . . who played fiddle herself. Well, violin. And guitar. And piano. And stringed instruments from foreign cultures. And trumpet. And sang--sometimes with a pretty operatic voice, sometimes with a more standard pop voice, and sometimes as she was playing the violin. And "danced"--did a series of high-energy martial arts-inspired moves and Chinese meditation-inspired poses that showed off her flexibility and gymnastic skills, all while playing musical instruments simultaneously.

As you can probably tell, it wasn't a typical concert experience. The first half was done as though Janice were auditioning to be in a Gershwin show. The males on stage kept saying things like, "That's pretty good, but we're not sure you're what we're looking for." That, of course, led her to do yet one more impressive thing as though trying to prove herself to the auditors. The second half was supposed to be the Gershwin show itself, but Janice kept pausing between songs to tell stories about Gershwin and how/when/why he wrote the next songs, thus breaking the illusion of the show-within-a-show concept. No matter--it was probably better just to experience the concert and get the insider stories on Gershwin before hearing her sing/play the music.

Afterward the girls wanted to wait around for a chance to meet Janice, who was gracious and encouraging when she heard that they play musical instruments and sing themselves. Perhaps someday the girls will be accomplished musicians who can look back on their childhood and recall experiences such as this concert that played a role in shaping their musical abilities. In the meantime, taking them to these concerts is just plain fun!