William Finn (pictured) has given us the Falsetto musicals as well as The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, terrifically funny and moving shows.  Songs of Innocence and Experience at Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series wasn’t up to that level.  The soloists were top-notch and totally committed to Finn’s work. Included was a choir and exciting orchestrations by Michael Starobin and David Siegel for the 12-piece orchestra.

Finn provided the lyrics for the nineteen songs and music for some of them, but also shared composing honors with five others: Deborah Abramson (conductor), Will Aronson, Carmel Dean, Vadim Feichtner and Gihieh Lee. Finn also served as a genial but bumbling host, rambling in a sweet monotone about his days at Williams College, how the songs were written, and giving long lists of his likes and dislikes (in particular, Republicans).

The songs ranged from sublime to obscene to unfocused.

In the first category:  “I Went Fishing with My Dad” (Finn), a bittersweet elegy about father/son relationships, given a moving performance by Darius de Haas; “Song of the Refrigerator” (Aronson), about the siren call of food, sung with vigorous good humor by Sally Wilfert; “You’re Even Better Than You Think You Are” (Finn) about the moral support Finn got from his Williams College colleagues, sung effectively by the songwriter; and, “Why Do High School Teachers Make Me Cry?” (Dean), a paean to the influence of teachers, perfectly sung and acted by Wilfert.  Approaching the sublime was “I’m Not a Pretty Girl in My Country” (Lee), sung by Ann Harada who missed the implied anger in the words, but clearly mesmerized the audience with her honesty.

As for the obscene, there was “Blow Me” (Dean) about exactly what you think, brilliantly given life by Michael Winther, whose clarion voice was perfect for the subject matter.  “Republicans” (Finn) was a bit of partisan overkill, full of sex and dirty words, sung passionately by Finn.

The rest of the program was distinguished by the superb performances of the singers, who made even the most meandering of the songs passionate, meaningful statements of human needs and foibles. “Eight Cigarettes a Day” (Feichtner) gave two ladies—petite powerhouse Megan Lawrence and gorgeous belter Wilfert—the chance to ruminate about their lack of self-control.  Rich-voiced Sebastian Arcelus opened the program with a salute to Finn’s alma mater, “My Four Years at Williams College” (Finn), and was joined by Winther and Lee Zarrett on “I Think You’ll Remember My Name” (Feichtner), about love’s frustrations. Zarrett was energetic in everything he sang, most particularly “Like Mikey” (Abramson), a story of the relationship two brothers.

Finn was surrounded by an extraordinary group of professional musical artists who made Songs of Innocence and Experience into a theatrical event rather than a simple concert.

Joel Benjamin
Cabaret Scenes
January 14, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org