I have been told that the secret to happiness is quite simple: ensure that your expectations are lower than that which is bound to happen, because otherwise you will always be disappointed. It was through my own folly then, that this premise was not kept in mind as I attended Ann Arbor in Concert’s An Evening with Shoshana Bean and Whitney Bashor at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre on Saturday evening. Overall, the production was entertaining and well laid out, however, I found it much too long and rough around the edges.
As students, we are able to attend any of the School of Music, Theatre and Dance productions for $12. These productions are never flawless but they are quite good – while they are current students, many of the performers go on to sing, dance and act on major stages across the country including Broadway. So when I purchased tickets for $25 a person to see two current Broadway stars, my expectation was that this performance would be significantly stronger than anything I had seen on the Lydia Mendelssohn stage.
For those that have attended one of Audra McDonald’s concerts at Hill Auditorium, it is easy to understand the vibe which the performance was striving for. There was a beautiful bright red couch on the right side of the stage where Shoshana Bean and Whitney Bashor sat when not singing and a white swivel chair from which Mike Mosallam controlled the length and subject of conversation between songs. They strived to seamlessly interpolate conversation between each piece the girls sang, including stories from their childhood, audition nightmares and backstage antics, but instead of naturally flowing through conversation, it came off as forced and unrehearsed. There were extremely endearing moments during which I was grateful for the insights into these girls lives, but as the conversation dragged on I became disinterested. For a performance that contained approx. 50 minutes of music and no intermission, it lasted much too long. Overall, the conversation took away from the experience so that by 10:25 when it was over (the performance began at 8:10 with no intermission), I was more than ready to leave.
The obvious highlight of the evening was the singing. Both Bean and Bashor are extremely talented performers and every time they stepped up to the mic they performed like the professionals they are. I was pleasantly surprised by inclusion of several of the musical theatre majors who functioned primarily as backup for Bean and Bashor, but some of who were featured in a Wicked medley. The medley finished with Bean taking back the mic, and I felt bad for the student featured right before her because the difference in the quality of instruments was extremely apparent. During this medley two students of note were Cameron Jones and Jillian Slade, both commanded the space physically and vocally holding their ground among an incredibly talented crowd. Since there was no program, I am unable to properly credit another incredibly talented student who performed during the “guess-that-riff” section of the evening. She performed difficult passages from Bean’s repertoire and nailed every single note, leaving everyone, includng Bean, obviously impressed.
An Evening with Shoshana Bean and Whitney Bashor had the potential to be a performance that would exceed the highest of expectations, yet, the performance which they put on was simply good not extraordinary. The dialog which occurred between songs lacked “performance energy” and lasted far too long causing the performance to drag. However, for the opportunity to see Bean and Bashor perform live, it was well worth the price of admission.
