Lifted Spirits

Are you ever supremely surprised by what can randomly lift your spirits?

On August 2nd, my friends and I found ourselves at the Lincoln Center Out of Doors free concert called Liza with a Z. We go to these concerts in Lincoln Center every year. They are so much fun, and really just another item on the list of “Why I love NYC in the Summer.” So many lovely memories are made there and it is also a testament to how the arts in NYC are alive and well.

Liza with a Z was an excellent compilation of different acts that all had similar music or themes, mostly centered around Bob Fosse. The night started out with the band and dance students from LaGuardia High School performing to “Sing! Sing! Sing!” I told my friend that this number is something that all dance and musical theatre students find themselves learning at some point in their arts education. It’s like a rite of passage really. Find yourself in a group of musical theatre nerds and ask them to raise their hands if they have ever danced to “Sing! Sing! Sing!” and you’ll see a multitude of hands thrust into the air. The kids did a great job! You could tell that some of them were nervous, but they really shined. You could see that they had solid technique and they were trying to embody the essence of the Fosse-esque choreography. They were a crowd pleaser and we all jumped to our feet to applaud them.

After a short break, Caleb Teicher and Company performed three numbers that each had a certain lovely shine to them. The first number, entitled “Small and Tall,” was performed by two dancers, one who was very tall with long limbs and the other who was short and powerful. It was so light-hearted and fun to see the two of them performing similar moves and just how different they were. The live musicians who accompanied them were absolutely wonderful as well. This was followed by a quartet to live recordings of Ella Fitzgerald called “Meet Ella.” The dancers looked like they were having so much fun that I wanted to learn the choreography! But their final piece, this was the piéce de rèsistance! “Bzzz” gave us a truly amazing tap piece with seven dancers and a beatboxer named Chris Celiz. Firstly, I am unsure how beatboxers do what they do! How do they even make more than one sound at a time?? It baffles me. These tappers were high quality. They performed on a tap floor that was unforgiving in it’s portrayal of sound. If they had made one mistake, that floor would have told us… but they didn’t. Their group and solo rhythms were absolutely phenomenal. It made me want to go home and put on my tap shoes (yes I still have them even though I haven’t tapped in years)! Everyone jumped to their feet after they were finished. I think even the elderly ladies who were sitting behind us enjoyed it and they were tough critics!

The night ended with a screening of “Liza with a Z,” the work that gave Bob Fosse an Emmy after winning an Oscar for Cabaret. He would then go on to win a Tony for Pippin, it was a busy year for the man. There is just something about Liza Minnelli’s voice! After every number, the audience was compelled to clap for her. She boomed through Lincoln Center. My friends and I would laugh because we were clapping at a screen, but honestly, I would have felt silly if I hadn’t. Gosh, I can’t even imagine what it would have been like to see her perform live. I hadn’t seen “Liza with a Z” since I was a kid, and it was just lovely to sit outside in the middle of a NYC summer when the humidity drops and the sun is setting and listening to an all time great.

There was a symmetry about the night that I found to be enchanting. We started the night out with the youngsters, the up and coming talent, moved on to professionals and then finished with an all star that we all are inspired and awed by. On a personal level, I loved listening to and enjoying music from my youth. Sometimes, it’s hard for me to watch dance. Mostly because of my training  in the history of it as well as the critique of it. This night was the antithesis of that. The dancing was like a plate of food that I couldn’t eat fast enough. What a wonderful feeling to have one’s spirits lifted by the arts!!