Judy Kaye, David Green Headline Berkshire Theatre Festival

A Fall Foliage Celebration Starring Judy Kaye and David Green

Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Massachusetts

Sunday, October 12, 2008

The Berkshire Theatre Festival hosted a Fall Foliage Celebration with a gala evening in Stockbridge on Sunday. Patrons boarded the BTF Foliage Express for a train ride through the colorful Berkshire countryside with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres prior to the main event at the intimate Unicorn Theatre. Tony Award winner Judy Kaye and her husband actor David Green, accompanied by Musical Director/Pianist Dennis Buck, entertained the enthusiastic audience with a concert of show tunes, standards, and a few surprises.

The stage was set minimally with a shiny black piano, two high stools, and a table with a pitcher and two glasses of water in the center. The only decoration was two wooden pedestals, each with a vase of dried flowers, a brocade screen backdrop, and a tall wooden arch upstage that served as an entryway for the performers. This was a sign that the show was going to be all about the music, simple and pure and unplugged. Kaye strode purposefully downstage and kicked things off with a jazzy version of "Takin' a Chance on Love," even throwing in a little dance break in the middle. Green followed with a convincing "I Love My Wife" from the Cy Coleman musical of the same name before they joined voices for Cole Porter's "De-lovely."

After a couple of solos, it was time to feature their accompanist. The audience was asked to shout out some of their favorite titles to be part of the "Dennis Buck Request Rhapsody" and Kaye recorded eight or nine on a slate that Buck placed above his keyboard. What came next was an amazing five minute demonstration of talent and artistry as he created a flowing, articulate piece of music made up of snippets of several Sondheim tunes, "What's New, Pussycat," "The Best of Times," "Bring Him Home," "Have an Egg Roll, Mr. Goldstone," and "As Time Goes By," all wrapped up in a pretty package with Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue." The audience jumped to a standing ovation and even Kaye and Green appeared awestruck.

The couple chose some of their favorite songs by Broadway composers, including a pair from "On the Town" by Bernstein and Comden and Green, Kander and Ebb, Noel Coward, Kurt Weill, and Harold Arlen. One of the older shows represented was the 1938 Knickerbocker Holiday by Weill and Maxwell Anderson. Kaye sang the beautiful love song "It Never Was You" in her sweet, clear soprano, while Green performed "September Song," the most famous from that score. It was a joy to watch them watch each other with genuine admiration. As lovely as those songs were, the change of pace novelty tunes were also big hits, with Green offering a delicious "Sara Lee" and Kaye channeling Groucho Marx with "Lydia the Tattooed Lady," showing off her musical comedy skills to great effect, and following that with a strong, emotional delivery of "Back to Before" from Ragtime. She played Emma Goldman in the original Broadway cast of the Ahrens and Flaherty epic, but made Mother's song her own on this stage.

All too soon the concert reached its conclusion with another Cy Coleman tune, "Here's to Us" from Little Me. However, the audience was not willing to let these troupers go so quickly and stood applauding until they educed the much-sought encore. Appropriately enough, Kaye and Green sang "Some Other Time (We'll Catch Up)" with special emphasis on the line "Where has the time all gone to?" and affirmed the feelings in the room. Stars and patrons alike retired to a champagne and dessert reception in the Unicorn's lobby, capping a glorious night for the BTF.

 

Under Artistic Director/CEO Kate Maguire, BTF observed its 80^th anniversary this year, making it the third oldest professional regional theatre in the United States and the longest-running cultural organization in the Berkshires. Currently playing on the main stage through November 9 is Eleanor: Her Secret Journey, a one-woman play about Eleanor Roosevelt by Rhoda Lerman, directed by Stephen Temperley. The season concludes with A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, adapted by Eric Hill, directed by Eric Hill and E. Gray Simons III, December 11 thru December 30 at the Unicorn Theatre.

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