Review: Pop Star Pops To The Pops - Ingrid Michaelson & The New York Pops Pop Some Holiday Cheer With ROCKIN' AROUND THE XMAS TREE at Carnegie Hall

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you ALL the Tea!

Well my lovelies, it would seem that the cabaret night spots will have to wait a bit for Bobby since - 'Tis The Season to be concerting. On Friday night, we again found ourselves back with the swells of Carnegie Hall for another evening of music with the New York Pops presenting their ROCKIN' AROUND THE CHRISTMAS TREE. In an almost Deja of a Deja Des Vous, Maestro Steven Reineke partnered once again with Judith Clurman's Essential Voices USA (EVUSA) as they did for BROADWAY BLOCKBUSTERS, just last month - and we just KNOW you've all read Bobby's rainbow review of that wonderful night. This time though the musical subject was the holidays and the musical guest, making her Carnegie Hall debut, was pop queen Ingrid Michaelson. Born right here in NYC and raised on Staten Island in the rarified air of an artistic home where her mother, Elizabeth Egbert, was a sculptor and her father, the late Carl Michaelson, a classical music composer (The Praise of Christmas). Bringing with her, her two bestie backups, Allie Moss and Hannah Winkler as well as being joined for a couple of numbers by her main squeeze, the uber-handsome Will Chase, Michaelson's portion of the program included all of the usual holiday suspects plus four of her self-penned Christmas tunes. In a lovely floral, sequinned blue and white cocktail number, Michaelson's charming voice and charming demeanor were, quite frankly, charming. And speaking of charming, Maestro Steven Reineke was also in rare form for this performance. We have spoken in praise of this fine conductor in the past - recently in fact, but this concert brought something home to Little Bobby we had never really thought of before and that is, conductors, Reineke in particular, are performers. Experiencing his connection with the audience, watching him work both with and without his baton (free-handed), seeing the bounce in his movements on the podium, laughing as he sells a joke by turning to the audience during Jerry Herman's WE NEED A LITTLE CHRISTMAS, listening to his clear, clarion speaking voice - resonant as any trained actor's pipes - as he talked to us, and the sheer joy of performing he demonstrated made us look at the music podium in a new and wonderful way and we are grateful. And speaking of conducting/performing... Another delight of the evening came with EVUSA'S Judith Clurman taking center stage to conduct her choral piece, composed with David Chase, in honor of Hanukkah, EIGHT DAYS OF LIGHT. A hauntingly beautiful paean to the Jewish festival that begins this week. The favorite instrumental offering for the night for us though, was the Katherine K. Davis Ravel-Like arrangement of The Little Drummer Boy re-titled THE LITTLE BOLERO BOY.

As for Michaelson's performance, truthfully, her nerves about the night were apparent with her entrance, and didn't calm much through her first 3 songs. This is not a drag on her, though, as stepping out on that stage and seeing that full hall is wildly different from stadium concerts and the like. For one thing, a singer can SEE the audience from the stage. Also, while musicians from all over the world dream of the day they will play Carnegie Hall, that dream is on steroids if you are a native of the land of Manhattan as she is. It also seemed, along with the tentativeness of her nerves, that Ingrid may have been experiencing some vocal distress. In any case, she ultimately sang past her nerves and phlegm once she reached the Styne & Cahn standard, LET IT SNOW³. For two of her four Christmas compositions - IT'S ALMOST CHRISTMAS and CHRISTMAS VALENTINE, she was joined by her co-composers. The audience let out an audible gasp when Jason Mraz, looking spiffy in a shiny green frock coat over a black shirt and trousers and with his signature fedora, came on stage to sing VALENTINE, and for ALMOST - Chad Vaccarino played the piano and sang with Ingrid while Ian Axel provided vocal back up on this beautiful song that should become a holiday staple. In the second act, the audience was treated to Michaelson's original holiday confection, the spritely MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY NEW YEAR, as well as the mournfully beautiful WINTER SONG. Composed with Sara Bareilles (who did NOT join Ingrid to perform their song) this piece, with melodic and rhythmic pulses that alternately evoked waves on the ocean and the beat of the human heart was truly the best of the evening.

In all, our friends at Carnegie Hall gave us an evening of Christmas joy that even included Old Saint Nick. The music was warm and familiar and gave the pops audience a peak into the work of a fine singer/composer. Ingrid Michaelson, despite a tentative start, did not disappoint in the end and her original works really do have future holiday programming written all over them. She was funny, engaging and a delightful performer and the Pops were Tops. So we happily give this one ...

3 ¾ Rainbows out of 5.

You All MUST check out ALL programs by our wonderful pops on their website: HERE

All Photos By Richard Termine

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