Stephen Marley
First impressions of this show Saturday at the Ogden Theatre started outside, where a line of ticket-holders had to sidestep one of their inebriated brethren as he fell out the front doors.
Sure, concerts and partying go hand-in-hand. But when a second and then a third drunk crashed to the theater floor in as many minutes, it was hard not to mourn how Bob Marley’s protest music has been warped into a frat-party soundtrack.
Stephen is the icon’s second son. On stage he is the spitting image of his brother, Ziggy, both in dress and in demeanor. And like Ziggy, he sometimes sounds like his father – useful considering the Marley children reliably sprinkle his hits with their own songwriting.
As a Rasta-man stomped across the stage waving a liberation flag, Stephen revved up this crowd with “Mind Control” and “Let Her Dance,” then kept them engaged with dad’s classics.
This show proved Stephen to be an instrumental perfectionist, even if this crowd was too drunk to notice. | Elana Ashanti Jefferson
Global Drum Project
Mickey Hart wielded what seemed to be rock-topped mallets to destroy the maddeningly brief glimpses of brilliance at Monday night’s Global Drum Project debacle at the Oriental Theater.
The nearly mythological rhythm anchor of the Grateful Dead didn’t bother to check in all night. He mauled cowbells, flayed massive drums and breathily rapped over the gentle melodies of the world’s most gifted percussionists in an 85-minute show that left even the most dreaded Deadheads booing (tickets were $40).
When the rubber-fingered tabla master Zakir Hussain quietly, patiently culled polyrythmic beauty from his tablas, Hart loudly pounded what sounded like “Chopsticks.” When Latin groove king Giovanni Hidalgo tickled his congas, Hart responded by viciously clawing a cowbell.
Yes, we should be grateful to Hart for gathering the masters to celebrate the drum. But his feigned supplication to the long-dead Dead was never lamer than Monday night’s encore: One fist beating his chest, the other banging a drum while he repeatedly hollered “No, our love will not fade away.”
When you smother it in that kind of weak sauce, Mickey, it will. | Jason Blevins
“Beautiful Girls”
It’s an old maxim: For the best results, you have to get the best people. And that was certainly true last week at the Colorado Festival of World Theatre in Colorado Springs.
The festival paid tribute to Stephen Sondheim with a dazzling musical revue featuring three veritable Broadway stars – Donna McKechnie (the original Cassie in “A Chorus Line”), Marin Mazzie and Jenn Colella.
Adding to the show’s stature was an on-stage orchestra led by Paul Gemigiani, conductor of many Sondheim premieres; narration (and a little singing) by legendary actress Zoe Caldwell; an appearance by Broadway great Patti Lupone; and, of course, the presence of Sondheim himself.
It was enough to make even New Yorkers jealous. | Kyle MacMillan
