|
|
|
|
|
|
Resources |
|
|
|
Versatile Irish Tenor McNally Warms Up Lincoln Center
| Article
# : |
10293 |
|
|
Section : |
The Arts
|
| Issue
Date : |
12 / 1986 |
1,085 Words |
| Author
: |
Emerson Randolph
|
What an exhilarating experience to be present when John MacNally, whose estimable tenor voice is recognized in much of Europe and Australia as one of the finest ever to come out of Ireland, befriended New York.
It was a different sort of concert for Lincoln Center--less formal than the usual fare for that venerable performing-arts Mecca. There was nearly as much talk as music, and the musical and conversational threads were both integral to the experiential fabric in which MacNally dressed the evening for his audience.
Excerpts from a wash of humor as fluidly good-natured as an Irish cream: "Well, thank you all for coming...I'm happy you came because it would be a terrible bore here, standing up here singing by myself...That's what all singers do, you know, whether you like it or not they sing what they think they sing best, and hope that maybe it's what you wanted to hear, too." And again, en route to a side table for his second drink of water: "Those of you who're wondering what's in the glass--you're right. Comes a shocking silence, you know, when I'm off here getting a drink. So if you could keep the applause going till I'm finished."
There was, of course, more than food humor. There was also splendid singing. In his Lincoln Center debut at Alice Tully Hall, this very astute entertainer not only delivered a virtually flawless performance of two dozen widely varied materials, including some handsomely communicated German lieder and the traditional French "Plaisir d'Amour," but John MacNally also endeared himself to his public with the easy grace and sincere humanity that characterize his approach to both his art and his
... (1986 of 6161 Characters)
Read Full Article
|
|
