The Great American Songbook - Jerome Kern at The Hive

Jerome Kern has not been celebrated on Broadway the way he should. The Gershwins have had Crazy for You, Nice Work If You Can Get It, and the recent revival of Porgy and Bess. Cole Porter has had Anything Goes, and Kiss Me Kate. Irving Berlin has had White Christmas, Annie Get Your Gun, and Holiday Inn. But Kern? Show Boat. That is about the only musical we really know and listen to that was written by Jerome Kern. There are plenty of songs that we know - though looking at the song list from the show I saw, maybe not unless you are of a certain age group and/or demographic. I feel that musical theatre fans would know some of these because we all understand that a lot of great popular songs from a certain time period were taken from Broadway musicals. And we also know that a lot of these songs have become jazz standards, or just standards in cabaret, etc. Kern was a prolific writer and composer. Some songs you may love might have been written by him. "Smoke gets in your eyes", or "All the things you are" might be two that you know. I learned this, and much more at Max Wojtanowicz's show "The Great American Songbook - Jerome Kern" at The Hive Collaborative. 

It was the first installment in a possible monthly cabaret series that is very similar to his Pin Spot series at Theatre Latte Da, or his online series Musical Theatre in a Minute. In both of those, he talked about specific artists, or shows, providing historical background, and taking the audience into a deeper dive into the material. In the Great American Songbook series, he is focusing (so far) on composers of musical theatre. Joining him, and playing piano is the incredibly talented Wesley Frye, and Max also features a friend and colleague to sing as well. This time it was the lovely and fantastic Kate Beahen. Finally, each month he is raising money for a social charity. For the Kern show, he donated part of the proceeds to the Immigrant Law Center of MN. 

As stated above, there was a time when the majority of the hit songs were taken from Musical Theatre. This continued well into the 1960's with songs from Funny Girl, and even Hello Dolly being championed by The Supremes, or Louis Armstrong. Kern's songs were part of this. Within the theatre, he used his songs to help build characters, to engage the audience more into the story instead of the song being a break from the story like it often was. Max sang some gorgeous songs - 16 of them to be exact. Being a musical person, I had heard most of them, but there were a few things I noticed....mainly in the accompaniment. "The Last Time I Saw Paris" was written in 1940 and it uses a technique to mimic car horns. Well, naturally what came to my mind was "American in Paris" that George Gershwin composed in 1928. While I am sure there are other composers who have done something similar before Gershwin, or perhaps not, it was interesting to hear the same thing used later by another composer. The other musical bit that stuck out was again in the piano during the song "All the Things You Are." Something about it sounded very much like Michel Legrand, and it was gorgeous. If you want to read more about Kern, I would suggest "Anything Goes" by Ethan Mordden, and if you want a deeper dive he has done a series of seven books about the history of American Musical Theatre, typically focused on a single decade. His writing is well researched, easy to read, and a bit sassy which makes it really enjoyable. If you are interested in listening to some more Kern, might I suggest a wonderful recording named "Life Upon the Wicked Stage"? It is a live recording of a benefit concert featuring a number of Broadway and TV stars all singing music of Jerome Kern. They have put out a few different recordings featuring different composers and they are all really good.

And if you are interested in more of this type of cabaret or show - Max is doing the second in the series tomorrow. Diving into the music of George and Ira Gershwin, featuring the luminous Leslie Vincent, and supporting the JFCS - Jewish Family and Children's Service of Minnesota.