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Held at the Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, October 20 - 21, 2000 as part of the Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series, "Heart and Soul : The Songs of Frank Loesser" featured songs from the Broadway musicals Guys and Dolls, Where's Charley?, The Most Happy Fella and more. 

Presented by Lincoln Center. Host and artistic director, Jonathan Schwartz. Directed by Gabriel Barre. Written by Mark Waldrop. With : Christine Andreas, David Garrison, Shuler Hensley, Liz Larsen, Christiane Noll, Ken Page, Billy Stritch, Jim Walton, Lillias White, Margaret Whiting, Tom Wopat

REVIEWS :

Robert L Daniels
Variety.com

In its third season, the American Songbook series at Lincoln Center honored Frank Loesser, a wise and gifted craftsman who -- like Berlin, Porter and Sondheim -- boasts the distinction of serving as both a composer of infectious melodies and a witty, romantic wordsmith. For the two-nighter, writer Mark Waldrop and director Gabriel Barre devised vest-pocket versions of Loesser tuners with just enough book to define the characters and set the scene for Loesser's most familiar tunes.

Bookending his significant contributions of the '50s -- "Guys and Dolls" and "The Most Happy Fella" -- were selections from 1949's "Where's Charley?" and Loesser's 1961 Pulitzer Prize winner "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying."

For "Guys and Dolls," Christiane Noll proved to be a pert mission doll, and her tipsy take on "If I Were a Bell" tolled gleefully. Ken Page not only rocked the boat, reprising his 1976 Broadway performance as Nicely Nicely, but joined the street corner gamblers and leering farmhands -- David Garrison and Jim Walton -- for "Fugue for Tinhorns" and "Standing on the Corner." Page, who added an amusing blustery cameo as exec J.B. Biggley, walked off with evening's comic honors, and his singing was vigorous.

The evening's richest legacy was to be found in sweeping snippets from "The Most Happy Fella." Loesser's imposing achievement expanded the boundaries of the musical comedy genre. The score boasts a near-operatic reach, and its haunting songs linger long after the singing ends. Christine Andreas, as the mail order bride, summoned the proper emotional impact with "Warm All Over," "Somebody Somewhere" and, joined by Shuler Hensley as the naive Italian wine maker, "My Heart Is So Full of You." Tom Wopat's turn as the amorous drifter provided a boldly picturesque reading of Loesser's road song "Joey, Joey, Joey," and Liz Larsen reinhabited her brassy waitress from the 1992 Broadway revival.

A few early movie lyrics were scattered between the four Broadway segments, with Lillias White singing Loesser's hep cat vocabulary for 1943's "Murder, He Says," while Billy Stritch and vet thrush Margaret Whiting playfully bandied the frigid weather report, "Baby, It's Cold Outside."

Andrew Gans
Playbill

I spent an enjoyable evening at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall this past Saturday night watching a tribute to the late composer and lyricist Frank Loesser. Selections from four of Loesser’s works were offered, including tunes from Where’s Charley?, Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. A few other numbers were also included and two of those, both performed by Tony winner Lillias White, were among the highlights of the evening. There’s something about White that just puts you in a good mood; perhaps it’s her incandescent smile or her joy in being onstage. Whatever it is, it’s infectious. And, when she opens her mouth to sing, out comes that extraordinary voice. White delivered three songs thrillingly: “Murder, He Says,” from the 1943 film "Happy Go Lucky"; the 1948 standard, “On a Slow Boat to China”; and her show-stopping number from How To Succeed, “The Brotherhood of Man.”

Other high points of the two-hour show included Christiane Noll’s beautiful soprano tones on Guys and Dolls’ “I’ll Know”; Tom Wopat’s rich baritone on “Joey, Joey, Joey”; and Shuler Hensley and Christine Andreas’s duet of Fella’s “My Heart Is So Full of You.”

The complete song list from Heart and Soul: The Songs of Frank Loesser follows:

Act I
Overture to How To Succeed
“Heart and Soul” (Billy Stritch)
“I Hear Music (Billy Stritch)
“The New Ashmolean Marching Society and Student Conservatory Band” (Christine Andreas, David Garrison, Liz Larsen and Jim Walton)
“Make a Miracle” (David Garrison and Liz Larsen)
“My Darling, My Darling” (Jim Walton and Christine Andreas)
“Once in Love with Amy” (David Garrison & Company)
“Murder, He Says” (Lillias White)
“The Lady’s in Love with You” (Margaret Whiting)
“Fugue for Tinhorns” (David Garrison, Ken Page and Jim Walton)
“I’ll Know” (Christiane Noll and Tom Wopat)
“Guys and Dolls” (Ken Page and Jim Walton)
“If I Were a Bell” (Christiane Noll)
“Luck Be a Lady” (Tom Wopat)
“Marry the Man Today” (Liz Larsen and Christiane Noll)
“Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat” (Ken Page and Company)

Act II
“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” (Billy Stritch and Margaret Whiting)
“Ooh! My Feet” (Liz Larsen)
“Somebody, Somewhere” (Christine Andreas)
“The Most Happy Fella” (Shuler Hensley and Company)
“Standing on the Corner” (David Garrison, Ken Page, Jim Walton and Tom Wopat)
“Joey, Joey, Joey” (Tom Wopat)
“Rosabella” (Shuler Hensley)
“Big D” (Liz Larsen and Ken Page)
“My Heart Is So Full of You” (Shuler Hensley and Christine Andreas)
“On a Slow Boat to China” (Lillias White)
“How To Succeed” (Jim Walton)
“The Company Way” (David Garrison and Jim Walton)
“Been a Long Day” (Liz Larsen, Christiane Noll and Jim Walton)
“I Believe in You” (Jim Walton and the Men)
“The Brotherhood of Man” (Jim Walton, Lillias White and Company)

LINKS :

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

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