Local concert features Academy Award-nominated songs
Written by Matt Liasse | | mliasse@toledofreepress.comThis year, nominations for Best Original Song include “Everybody Needs a Best Friend” from “Ted,” “Suddenly” from “Les Misérables” and Adele’s James Bond theme “Skyfall.” But tunes of past Oscars will be celebrated locally.
The March 2 “Night at the Oscars” concert, performed at the Valentine Theatre on Adams Street, will take the audience on a journey of Oscar-worthy songs, past and present. The night will feature the Toledo Jazz Orchestra performing Best Song Oscar winners and music from Best Picture-winning films.
“It’s interesting because there’s a lot of music to be covered,” said Artistic Director Ron Kischuk. “It gives us lots of material to choose from. It’s a theme we could do for years to come.”
Ron Kischuk.
The show will feature Kelly Broadway on vocals, Rob Smith on trumpet and Dan Maslanka as the guest drummer.
Songs will range from 1934 to the present and include the first Best Original Song winner “The Continental,” from the film “The Gay Divorcee.” Other songs will include music from “West Side Story,” the Frank Sinatra hit “All The Way” and music from “My Fair Lady.” Kischuk said there will also be a few surprises the audience won’t want to miss.
“I’m not so sure that a lot of people actually understand specifically just how many really big hits that have been written were actually written for movies,” Kischuk said.
Broadway said singing for the production is “difficult,” especially with “Evergreen,” the 1976 Barbra Streisand hit from “A Star Is Born.”
Kelly Broadway.
“Everyone just hears Barbra Streisand singing it,” Broadway said. “Even me, I don’t want to hear anyone but Barbra [singing it.]”
The arrangements of the songs will be new and refreshing as well, Kischuk said.
“[I sought out] different arrangements by some really interesting arrangers, so these songs aren’t going to be like a whole bunch of strings and orchestrations and ballads,” Kischuk said. “This is a big-band presentation of the music from the Oscars.”
Broadway said her favorite number in the production is “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz.” She said it’s a song that is requested a lot when she’s performing on cruise ships around the world.
The idea for the concert came from Kischuk’s wife.
“It was after watching the Oscars last year,” Kischuk said. “She said, ‘You know, you guys should do a concert of music from the Oscars.’ That’s what started it.”
This is the first year for the production, but if it’s successful, it could become an annual show, Kischuk said. Broadway said a song from this year’s race she would love to sing in the future is Adele’s “Skyfall.” She said she would have to change the key of the song, but is “up for anything.”
Also in attendance will be the Toledo Junior Jazz Orchestra, which consists of high school and junior high school students from the area. They will play both before the concert and the first number of the second half.
Kischuk said music is vital to movie-making and should be celebrated.
“Music in movies is a very important part of the movies themselves,” Kischuk said. “It creates a lot of the tension, the emotion, the love, the hate — whatever it is, the music really drives a big part of what movies ultimately are.”
The two-hour show starts at 8 p.m. March 2. Guests will be able to walk a red carpet at the theater. Tickets range from $22 to $32 and can be purchased at the Valentine Theatre box office, 410 Adams St., or at thetoledojazzorchestra.org. There is a $5 discount for students.
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Tags: 85th annual, Academy Awards, Adele, Best Original Song, Best Picture, Dan Maslanka, Film, James Bond, Kelly Broadway, Movies, Night at the Oscars, Oscars, Rob Smith, Ron Kischuk, skyfall, The Oscars, Toledo Jazz Orchestra, Toledo Junior Jazz Orchestra, Valentine Theatre
