Preview Video of "Pennies from Heaven" - featuring accordionist Romano Viazzani - April 18th & 19th!

20.04.2008 15:25 Accordion World News - Source: UK Accordions Events

COMING SOON! On April 18 and 19, 2008, The St. Albans Organ Theatre, in St. Albans, Herts, U.K., is pleased to present "Pennies From Heaven, The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer.

COMING SOON! On April 18 and 19, 2008, The St. Albans Organ Theatre, in St. Albans, Herts, U.K., is pleased to present "Pennies From Heaven, The Life & Songs of Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer.'" The biographical and musical show will be performed by international cabaret star, Steve Ross, and popular New York baritone, Gregory Moore, who is also the author and director. The show was premiered at New York's Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts in 2005, to commemorate the generous donation of Tracy materials made to the Library by his family. Tracy, who emigrated to America from Russia, died in 1997 at age 98. Noted New York television host (and friend of Arthur Tracy's), Joe Franklin, acclaimed "Pennies From Heaven" as "...the best show I saw all year...I can't recall the last time I saw such a heartfelt standing ovation!" In February of 2007, Messrs. Ross and Moore (along with London accordion virtuoso, Romano Viazzani) brought their show to London's Jermyn Street Theatre for one memorable, sold-out performance, precipitating their return engagement in October of 2007. One of the most popular American performers in the UK in the years just before World War II, Arthur "The Street Singer" Tracy (1899-1997) is unjustly "under-remembered" today. But in his day, his full-voiced renditions of the great songs of that era were wildly popular with British and American audiences alike. In the words of Michael Darvell, of the classicalsource.com, "[Steve] Ross' narration punctuates the music with memories and tales of the life of Arthur Tracy, a Ukrainian born, naturalised American who was given his western name when he passed through Ellis Island with his family aged seven, into the American dream. Ross brings his natural wit to the fore as he leads his audience through the evening, keeping the performance alive with Tracy's music, heavy on thirties romance and now steeped in nostalgia. Throughout the evening Viazzani's entrancing accordion adds a continental flavour to the music, setting the tone by opening with the emotive gypsy melody "Marta, Rambling Rose of the Wildwood." Moore takes the role of Arthur Tracy's stage persona "The Street Singer" and shares the vocals with Ross, looking every inch as though he's stepped through sixty years into this charming setting, where he beguiles and enchants."

Pennies From Heaven

St. Albans Organ Theatre - 320 Camp Road - St.Albans AL1 5PE

Friday April 18th @ 7.30 pm

Saturday April 19th @ 2.30 & 7.30 pm

Three shows of 'PENNIES FROM HEAVEN'

The Life and Songs of Arthur Tracy - 'The Street Singer'
Performed by STEVE ROSS - American Cabaret Artist (Storyteller);

GREG MOORE - American Opera Singer (Arthur Tracy)

& ROMANO VIAZZANI - Piano Accordionist.

Tickets Ј 8.00

Available only from RON HARTWELL

Tel: 01494-786738

An Evening in the Company of 'The Street Singer'

With Music That Defined Romance

" From Geoff Ambler's review at Reviewsgate.com"

Steve Ross, last in Jermyn Street performing a salute to Stephen Sondheim, is now accompanied by virtuoso accordionist Romano Viazzani and Gregory Moore for a fascinating journey into an era of musical history when “The Street Singer” topped the Palladium’s pre-war billing and starred alongside Bing Crosby in Hollywood, a time remembered in black and white and filled with music that will never be forgotten.

Ross’ narration punctuates the music with memories and tales of the life of Arthur Tracy, a Ukranian born, naturalised American who was given his western name when he passed through Ellis Island with his family aged seven, into the American dream. Ross brings his natural wit to the fore as he leads his audience through the evening, keeping the performance alive with Tracy’s music, heavy on thirties romance and now steeped in nostalgia.

Throughout the evening Viazzani’s entrancing accordion adds a continental flavour to the music, setting the tone by opening with the emotive gypsy melody “Marta, Rambling Rose of the Wildwood”. Moore takes the role of Arthur Tracy’s stage persona “The Street Singer” and shares the vocals with Ross, looking every inch as though he’s stepped through sixty years into this charming setting, where he beguiles and enchants.

An extensive song list, including “East of the Sun, West of the Moon”, propels you straight into the thirties, the melancholy “Danny Boy”, a delightful “The Way You Look Tonight” and “A Foggy Day” evoking a London otherwise known only through monochrome Saturday afternoon movies. Tracy sings of love that is never cynical, and never clouded by realism - something long banished from modern life.

Gregory Moore's tribute closes with the two most famous melodies “When You Wish Upon A Star”, adopted by Disney, and “Pennies From Heaven”, which drew Tracy back into the limelight in the eighties via a Steve Martin movie, giving his music a last chance to shine, fifty years on in a century that had forgotten how much it had benefited from his life, his music and spirit - things these three masters in Jermyn Street have now re-ignited.

Narrator/ Piano/Vocals: Steve Ross.
The Street Singer: Gregory Moore.
Accordion: Roman Viazzani.

Director: Gregory Moore.

WEBSITE LINKS:

http://steveross.net

http://gregorymooreonline.com

http://romanoviazzani.com

http://www.stalbansorgantheatre.org.uk/

Arthur Tracy - The Street Singer

One of the most popular American performers in the UK in the years just before World War II, Arthur "The Street Singer" Tracy (1899-1997) is unjustly "under-remembered" today. But in his day, his full-voiced renditions of the great songs of that era were wildly popular with British and American audiences alike.

In 2005, Arthur Tracy's family commissioned a tribute to him, upon the occasion of their donation of Arthur's personal papers and effects to the Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts (New York). International cabaret star, Steve Ross, and popular New York baritone, Gregory Moore, created the show Pennies From Heaven: The Life and Songs of Arthur Tracy, 'The Street Singer'. The show was much acclaimed by the capacity audience at Lincoln Center. Noted New York television host (and friend of Arthur Tracy's), Joe Franklin, acclaimed it as "...the best show I saw all year...I can't recall the last time I saw such a heartfelt standing ovation!" In February of 2007, Messrs. Ross and Moore (along with London accordion virtuoso, Romano Viazzani) brought their show to London's Jermyn Street Theatre for one memorable, sold-out performance, precipitating their return engagement in October of 2007 (see reviews, below). The beautiful and utterly unique St. Albans Organ Theatre is pleased to present the return to the U.K. of Pennies From Heaven on 18th and 19th, April, 2008. With their world-class collection of antique mechanical musical instruments and wonderfully nostalgic atmosphere, The St. Albans Organ Theatre should prove the perfect setting for this musical bit of "time travel," as the clock is rolled backward and we revisit the glorious songs and wonderful life of "The Street Singer".

Tickets may be purchased in advance from Ron Hartwell.

Please send a stamped, addressed envelope to:

16, Ridgeway Road, Chesham, Bucks. HP5 2EG.

For reservations please call Ron Hartwell on 01484 786738

REVIEWS from the Jermyn St. Theatre performances of

"Pennies From Heaven" - October 2007.

From Paul Vale's review from THE STAGE, London, U.K.

Arthur Tracy achieved huge popular acclaim in the early thirties as the Street Singer, a mysterious vocalist of indeterminate origin who wandered the CBS airwaves.With a strong classical training, his forte was the sentimental ballads such as Danny Boy, Just a Gigolo and the number that became his theme tune, Marta, Rambling Rose of the Wildwood.Tracy moved to the UK and was an instant hit on these shores recording such classics as Cocktails for Two, Keep the Homefires Burning, If You Were the Only Girl in The World and the immensely popular Pennies From Heaven.Providing the musical accompaniment and narrative for the evening is internationally acclaimed cabaret performer Steve Ross. Ross makes an engaging and entertaining storyteller, particularly describing the moment when he finally met Tracy in the early eighties. But it is through the piano his fondness for the Street Singer shines through and at a emotional level, September Song struck a deeply poignant chord for a worldwide legend who is now largely forgotten. This evident affection for Tracy is matched only by singer Gregory Moore whose voice has a distinctive timbre that lends itself perfectly to this style, with particular highlights being The Way You Look Tonight and the Kern/Hammerstein classic, Ol’ Man River. Complimenting this duo is virtuoso accordionist Romano Viazzani. Although often portrayed as a skilled accordionist himself, Tracy never actually learned to play one.

From Michael Darvell's review at Theclassicalsource.com

Ten years ago this week the singer Arthur Tracy (aka “The Street Singer”) died in New York aged 98. He had come a long way in nearly a full century. Born Abba Avron Tracovutsky in the Ukraine, he emigrated to the US at age six with his family who settled in Philadelphia. After graduating in 1917 he studied to be an architect but soon left to take up singing. Moving to New York he appeared in vaudeville and was seen by a talent-scout and given a radio programme. He assumed his sobriquet of “The Street Singer” to avoid embarrassing his family. By the early-thirties he had appeared in a film with Bing Crosby, “The Big Broadcast of 1932”, and went on to make five more. He became a phenomenally successful singer in concerts and on record, selling some six million discs and just as many copies of the sheet music of his songs. He was a ‘bari-tenor’ who specialised in performing a repertoire of popular love songs and ballads of the day, material that would now be considered cheesy. But in 1930s’ America and for five years in Great Britain where he topped the bill at the London Palladium, these were the songs that audiences loved to hear.

His signature song was ‘Marta, rambling rose of the wildwood’ which he sang as he stepped on to the stage, as “The Street Singer” seemingly playing the accordion, an instrument which Tracy never actually learned to play. His material was unashamedly romantic but he sang some of the best popular songs ever written, from Romberg and Hammerstein’s ‘One alone’ and ‘Softly, as in a morning sunrise’ to Duke Ellington’s ‘Solitude’ through the Gershwins, Harry Warren and Al Dubin, Jerome Kern, Dorothy Fields and Otto Harbach to Noel Coward and Kurt Weill. He sang the material in a strong, earnest voice that was obviously very appealing to a lot of people.

Performing the songs here are writer and director Gregory Moore, an opera singer now concentrating on cabaret and concert work. He has a stentorian voice, much like Tracy and he puts across the material with warmth and feeling for the sentiments expressed in these numbers. He shares the singing with pianist and vocalist Steve Ross, an old hand at this sort of material. Far from being “The Street Singer” Steve Ross is more the sleek or chic singer and he puts a different spin on the numbers that is his familiar trademark. The accordion accompaniment by Romano Viazzani provides a neat background to the period in this most charming and civilised of entertainments. It’s not often you have the chance to enjoy these sorts of songs and here they are presented with passion and delight.

Tracy’s main period of popularity was during the 1930s and ’40s but, when Swing came in, his sort of songs went out of fashion. He toured here and in the US but eventually the work dried up and he made his money out of ‘real estate’ instead. However, many years later his 1937 recording of ‘Pennies from heaven’ was used in the 1981 US film of the same name (based on the Dennis Potter play) with Steve Martin and suddenly audiences wanted to know him again. The following year he appeared in cabaret in New York where Steve Ross saw him. Later on Tracy appeared in a Broadway show, “Social security”, and had a bit part in the film “Crossing Delancey”. When Tracy’s papers were filed at Lincoln Center, Ross was asked if there was a show in his story. The result is two hours of very best kind of musical nostalgia.

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Preview Video of "Pennies from Heaven" - featuring accordionist Romano Viazzani - April 18th & 19th!

20.04.2008 15:25 Accordion World News - Source: UK Accordions Events

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