There's always more than a little sadness when performers die and the realization sinks in that we'll never again see them on the stage. Sure, we may have archival footage of their concerts or even their films, but it's not the same.
A variation on this theme occurs when performers reach their later years. While they are still very much alive, their singing ability is greatly diminished. In a way, it doesn't matter that they don't have the chops they used to; you feel honored just to have seen them.
I was fortunate to see a number of popular performers in their prime who are no longer with us. Tim Buckley, Janis Joplin, Rick Danko and Richard Manuel (The Band); Alan Wilson, Bob Hite and Henry Vestine (Canned Heat); Mississippi John Hurt, Bill Monroe and John Hartford.
Many of these people were my musical heroes. Sure, it's great to listen to their records, but there was nothing like being there while they played and sang.
Thanks to the Britt Festivals, my wife and I were able to see some of our favorites from our teenage years. Right there on the stage in Jacksonville were the Everly Brothers and Little Richard. We also caught the Righteous Brothers on the hill. When we saw them, they were on the cusps of their career. Bill Medley had laryngitis that night and Bobby Hatfield would die not long afterward.
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If your musical memories reach a little further back than mine, Camelot Theatre Company has developed an interesting take on keeping those legends alive. It's called the "Spotlight Series a Little Biography and a Lot of Music!" Audiences are treated to a live band backing up vocalists who pay tribute to such greats as Bing Crosby, Cole Porter, Patsy Cline,
Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney. The performers come pretty close to capturing the sounds of the singers and the wonderful arrangements of their songs. By including important biographical details, Camelot provides touches of humanity behind the legends and the evening becomes more intimate.
This week, the theater is presenting two spotlight shows, one on Julie Andrews and the other a reprise of the Spotlight on the Andrews Sisters.
Julie Andrews is still alive. The Andrews Sisters are not. Julie Andrews is the only living artist Camelot has paid tribute to in its musical series.
Chances are pretty certain that I will never see Julie Andrews on stage. Sadly, she lost her singing voice in 1997 after throat surgery to remove non-cancerous nodules. That didn't stop her from acting in a number of movies and providing a voice-over for animated characters in the "Eloise" and "Shrek" movies.
But I did see Reneé Hewitt performing the songs that Julie Andrews had made her own. And that worked for me. And since all of them came from Broadway musicals, I was in heaven.
The program ranged from Andrews' 1954 stage debut in "The Boyfriend," through her Lerner and Lowe shows "My Fair Lady" and "Camelot," her Rodgers and Hammerstein shows "Cinderella" and "The Sound of Music," to "Mary Poppins," "Thoroughly Modern Millie," Sondheim's "Company" and the movie "Victor/Victoria."
It was fashionable at one time to dismiss Andrews as a lightweight. When you listen to the range of music she performed and hear testimonials from the people who worked with her, you quickly realize that here was a very gifted singer, a hard-working and gracious performer and someone who always was there for her colleagues, even refusing a Tony nomination because none of her fellow cast members had been nominated.
Because Hewitt is a versatile actress as well as singer, she didn't just sing the songs, she portrayed Andrews singing them — English accent included. If you blinked, you would swear that Andrews was right there.
Who knows who Britt will be inviting in the coming summers. But next up in the Spotlight Series will be Julie London in June, Judy Garland in September and Doris Day in November.
And that should keep our musical memories happily humming along for quite awhile.
