Follow Spot

“In my view, classical music is unique in that, if the audience doesn’t enjoy something, the artists think it’s the audience’s fault. ‘If you don’t like my concert, it’s because you don’t know enough about what I’m doing to appreciate what I’m presenting to you.’ I think that’s a faulty position, and it’s at the root of why classical music has dwindled in this country.”

So says cellist Peter Sachon (pronounced SACK-un), who is doing his part to address the situation. He’s the moving force behind a series of concerts titled The Cello Project, the third of which will be held at Symphony Space on May 17; and he headlines another series, Peter Sachon: Strings Attached, with notable musical theater performers as guest stars. (Broadway vets Sarah Uriarte Berry, Mary Testa, and Michael Winther will be featured in the next set of shows, slated for March 1 and 8 at the Triad.)

The classically trained Sachon seemed all set for a career playing with the world’s finest symphony orchestras and chamber groups. But, a few years ago, something happened that led him down a different path: “I was in Los Angeles playing with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, and John Mauceri introduced me to Ted Sperling, who was there with Audra McDonald. A year or two later, Ted called me out of the blue to play a Ricky Ian Gordon concert at the Guggenheim. Shortly after that, I won a place in the Hong Kong Symphony; but, at the same time Ted offered me A Man of No Importance, so I took that job instead.”

Sachon’s subsequent New York credits include The Thing About Men, Fiddler on the Roof, The Light in the Piazza, and High Fidelity. He also played the original production of The Light in the Piazza at Seattle’s Intiman Theatre, which was somewhat different from the Broadway staging. “The musicians were onstage in costume,” he says. “We were actual characters in the show. It was great!”

How did The Cello Project come about? “It started at a drunken dinner I had with Bruce Coughlin. We were having a conversation about what orchestrators wanted to be when they were kids. Obviously, they didn’t think, ‘I’m gonna study music and be an orchestrator!’ We thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to do a concert of orchestrators as composers?’ Then it occurred to me that Broadway composers don’t often write what I think of as concert music. So we’ve given them an outlet for that. I’m happy to say that every piece of music in these concerts has been a premiere; we’ve had no repeats.”

The project has attracted some of the biggest names in the business. Says Sachon, “The cool thing is that most of the composers will come to the concerts; they’re all together in the same room, they interact, and they’re so supportive of each other’s work. Because of The Cello Project, people like Ricky Ian Gordon and Stephen Schwartz will call me up and say, ‘Hey, I’ve written a new piece,’ or ‘I want to hear this on the cello.’ It’s the antithesis of the classical world, where the music is a kind of bible and you try to figure out the composer’s original intent. When you work with living composers, you find that they’re feeling their way through the music. Some of them have stronger ideas than others, but they’re all much more malleable than I expected them to be.”

Sachon is also hot on his Strings Attached concerts, the most recent of which was a big hit last fall at Birdland. “It’s a kind of cabaret show in which I play and talk about Americans’ relationship with classical music,” he explains. “I didn’t want The Cello Project pieces to have just one hearing and then die; I felt that if I could juxtapose the music I’ve commissioned with well-known classical pieces and songs, that would be interesting and entertaining.”

Like such classical music stars as Joshua Bell and Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sachon has found that being young and good-looking has been a boon to his career — and he’s more than a bit ambivalent about the realization. “I have to say, it was disappointing to me that, after I grew my hair out, I suddenly had this whole audience I didn’t have before. It was a very noticeable change that bothered me. If you look at classical music now, nine times out of 10, the soloists they’re trotting out are young, attractive, and look great on camera. You don’t see a lot of Gidon Kremer, and he’s fantastic.”

Still, he can deal with the fact that his popularity is based partly on his looks if it helps him commission and perform music like “Vouloir,” by Jeff Blumenkrantz. “It’s a song in every sense of the word, but it also exists as a modern classical piece,” Sachon comments. “I mean, it’s not often nowadays that music written for cello and piano makes people say, ‘Gosh, I want to have that in my iPod.’ I do what I can to help make that happen.'”

********************

The title Broadway Backwards 2 might lead you to believe that the singers set to perform in concert at the 37 Arts Theatre on Monday, February 26 will be running through numbers like “Love Are You,” “Pretty Feel I,” and “Gravity Defying.” But those who saw the first such concert last year know that the “backwards” gimmick here is all about gender-bending: The men sing show tunes traditionally sung by women, and vice versa.

Betty Buckley, Ana Gasteyer, Richard Kind, Constantine Maroulis, Bebe Neuwirth, and Kate Reinders are among those who’ve signed on to perform this year. Rosie O’Donnell, who played Rizzo in the 1994 Broadway revival of Grease, will sing “Summer Nights” from that show, while Len Cariou and Tony Roberts will don the personae of Velma Kelly and Mama Morton to deliver “Class” from Chicago. The concert will be directed by Robert Bartley, with Mark Janas serving as musical director and the irrepressible Seth Rudetsky as host. All proceeds will support the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) Community Center on West 13th Street, the site of last year’s event.

“When gay men and lesbians go to the theater, we rarely get the opportunity to see the community represented on stage as a diverse population,” says Bartley. “The Center is about inclusiveness, and that’s what we’re trying to do. We take the concert very seriously, even though there are comic numbers in it; we don’t want it to be high camp, so we choose the material carefully.”

Charles Busch, who offered a moving, heartfelt rendition of “Bill” from Show Boat last year, is returning for this go-round. “He’s going to sing ‘Before the Parade Passes By’ from Hello, Dolly!, and he’ll start with the opening monologue: ‘Ephraim, let me go.’ He’s playing it as a gay man who has lost a partner. It’s just amazing,” Bartley enthuses.

Busch is delighted to participate again. “I do so many benefits, and Broadway Backwards was kind of my favorite one last year,” he says. “I didn’t know what to expect, but it was a magical night. It’s fascinating to hear these songs we know so well done in a different context. For instance, Pam Myers sang ‘Someone is Waiting’ from Company, and it became this whole new story about a woman and the female loves in her life. It’s nice that some of the people do humorous numbers, but as for me, I’ll take any chance I get to sing a song straight — not for comedy, and not in drag. ‘Bill” is one of my favorite songs of all time, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to do it on stage.”

Broadway Backwards seems sure to continue as an annual event. According to Bartley, “The response was so terrific last year, we were a little taken aback by it, so it seemed natural to move into a theater this time. We have a huge production staff, a great sound design team, and a great combo. A lot of people have come on board to sponsor the show, and the talent lineup is awesome. I don’t know how we’re going to top ourselves next year.”