ATA Allstar Artists and Adelaide Festival Centre. Festival Theatre. 19 Jun 2015
I sat next to an 83 year-old guy and I said, "I think we are the youngest two people in this packed out matinee." Imagine, he was a kid when Glenn Miller was big in the late thirties and early forties, and he was present to the entire panoply of music ever since. Yet, here he is, pleased as punch. He and his wife have seen each of LA's The Glenn Miller Orchestra's three Australian tours. The Festival Theatre was full of people expecting a trip down memory lane and that's exactly what was delivered to their obvious delight.
I'm afraid I'm a bit hampered by the lack of a program, a pen, and ATA Allstar's minimalist website, so I can't actually name names. The band leader was an avuncular man with hair as white as his tuxedo jacket. The only band leading he did, though, was to conduct the end of each number; otherwise, he introduced the songs and the extra talent and played the trombone with the other four trombones. The orchestra was arrayed with a baker's dozen of horns on the right and a pianist and drums on the left. They all seemed incredibly bored at the beginning, like they have done this a hundred times before, which is probably true. But they quickly warmed up and returned the appreciation of the raptured audience. The horn players were up on risers so they could all be seen: trumpets in the back, trombones in the middle and sax/clarinet players in the front. I just loved it when the soloists stood up or when they all stood to emphasise a few bars.
I thought they played flawlessly. When the band leader introduced everybody, most of them formerly played with a famous band like Les Brown or some such. I have never heard the other Glenn Miller orchestra, The World Famous Glenn Miller Orchestra run by Glenn Miller Productions of Florida, and a Glenn Miller battle-of-the-bands would be really something to witness.
When the white-haired band leader introduced a song, the crowd would murmur with recognition and expectation. Indeed, by the second half of the generous two hour concert that flew by like the war years, I was going, "Mmmmmmm," as well, and nodding my head in anticipation of the next gem. Alas, your reviewer was not quite on top of it. The avuncular band leader asked people to shout out Pennsylvania 6-5000 at the appropriate times and yours truly participated. But the aficionados know that the last chant is Pennsylvania 6-5-Oh-Oh-Oh, and I felt like a right goose, especially since the old codger next to me even warned me, but I didn't understand what he was talking about.
Of course, if it was just the band, it might get a bit monotonous. But they had a few tricks up their sleeves. Some numbers were accompanied by the Broadway Swing Dancers of Sydney - a couple of sharp couples with astonishing energy. Other numbers were sung by an attractive lady named Wendy Smith (funny how that's the only name I can remember). She has about 4000 swivel bones in her body and sounded like an angel. And a rather unimpressive looking young man blew off quite a few toupees with this booming voice and relaxed Rat Pack style. I could look at her and listen to him all day.
Alack, they only did two shows and both the same day, which must be very tiring for them. And they’ve got two shows in Sydney the next day followed by one in Nowra the day following. And Hawaii and New Zealand as well, I believe. Well, God bless them. This is the music that helped get people through the world war and some things are never forgotten.
David Grybowski
When: 19 June
Where: Festival Theatre
Bookings: Closed
