Ravinia 2021 - Issue 2

RAVINIA/ROBERT LIGHTFOOT III (KUNZEL); RAVINIA/PATRICK GIPSON (HAMLISCH) Above: Erich Kunzel, in addition to his more than 30 years leading the Cincinnati Pops, was the de facto pops conductor at Ravinia over nearly the same period, first appearing in 1978. The following year he inaugurated Ravinia’s annual Tchaikovsky Spectatular concerts (where Steven Reineke would for several years assist Kunzel by timing the cannon shots in the 1812 Overture), and he returned every summer through 2008. Left: Famed composers Marvin Hamlisch (top) and John Williams (bottom) both had long associations with major orchestras as their prin- cipal pops conductors and led several con- certs at Ravinia, often featuring their own music or arrangements. Hamlisch led one of his final concerts at Ravinia in 2012, and Williams last returned in 1999. the past, insisting that the brilliance of the orchestra be respected. “I always make sure the quality we are putting on the stands is as excellent as they are. You just can’t put junk up there.” Reineke’s eclecticism is glorious- ly displayed in Broadway Today . “I do a lot of golden age of Broadway programs,” he explains, “Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe. I wanted to do more contemporary stuff, Broadway of the last 30 years or so. There are a lot of musicals from the last 10 years on here; a lot of these shows are still running or were recent- ly, but more contemporary— Newsies , The Book of Mormon , The Bridges of Madison County , Dear Evan Hanson , Waitress . Company is back on Broad- way! Matt Doyle, who’s coming to sing at Ravinia, is in [the new revival of] Company. It’s a gender-swapping role, he plays the character that used to be ‘Amy,’ and is now ‘Jamie,’ who sings ‘Getting Married Today.’ We thought about putting that in this show, but ended up giving him [the traditional male showpiece] ‘Being Alive.’ The other thing I do in this program is an orchestral feature where we focus on the top five longest running Broad- way musicals of all time. Wicked just became the fifth longest. It was Les Misérables last time I did this, so I had to switch out Les Misérables for a Wicked thing. Oh, man! “My joy comes from connecting to people. Music is a gift. Music is meant to be given away. You’re gifting this to the people that are coming to listen. To create that magic, to make music together and share that with the audi- ence and have their enthusiasm and excitement shared back with you—it becomes this symbiotic relationship. When we get that electricity going be- tween the orchestra and an audience, there’s nothing like it. My favorite two hours of any day is when I can be onstage performing a concert in front of a live audience. It is my most joyful time ever. So obviously I was devas- tated a year ago. Art is meant to be shared communally. If you don’t have anybody to listen to it, read it, or look at it, who does it reach?” So, what would Reineke envision his legacy to be? “That’s a very tough question!” he replies with a big laugh. “That’s starting to think about mor- tality, which I tend to not think about much. But I would like to be remem- bered for honest joy and unfiltered celebration of music, and the sharing of the live experience of that. To know that I’ve touched somebody through what I do as a vocation is probably the biggest thing.” Right now, he’s too busy living in the present, anticipating Broadway Today for Ravinia. “I just want to celebrate coming back together again. This will be the largest ensemble I’ll have had onstage in a year and a half. This is a huge way to celebrate Broadway’s reopening—and for us in Chicago to celebrate getting back together as a community and sharing music as a people.” Mark Thomas Ketterson is the Chicago correspondent for Opera News . He has also written for the Chicago Tribune , Playbill , Chicago magazine, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, and Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center. RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 24 – AUGUST 15, 2021 20