Kismet in Concert

Kismet in Concert: Mark Lowry review

Arabian Delights

With its concert version of Kismet, Lyric Stage again proves that it's worth its weight in gold.

The only major complaint that arises after seeing Lyric Stage's concert staging of the musical Kismet is a lament that this show isn't produced more often. It should be up there on the list of oft-revived musicals, like The Music Man and the Rodgers and Hammerstein biggies.

It won the 1954 Tony Award for Best Musical, has gorgeous music by Robert Wright and George Forrest (based on the themes of Alexander Borodin), features vividly drawn characters and crowd-pleasing musical comedy material. (The book is by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on the play by Edward Knoblock.)

No reason to believe it wouldn't be a hit every time.

In the past five seasons, Lyric has been in the business of revivals of classics, both well-known and underappreciated, with full orchestras (its just-announced 2012-'13 season is heavier on the underappreciated ones). But much like its Show Boat in 2010, Kismet is a huge show that could be cost-prohibitive with a full staging and full orchestra. So here, the cast is dressed in their contemporary clothes (mostly black, but with some color schemes going on, especially with shiny baubles on the women), there are minor props and set pieces, and the concert is semi-staged (directed and choreographed by Len Pfluger). There are entrances, exits, light cues and physical comedy.

As for setting up everything in our imagination, the stellar cast does a fine job of accomplishing that without having the real costumes and sets. But their biggest helper in that is Lyric's 40-piece orchestra, conducted by musical director Jay Dias. The strings! A celesta! Booming percussion!

The story deals with a Public Poet (Christopher Carl) in Baghdad, in the year 1071 (same time as the Arabian Nights story). He's always in trouble, but clever and handsome enough to work his way out of tricky situations. After he's accused of stealing a large sum of gold pieces, he's taken into custody, but convinces the Wazir of Police (Brian Mathis) that he's a wizard, and becomes a Hajj with the help of the Wazir's flirty wife Lalume (Margaret Shafer). Meanwhile, the Poet's beautiful daughter Marsinah (Cecily Ellis-Bills) falls for a man (Jonathan Bragg) before finding out that he's the rich Caliph.

The best-known song in the show is "Stranger in Paradise," a love duet between Marsinah and the Caliph, and Ellis-Bills and Bragg make it soar, their powerful voices filled with longing and romance. Mathis is terrific as the Wazir, and Shafer the show-stealer as his wife, who, like her husband, has her own harem (which he doesn't know about).

As the Poet, Carl, who has been on Broadway in South Pacific and toured in The Phantom of the Opera (as the Phantom), Camelot and 42nd Street, is perfect for this role. Someone needs to cast him in a fully staged production asap. A triple threat for leading men in musicals (acts, sings, dashingly handsome), he displays a knack for physical comedy and his scenes with Lalume are among the show's best.

Because this is a concert version, it's a short run. The last performance is today. Get tickets asap, and then buy season tickets to Lyric's fantastic lineup for its 2012-'13 season. With Kismet, Lyric again proves why it's the most important musical theater in the region.

Kismet in Concert: Lawson Taitte review

Rare, exotic Kismet seductive at Lyric Stage… Kismet will reel you in to its lush, exotic world from the astounding opening number in which singing muezzins surround the audience from the top balconies. It doesn’t come around often. Seize the opportunity… Lyric Stage’s musical director, Jay Dias, has a 40-piece orchestra to play all the original orchestrations… All the gorgeous songs certainly benefit from that massive orchestra. They wouldn’t count for much, though, without the appropriate voices to sing them. Fortunately, this Kismet has one of Lyric Stage’s strongest casts ever.

[ Unfortunately the rest of this review is not available since its online source at Dallas Morning News has been removed. ]

Kismet in Concert: Elaine Liner review

A giant of a musical opened here the other night, but it wasn't Giant, the horseless cowpoke operetta now plodding along at the Wyly Theatre, a co-production between Dallas Theater Center and New York's Public Theater. It was Kismet at Irving's Lyric Stage, a four-performance concert that ticked all the boxes of what makes a musical great: lush score (by Robert Wright, based on classical themes by Borodin); witty, memorable lyrics (by George Forrest); grand, passionate performances by fine actors with voices that tickled the back balcony; and a strong, clear story (book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis) that lifted spirits and sent you twirling into the night, grateful for the experience.

If Lyric Stage doesn't win a regional Tony Award in the next five years, those Yankee award-givers aren't paying attention. With each season — and Lyric's about to begin its 20th at the Irving Arts Center — Steven Jones' company gets better at finding and producing neglected old American musicals, doing them the way their creators intended, with original orchestrations, cut scenes restored, full casts and a 40-piece orchestra. Next season, Lyric is doing a long-forgotten Frank Loesser piece, Pleasures and Palaces, which never made it to Broadway but in Irving will get the major revival it deserves.

Lyric presents these masterpieces on per-show budgets below what DTC has spent on costumes for Giant (whose total budget was $1.4 million). For Kismet, directed and choreographed by Len Pfluger, Lyric went all out on talent, but barebones on extras. The 35 singers and dancers performed in street clothes on simple ramps against a sheer backdrop. And it still looked spectacular — on a $90,000 budget.

What was lacking in set dressing was more than made up in the extravagance of musical expertise in the pit under the direction of conductor Jay Dias, and onstage among the show's leads. Baritone Christopher Carl, who played Kismet's Poet and will likely be back for the Loesser show, is as tall, brash and sexy as Broadway's hunks of yesteryear, stars like Howard Keel and John Raitt. Cecily Ellis-Bills sang the role of Marsinah with a bell-clear sweetness and just the right touch of sass. As her suitor, the Caliph, Jonathan Bragg was the dreamiest of handsome princes, pouring his heart into "Stranger in Paradise" and "This Is My Beloved," two of Broadway's most luscious love songs.

Kismet is that funny old fairy tale based on Arabian Nights, and the only American musical set in 11th century Baghdad. Written in the early 1950s, it's about as exotic as vanilla. The virgin marries the prince. The evil Wazir, played at Lyric by the marvelous Brian Mathis (who's also understudying a role in Giant), is dispatched without bloodshed. The poetic con man who makes it all happen is rewarded with a bag of gold and the 11 o'clock number.

It's a shame Lyric scheduled Kismet for a short run. By the second night, word spread among local theater geekery that this was an event. It felt like something special, a celebration of the best in musical theater.