- That’s Amore
-
- Flying west, sometime after
sighting the vast, snow-capped peaks of the Rockies, the terrain
below began its transition to red-tinged, arid expanses that
suddenly opened awesomely into the Grand Canyon…not more than
25 minutes later we were landing at McCarron Airport in Las
Vegas. Once more Andrea had coaxed us to adventuring…
-
- The concept of Lake Las Vegas
resort, where the concerts took place to introduce the new CD Amore,
was to create a change of pace from Las Vegas—a little bit of
calming Italy as an antidote to the frenetic Vegas glitz, 20
miles away. The setting is nicely done: gently winding strade;
stucco walls of typical Tuscan apricot, rose, and creamy hues;
graceful arches; sun-baked, clay-tiled roofs; the familiar campanile
of the village chiesa…oh, right, this is Vegas…I mean
the village casino; splashing fountains, little piazzas, a
recreated Ponte Vecchio.
-
- Our room at the Ritz had a
balcony—irresistible! The Florentine garden below was
charmingly curlequed with green hedges, intense fuchsia colored
cyclamen, and white roses—row upon row of them—blooming in
December! Sun was glowing on the terra-cotta tiled rooftops, the
sound of a fountain played in the distance, and dio….out
of nowhere, unmistakable, warm, secure, and full, the VOICE
intoned the four, simple opening notes of "Amapola."
Andrea was already rehearsing out there!! At unthinkable speed
for beings of our age, we found our way to ground level, through
the garden maze, up the rustic stone stairway, and down the
gently sloping pathway to the water’s edge of Lake Las Vegas
where the stage holding Andrea floated serenely. There we
settled in blissfully to listen, along with anyone else in the
vicinity lucky enough to be there at that moment. This rehearsal
seemed to be open to all. Brilliant sun, brilliant azure sky,
desert hills framing the backdrop and right there before us was
Andrea, looking ultimately relaxed and leaning into the Latin
rhythms with unassuming ease.
- There was really little
difference between this rehearsal and the actual concerts (and
I’m afraid this discourse blends them all together). All had
a tentative, serendipitous quality—a behind-the-scenes
perspective for those of us in the audience. Although the
afternoon had been nearly balmy, by the time Andrea took the
stage Friday (accompanied by Cristina Gelsi), it was twilight
and the cold of the winter desert had gained the upper hand.
Did those chic but pathetically underclad young Las Vegas VIP
women think this was going to be an indoor concert?? Three
layers of clothing cocooned in one of the fleece blankets they
were handing out to all who came through the gates were the
appropriate evening attire. Unfortunately, a blanket-swathed
Andrea was not quite the star image the producers had in mind
for this event. His black velvet blazer, iridescent silky-gray
shirt, loose black scarf, and jeans, although boss, were no
match for the extreme cold. And boy did we hear about it from
the tenor! Easily 90% of Andrea’s comments throughout the
two evenings were related in some way to cold. He sighed that
his fingers were too numb to play the piano. He asked if it
would be OK to jump up and down a little to keep warm. He
wise-cracked, "Is there an ice cream for me?" He
came up with a good plan of attack to beat the cold: "I
think I should send to Armani for a warm sweater!" A good
deal of his creative energy was directed to finding
imaginative ways of dislodging David Foster from the coveted
seat at the piano, persistently offering, "Would you like
me to play for you something?" (because this was where a
strategic heater was discreetly hidden). But through it all—the
bitter cold, the starting and stopping of the taping process,
the little jokes from David Foster, the long hours deprived of
precious pasta—the easygoing, good nature that underlies his
character shone through. Andrea has internal resources to
spare. Foster remarked at one point that there aren’t many
stars of the stature of Bocelli who would subject themselves
to such cold to entertain their audience.
- David Foster was the host,
musical director, executive producer, and accompanist for the
event, and he emphasized enthusiastically that this first
contemporary concert of Andrea’s was a historic happening.
Andrea began by noting, in reference to "Besame Mucho"
that it had been many, many, many years ago, maybe 30, (well
he’s a tenor not a mathematician), when he had played at the
piano bars, that he had last done anything like this kind of
an evening. He certainly seemed to be enjoying this musical
walk down memory lane. My god he was talking right and left,
perched on a stool, lounging on the stage stairway between
takes while he sang a little parody to himself about "pasta
time," improvising at the keyboard, playing straight guy
or fall guy by turns to David Foster’s glib repartee. Our
Mr. ad lib was throwing out the one-liners like a stand-up pro…he
was, well, he was having FUN! They were both having fun, and
the two personalities worked well off each other. One high
energy, the other laid-back.
-
-
- At one point Foster screwed up
an introduction, and they had to start the taping again. Upset
with himself, he couldn’t hold back the mild obscenity that
escaped in a whisper, at first. Then he decided to just get it
out there and repeated the mildly offensive little word right
out loud into the microphone. "Did you hear that
Andrea?" Foster called loudly. "I just said,
"Oh sh__, right here in front of everybody." Andrea
stood quietly for a moment, waited precisely long enough,
raised the microphone to his mouth, then evenly uttered his
adorably accented chastisement, "Naughty boy,"
capping it with the editorial comment of his broad,
mischievous grin. The comic timing couldn’t have been more
perfect. It was priceless.
-
- Foster tried to lure him into
some extra vocals. "Andrea, how about a little
Puccini" got him absolutely no response. "Andrea,
how about a little Sinatra" yielded "My Way"
but Andrea would go no further than offering a couple of
measures on the piano, unaccompanied by his own voice. At one
little lull in the taping, Foster started the unmistakable
hard-driving, pulsing intro to "Satisfaction," and
for an exhilarating minute it seemed that we might experience
the heady first of hearing this classically trained tenore
wailing the infamous "I can’t get no, sa—tis—fac—tion."
But ‘twas not to be. Andrea feigned impossible ignorance of
this particular "tune." But after considering
silently for a moment, as a consolation, he did proffer a few
lines of the instantly recognizable Beatles song "Yesterday,"
which was apparently more in his comfort zone.
-
- Andrea offered a range of
little musical fillers at the keyboard sprinkled throughout
his time onstage, not just to warm up but mostly to keep from
boredom and also because it is seemingly impossible for him to
be still for very long. It was fascinating: a little Scott
Joplin ragtime, a classical morsel of "Moonlight Sonata,"
a random snatch of "Happy Birthday," and,
unaccountably, two verses of "September Morn" in
perfect English!! Of all the probing questions about Andrea
that have filtered through my mind at idle moments, not once
have I ever asked myself if he had any Neil Diamond CDs in his
home collection…"September Morn" and "Nessun
Dorma" all in one week…way to go Andrea!
-
- The ease of his voice in pop
mode is deceptive because it is rooted in years worth —day,
after day, after day—of the disciplined, technical
acrobatics of classical training. That voice. There always
seems to be one song where Andrea feels his strength and—just
for the heck of it—holds that note for all it’s worth. I
couldn’t tell you which song it was from this concert, but
he did it, and it never fails to create a little reactive
ripple of disbelief and awe. And after all the years of
listening to him, we think we know every subtle nuance of
Andrea’s voice, yet he manages every time to pull a vocal
rabbit out of his hat—this time it was during a jazzy number,
whose name I can’t remember, accompanied by trumpet and
bass. Caught up in the spirit of improvisation, Andrea
indulged in "scatting." But what I had heard of it
before from singers seemed somewhat awkward and—well, weird.
With Andrea it took on a playful elegance and ease. Hearing it
from him, it seemed astonishing at first, until you consider
that there is not such a big gap between the nonsense
syllables of scat and some of the quirky vocal exercises
designed to develop the flexibility in a classical voice and.
It is yet another instance of his versatility.
-
- Luminaries were introduced
from the audience. Mary Hart, anchor of Entertainment Tonight,
was there. Mr. Boedekker, mastermind of the Las Vegas Resort
complex and ardent Bocelli fan, took a little bow. Foster
introduced Michele as Andrea’s longtime friend and manager
and needed a little assistance with his last name. Andrea
noted that in Italian "Torpedine is an electric fish.
"A dangerous one," he added impishly. Caterina Caselli, of Sugar Productions was there Saturday too and was
recognized as the woman who signed Andrea and launched it all.
Andrea gallantly added that she is a great singer in her own
right.
-
And we won’t soon forget the
astonishing poise of little 10-year-old Nico, who was called
up on stage to sing a surprisingly mature rendition of "Ave
Verum Corpus," charmingly and patiently accompanied by
Andrea, because Foster had run into his grandma in the hotel
lobby and liked what he heard.- No one would have introduced
him, but I have to give a little plug to my newfound friend,
camera guy Danny, tight-shot wizard. His well-worn 56th
Emmy Awards hat hinted at his experienced background. We
learned later that he had 26 Academy Awards ceremonies since
the 1980s under his belt and movie experience with Spielberg
and Coppola. Anyway, when Danny noticed that just before the
show started a woman managed to sit in front of me and totally
obstruct my view, he motioned for me to come sit beside him at
the camera station. I had the best seat in the house…seeing
the best of both worlds—Andrea live and unobstructed and AB
close-ups, snapshot through the camera’s eye. (Let me tell
you, it will be really hard to go back to plain old binoculars
for the next concert!) Anyway the point is that they had
gathered the best technical crew to work on this show.
Humberto Gatica (of "We Are the World" fame) was
audio producer; Peter Morse was lighting designer (among his
credits, Ringling Brothers, Disney, presidential galas, and a
string of stars); David Horn was coproducer (Statue of Liberty
concert, Great Performances, American Masters, 9/11 tributes).
Credits for each are impossible to list and they are Emmy
award winners all. Also the best musicians were there to bring
new rhythms and sounds for Andrea to this CD. A friend of
Foster’s had flown in from Holland just to play harmonica
for one song. I wish I could credit all the capable individual
musicians, each expert at their craft, each of whom Andrea
mentioned appreciatively by name along with the composers as
he introduced his songs…but this isn’t music I have
followed much, until now. Andrea opening new horizons for us
as always.
-
- Heather Hedley of Broadway’s
Aida and also The Lion King fame sang "The
Prayer" with Andrea. It was a completely different
pairing from the intently reverent version with Celine Dion.
Heather’s voice (Andrea liked the sound of her name) evoked
echoes of "soul" and free-wheeling blues and
spirituals that were emotionally charged in combination with
the power of Andrea’s voice. Both nights it brought the
house down with a standing ovation.
- By now everyone knows that
"Can’t Help Falling in Love" was a highlight of
the concert. Foster set it up: "Andrea, do you have
something special for us tonight? Maybe something that would
be particularly appropriate for Las Vegas?" Andrea thinks
for a moment, says sure, and steps around to the piano.
"OK. Play something like an arpeggio, in F. Something
like this…" Then the beautifully lilting phrase began,
"Wise men say, Only fools rush in, But I can’t help
falling in love, with you…." The audience responded in
delighted recognition, and as Andrea sang, that simple melodic
statement literally became reality… it wasn’t possible in
that moment, in that place, under the velvety black desert sky,
to resist falling in love with this voice and the man whose
heart and soul produced it.
- There were other surprise
highlights. Veronica, elegant in rich chocolate velvet gown,
joined Andrea to sing a few lines in English of "Les
Feuilles Mortes" ("Autumn Leaves") alternating
with Andrea’s spoken lines. It was very effective. Such an
easy rapport between them that seemed to reflect the sure
knowledge that each knows where they fit in the other’s
world.
 - Tony Renis was called onstage
to take a little bow and ended up doing a crazy little dance
and more than a few bars of his famous "Quando, Quando
Quando" with Foster and Bocelli pairing on the keyboard
accompaniment.
-
- Then of course there was the
grand finale of the song "Because We Believe"
written by David Foster for the closing ceremony of the Winter
Olympics in Torino. Andrea wrote the Italian lyrics (Foster’s
daughter wrote the English ones). This final event of the
evening was pure Las Vegas…the unforgettable combination of
the quartet of divers silhouetted in the arches of the
"Ponte Vecchio," flaming torches in hand,
dramatically arching into the lake, the triumphant power of
Andrea’s voice reaching the climatic bars of the
inspirational anthem, and then, to top it all off, fireworks
breaking out like mad behind him, compelling squeals of
unadulterated delight from the audience. It was the perfect
exuberant ending. But how could it have come so quickly…
-
- Sunday, we were sitting at the
airport again. Andrea had departed for his date in Fresno.
Competing with the flight announcements echoing incessantly in
the terminal, the voice of Frank Sinatra, vaguely registering
in my subconscious, was singing "Jingle Bells." Ol’
blue eyes and Elvis are among those legends who have owned
this entertainment mecca in the middle of nowhere. Who would
have thought that Andrea could take his place in their midst
so easily? It really was something very special, this time in
Las Vegas. I am exhausted from the telling of it and still
couldn’t manage to convey it all…a first time for Andrea
and so much to enjoy with him. What a beautiful man, what a
beautiful voice, what a beautiful circle of friends he has
forged around him.
-
- And this CD too—it’s going
to be a beauty. Complimenti big guy! And thanks as
always.
- P.S. Impossible not to add
that one of the very BEST surprises in Las Vegas was to see
Renate there. All who had the gift from Andrea and Veronica of
attending could thank her in person for the role she played on
our behalf to make it happen.
-
- by Cami McNamee
|
|
