Two TTT articles

xotic · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:10 am Post subject: Two TTT articles

If three are great, won't ten be better?

By Christopher Blank
Contact
February 10, 2006

In the beginning, there was One Tenor. His name was Caruso and in 1906, just a few hours after he sang "Carmen" in San Francisco, the whole city was devastated by one of the biggest earthquakes in American history.

That is how The Greatest Tenor brought down a house. (Maybe Mother Nature had something to do with it, but we'll let the scientists quibble over that.)

Then, in 1990, another force of nature called "The Three Tenors" was created. While no buildings collapsed under the seismic vocalizations of Carreras, Domingo and Pavarotti, the performers did manage to ignite a whirlwind of cash flow from sales of their acclaimed series of live concert albums.

The genius was in the simplicity. Opera is the most complicated of the performing arts to stage. Singing opera's greatest hits while wearing a tuxedo is considerably less difficult than mounting a full-length production involving baritones, basses, sopranos and various supernumeraries in costumes.

Tenors have been on the march ever since.

There were and are The Irish Tenors, The Canadian Tenors, the Celtic Tenors, The Three British Tenors, The American Tenors, German Tenors, and the Three Mo' Tenors.

Occasionally, they are not tenors at all.

Like The Three Sopranos, a short-lived experiment (circa 1996) that featured Memphis' own non-tenor, Kallen Esperian.

Or the Three Countertenors -- that is, a trio of men who sing in falsetto imitation of bygone castrati.

The biggest tenor explosion of all, however, occurred in Australia in 1995, when a group of college music students were hired for a corporate event in Brisbane.

"It was supposed to be a joke on The Three Tenors," said Craig Atkinson, a tenor. "Basically, we were to stand up there, sing three songs, wave our hankies around at the end and walk off."

The outcome of that performance was a singing group that has since advanced from corporate functions to multiple tours of Europe and America.

At a series of concerts Tuesday through Sunday at the Orpheum, Memphis audiences will experience for themselves the combined force of not one ... not two ... not three or four ... not five ... not six, seven, eight or nine ...

But TEN Tenors.

Since the group's first full-length show in 1998, the singers have recorded several albums, concert DVDs and a recently released greatest hits compilation.

These Ten Tenors aren't just an opera act, however. They sing Beach Boys, Beatles, Bee Gees, Queen, The Jackson Five.

"We tried not to do the cliched opera songs," Atkinson said. "We always like to pick things the audience is going to enjoy. Most people don't understand that Freddie Mercury was a tenor. Axl Rose is a tenor. Paul McCartney is a tenor. We pretty much sing anything done by a tenor."

Atkinson said the show is a mixture of rock concert, recital and theatrical production.

In their publicity photos, they have immaculately styled hair and attitude in their poses. The title of their latest album, Larger Than Life, might remind some Americans of the Backstreet Boys song from 1999.

Tenors behaving like bad-boy pop stars? It had to happen eventually.

Still, Atkinson says it's mysterious to him why people prefer tenors over male singers with lower ranges.

"I don't know why it works, I just don't," he said. "I can only think it's because the tenor repertoire is so varied. We do so many different styles of music and the show keeps moving."

source: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/stage/article/0,1426,MCA_518_4453899,00.html

xotic · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 12:11 am Post subject:

Tenor to the power of 10

By Christopher Blank
Contact
February 17, 2006

Like a litter of newborn puppies, the Ten Tenors may be the cutest, cuddliest group of pop singers in the world.

Sporting varied hairstyles and a few arena-rock poses, members of the Australian singing group took the Orpheum stage in matching black cocktail suits on Valentine's Day and proceeded to charm away the significant others of male audience members.

Given the reputation that tenors have, you wonder if some males made a strategic error when planning this particular date.

Wouldn't it be quicker to toss the lady into a lion cage?

Live and learn. Suddenly, you're sitting in the third row and the handsome tenors come to the front of the stage like the merchandise at one of those celebrity date auctions. The woman who came in on your arm whispers that she's smitten with the guy second from the right. Not the one with the hair in his eyes, but the one who looks like Mr. Bad Boy."

"You mean Mr. Goatee?"

"No, Mr. Nice Smile."

"How can Mr. Nice Smile also be Mr. Bad Boy?"

"I don't know, he just looks bad underneath."

Such hushed conversations run rampant throughout the audience while the Ten Tenors launch into the music.

In the bygone era of The Three Tenors -- Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti -- profiling was not part of the conversation. The most important thing was how the three operatic greats sounded together.

A tenor to the power of 10 does not increase vocal quality so much as increase volume. The voices in this group -- men who, the program informs us, knew each other "at University" -- are genuinely pleasant and tuneful. They are a crowd-pleasing Glee Club, an attractive tenor chorale with a few impressive arrangements and music soft on the ears.

The concept does not put the tenor range to the test, nor does it showcase 10 top tenors. It is simply about entertaining folks with a variety of songs. Just try to take an opera medley seriously, especially one accompanied by a four-piece rock band. How about a version of "Rawhide," or a medley of Beach Boys tunes including "Surfin' U.S.A."?

The music comes with synchronized choreography and a profound array of lights that do most of the mood-setting.

At times, one wishes The Ten Tenors would be a looser act; ditch the formality and just be a gaggle of funny, wisecracking Australian singers accepting their roles in a parody. Guys in the audience might hanker for a few more jokes involving Foster's lager, instead of the curiously cardboard introduction to a tune like Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer."

My personal favorite tenor was Mr. Goatee, a stocky, affable man named David Kidd, the most natural public speaker of the 10. He astounded all by singing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" just like Freddie Mercury.

The Ten Tenors Web site (which rhapsodizes on each of the 10) says that David's interest in "professional public embarrassment has involved him dressing as pirates, leprechauns, Santa, cavemen, clowns, and Elvis in places where lots of people can see him."

Now, there's a tenor I'd take my daughter to see (if I had one.) As for the others: keep your distance.

source: http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/stage_reviews/article/0,1426,MCA_520_4472304,00.html

tenoraddict · Joined: Feb 11, 2006 Posts: 18 Location: Delaware, USA

What fun articles!! Thanks, Nadine! So, who else thinks that Mr. Bad Boy/Nice Smile is Burce? Smile

For those of you who haven't been blessed by personally seeing the Tenors perform, the author's depiction of David is spot on.

xcept · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:58 am Post subject:

the articles are really great fun Nadine, thanks for sharing them Laughing

xotic · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 3:20 pm Post subject:

Haha... I hadn't even read the articles myself till now. Just found the links in the TTT forums (thx to Stephanie there) and as you can only read them when you're registered I thought to do so and put them up here. So now that I've read them I agree, nice articles. I like that this guy is critical about certain things but doesn't express that in an offending way. Smile

lovemeg5186 · Joined: Jan 23, 2006 Posts: 60

I would narow it down to the very sweet and hot burce or the ever enticing stewart or maby even the down to earth drew those smiles can say some major things LOL

lovemeg5186 · Joined: Jan 23, 2006 Posts: 60

ok to me burcy wins he has that cute inocence that is incredibly hot but then those steamy looks he gives LOL oh baby lol its all over for me Razz

Red_Colorz_PDT_02

xotic · Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2006 8:53 pm Post subject: