Some people like to go to a spa to relax and recharge. For some reason I can’t imagine such a thing for me. Instead I pick favorite things I like to do and they have the same effect as any deep tissue massage. For example, I just came from a performance by the Philly Pops, and though it was teeming with rain outside when the concert was over, I feel all warm and fuzzy and can ignore the squeaking of my wet shoes and my sudden attack of Phyllis Diller hair. I felt like I had gone to church and emerged a changed person. Who needs hot rocks on the back or a seaweed wrap when therapy like this is available?
The Kimmel Center reminded me again of why it is such a glorious spa-I mean music venue–with amazing acoustics and the feeling of a non-denominational house of music worship crossed with a focus on fun performance style and the comforts of soft seats and simple lighting. Compared to my last experience at the good old Academy of Music (I got a seat against a post), I settled right in at the Kimmel and felt at home. Why strip down to a towel and stick my prone face in a donut on a massage table, anyway?
Guest conductor David Charles Abell was fun to watch as he held a friendly conversation with his baton and guided the Pops through some of the best of what they called modern Broadway (all newer productions from the past 37 years). This meant shows like Miss Saigon, Hairspray, Les Miserables and my go-to favorite The Phantom of the Opera. The singers included petite powerhouse Alli Mauzey and TV and film star Rachel York flanking returning guest singer and Broadway-via-Philadelphia local favorite Hugh Panaro. The two men, Abell and Panaro, seem to be brothers by different parents as they both carry grins that span a mile and a bit of pluck in their performance style. They had fun together, and the audience was in on it, not just sitting and being performed for.
Intense musical numbers like Les Miz’ entreaty “Bring Him Home” were like an emotional release and sometimes tear-inducing. There were a few moist eyes in the house. You may be thinking that only new age music would do if I’m referring to a spa treatment, but listening to somebody like Hugh Panaro who knows how to bring a dramatic song to life can be a much better balm than any zen-labeled canned tune treatment. The quiet in the auditorium was palpable during these numbers until the audience erupted the moment the last note was sung. There was fun, too, as Mauzey flirted her way through “Popular” from Wicked and York did a collection of impressions while singing “I Will Always Love You” from the newest Broadway treatment of a movie from The Bodyguard. She was spot-on, especially letting Eartha Kitt give the song a try.
I left the Kimmel feeling so much better, having relaxed and enjoyed a good afternoon of music, and not a drop of emollient was spilled. So spa gift cards are not on my gift list. Give me a good show instead. And if the weather is a bit damp, access to a blow dryer.
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