Last night, I did something I haven't done in a while: I went to the west front of the Capital to see the dress rehearsal of A Capitol Fourth, the annual PBS show celebrating Independence Day.
The advantages of seeing the dress rehearsal? It's FAR less crowded and thus, easier to get to and get away from after it's over. You still see the stars and the performances, mostly (more about that later), and you leave the actual Fourth of July open for whatever else you might wish to do. You even get fireworks, a day early!
Plus, you get a sense of the behind-the-scenes making of live television -- the camera flubs and graphics miscues that don't happen on the air, because they fixed those early.
So, what did we see?
- Tom Bergeron, the host. He's really good at this kind of thing, which is why he has two Emmy Awards. My wife said he's "affable," which he is, and he is good at letting off what seemed like an off-the-cuff running gag about wanting his own backup singers. I say "seemed" because I saw his script on the TelePrompTer.
- Barry Manilow. In recent years, Barry Manilow has become a poster child for bad plastic surgery. And I have to admit, when he strode out and did his first number, "It's a Miracle," he sounded awful. But he got better as he went along, with "I Write the Songs" and others, joshing with the crowd. Say what you like about him, he definitely gives his all when he performs.
- Not The Cast of Motown: The Musical: We had one woman and one guy come out on stage. The woman sang "Stop! In the Name of Love," and the guy, apparently representing The Temptations, sang "My Girl" by himself. (I said to my wife, "It's interesting to hear The Temptations in one-part harmony." Then the guy vamped his way through "Get Ready," but he was clearly unprepared because he didn't know the words! Then the woman kinda vamped/scatted her way through "Dancing in the Streets," because she didn't know it either! Weird, but I suppose useful for timing and blocking purposes.
- Darren Criss, of Glee. Since it's the off season, and he wasn't in character as the nerdy gay high schooler Blaine, he had let his hair grow curly and it wasn't full of mousse, and he was sporting a beard. He only did one number, that old Isley Brothers chestnut "Shout," but he threw himself into it, racing all over the stage and down the catwalk, and even took a turn at the piano.
- Megan Hilty, of Smash. She gave us a few Broadway numbers, looking good.
- Candice Glover, Scotty McCreery and Jackie Evancho, some anonymous youngsters who, apparently, have won American Idol and America's Got Talent. At least, that's what Tom Bergeron said; I had never heard of them.
- Neil Diamond. He sang from a stage in the middle of the crowd, first a patriotic number, and then "Sweet Caroline," which now has become a patriotic anthem in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings, which is kind of both touching and sad. And then he debuted another patriotic number “Freedom Song (They’ll Never Take Us Down),” written because of the bombings.
- Barry Manilow again! Not to be outdone by Neil Diamond, he gave us an encore with "Let Freedom Ring."
- John Williams and Steven Spielberg. Well, Speilberg wasn't there in person; he gave a video intro to Williams and the National Symphony Orchestra doing a number from the score of Lincoln, with Chris Martin doing the trumpet solo.
- The orchestra taking a break. Union rules, dont'cha know.
It seemed to be over, so a lot of people left, and missed the grand finale; they always conclude these things with a medley of patriotic music. And then it seemed to be over, and we started to leave, and saw the best part:
- The Cast of Motown: The Musical! They were really there this time, and they worked very hard on their blocking and choreography. We heard "Diana Ross" chattering into her microphone, seeming unaware or unconcerned that what she was saying was being broadcast to the world at large. But they stopped, started, stopped again, started again ... and ran through it twice. First, "Diana Ross and the Supremes" did "Stop! In the Name of Love!", followed by "The Temptations" -- all five of them -- doing "My Girl." On the last chorus, "Berry Gordy" came out from the wings and concluded the song as a serenade to "Diana Ross," who chirped, "Berry, you're my lover, and my manager, and you own the company -- what if it doesn't work out?" "Berry" answered, " 'Diana,' it's my job to make you the Number One star in the world, and nothing will stand in the way of that!" Then he led "The Temptations" in a rousing rendition of "Get Ready," which led to "Martha and the Vandellas" and a cast of thousands doing "Dancing In the Streets."
All in all, it was good fun. I may have to watch the real show to see how close it was to what I saw!
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Watched it on PBS. They did a nice job.