The charming showman from Holland, Maestro
Andre Rieu, became the
darling of Dallas when he played to a full
house at the Nokia Theatre in Texas on
Sunday, May 1, 2005. His Johann
Strauss Orchestra, always full of fun,
entertained over 6000 fans with his
signature Viennese waltzes as the Texans
danced in the aisles. Carla
Maffioletti from Brazil, replete with
peacock feathers in her costume sang the
"Laughing Song" from Die
Fledermaus, beautifully done with her high
F or G at the end, earning a
"Brava" from me. Not to be
outshined, Carmen Monarcha, also from
Brazil, danced in singing in a pretty red
and black dress. All she needed were
castanets and I would have enjoyed hearing
the rest of Bizet's Carmen. She has
melodious low notes that are a joy to
hear.
Andre featured Susan Erens from Holland,
singing a fantastic "Memory"
from Andrew Lloyd Weber's Cats. It
was very decent of Andre to introduce her
other number: "Till We Meet
Again" by thanking the American men
and women who gave up their lives to
liberate his country in WWII.
He broke into a thunderous "Stars and
Stripes Forever" and we all sang
"America The Beautiful."
I
was amazed when the woman sitting in front
of me, although I had great seats, thanks
to Patricia Lyons from Kera, got up when
Andre played the "Hallelujah"
chorus which the three sopranos also
sang. He also introduced
his friend from musical college who played
the flute while the girls sang "The
Last Rose of Summer." They were
dressed in green Irish costumes but I seem
to recall that this is from a German
operetta by Von Flotow. However,
sentimentality soon left us when he
had the audience jiggling in their seats
while playing a bumpy Brazilian samba,
complete with maracas.
The music was lovely and I enjoy hearing
his cds, but the show later deteriorated
into beer hall humor when two of his
musicians acted "inebriated" by
gargling from a bottle behind the
conductor's back. Then Andre asked
the audience to use the glasses of water
in front of their seats to do some
gargling of their own. I did not
participate in this crude activity,
nor in the whistling as faces of people
making silly gestures were plastered
on the monitors.
Andre Rieu and JSO received numerous
standing ovations as Texan hecklers
shouted out for him to play their
favorites. It was a typically rowdy,
but good-natured Dallas audience that
bantered back and forth with his antics.
The stomping got so loud as to make
me think I was back in an Argentinean soccer
field. Andre loves to tease his
audience and the Texans gave it right back
to him, honoring him with tremendous applause. The show did not stop
until a tired Andre was forced to play
several encores, while balloons popped all
around. There is nothing like Texas
hospitality and I am sure Andre Rieu and
JSO will be invited back. However, I
personally, was disappointed by the circus
atmosphere by the whistling, gargling,
stomping, and loud speakers, that I expect
from a carnival in Rio but not from a
violinist trained in classical music.
Poor Andre seems to be getting bad advice
from someone, as we are not all musical
illiterates who demand noise.
Alinka Zyrmont
