Jump, jive and Joel: Musical 'Movin' Out' features Twyla Tharp's lively choreography set to Billy Joel's tunes

Musical 'Movin' Out' features Twyla Tharp's lively choreography ...
Wisconsin State Journal - Madison,WI,USA
What's a traditional Irish boy like Darren Holden doing playing the keyboard chronicles of renowned Long Island legend and bad boy Billy Joel? ...

IMAGE: http://www.madison.com/images/articles/wsj/2006/05/26/28500.jpg

 What's a traditional Irish boy like Darren Holden doing playing the keyboard chronicles of renowned Long Island legend and bad boy Billy Joel?

Making the music his own. Holden, a musical star in his native Ireland (and a former vocalist for the Broadway mega-hit "Riverdance"), brings to life the songs and stories of American musical icon Billy Joel in "Movin Out," the wildly energetic dance musical blasting on to the stage of Overture Hall from Tuesday through Sunday, June 4.

The show pairs two-dozen Joel songs with the sensationally athletic choreography of Twyla Tharp. Holden, performing as the Piano Man with a back-up band high above the stage, provides the live soundtrack for the dancers below. The result, said the Boston Herald in a review of the production last week, is "a spectacularly entertaining synthesis of theatrical forms."

Despite the dominance of Joel's driving, memorable tunes, this Piano Man makes clear that he's not striving to imitate Billy Joel.

"I'm interpreting (the music) myself," said Holden, 29. "I do pay homage to him every now and again during the show by singing a line in the real, deep New York accent.

"People are coming to hear his stuff, and they are big fans of his. But I think in order for it to work for me, it would be pointless to try to do an exact impersonation. For it to be fulfilling for me, I've got to be myself."

"Movin' Out" itself is set in the transitional era between World War II and the Vietnam War. Those vividly drawn characters from Joel songs - like Brenda and Eddie, Tony and Sgt. O'Leary, Judy and James - are portrayed by dancers through Tharp's choreography, with only Holden acting as narrator. The story's plot, while thin, is just a backdrop for the show's true stars: the music and the movement.

In 2002, "Movin' Out" came to be after Tharp approached Joel with the idea - along with a videotape of dances she'd choreographed to a handful of his songs.

"I saw a completely different dimension to music that I had written and had become accustomed to," Joel explained in an interview taped to promote the show. "I had recorded these things countless times. Some of them were dead to me. And suddenly they had a physicality to them that I'd never conceived of."

A six-time Grammy winner and recipient of a Grammy Living Legend Award, Joel in recent years has gone from hit record-maker to a presence in the tabloids; he's also penned a children's book and earlier this month was the keynote commencement speaker at Syracuse University.

But his classics still please hardcore fans as they did during Joel's Top 10 heyday.

"We are living in an age of bland music. We're living in the 'American Idol' era," says Holden. "People want to hear good music, and Billy Joel has a tried and tested catalogue of hits from the '70s and the '80s. Young people are getting turned on to it by their parents and just by being online and downloading his music.

"He always wrote about things that people relate to in everyday life," adds Holden, whose singing voice has been described by one critic as "a full-throttled rasp perfect for Joel's songs."

"There's a lot of musical ingredients in there that make him the star that he is - and make the music so timeless."

Holden has been on the road with "Movin' Out" for 2 years, taking over the Piano Man role from the Tony-nominated Michael Cavanaugh. Cavanaugh originated the part and "was definitely a great starting point for me," says Holden. "But I don't do anything like Michael in the show now. Michael is an extraordinary talent, and he definitely is the person I wanted to be like when I started the role. But you know you've got to grow, you've got to move on and make the role interesting for yourself."

For Holden, that also means working on side projects, like his third solo album, yet-to-be-titled but slated for release in July. When he and the cast of "Movin' Out" head to Japan for a six-week tour later this year, Holden will do some solo concerts there as well.

"If 'Movin' Out' audiences are liking what I do," says Holden says, "they'll recognize that after I leave the show. And maybe (they'll) come buy an album of mine, or come see me in another show sometime. So that's what makes it happen for me."

IF YOU GO

What: "Movin' Out," featuring the music of Billy Joel with choreography by Twyla Tharp.

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 30, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, June 4; 8 p.m. Friday, June 2, and Saturday, June 3; 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 4.

Where: Overture Hall, 201 State St.

Tickets: $68, $63, $58, $43 and $38 at the Overture Center box office, 258-4141 or www.overturecenter.com.

"MOVIN'" MUSIC

Billy Joel songs performed in the musical 'Movin' Out':

•"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"

•"Movin' Out" (Anthony's Song)

•"Reverie"

•"Just the Way You Are"

•"The Longest Time"

•"Uptown Girl"

•"This Night"

•"Summer, Highland Falls"

•"Waltz (No. 1)"

•"We Didn't Start the Fire"

•"She's Got a Way"

•"The Stranger"

•"Elegy"

•"Invention in C minor"

•"Angry Young Man"

•"Big Shot"

•"Big Man on Mulberry Street"

•"Captain Jack"

•"An Innocent Man"

•"Pressure"

•"Goodnight Saigon"

•"Air (Dublinesque)"

•"Shameless"

•"James"

•"The River of Dreams"/"Keeping the Faith"/"Only the Good Die Young"

•"I've Loved These Days"/ "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" reprise

 

The other Joel helps beef up 15th Cook-Off music lineup

The other Joel helps beef up 15th Cook-Off music lineup
Cleveland Plain Dealer - Cleveland,OH,USA
6 pm today (reserved seats available), Bud Light Stage. Apparently, Billy Joel turned down an invite to the Rib Cook-Off but he sent a close relative. ...

 Like peanut butter and jelly but much more tasty, ribs and music -- at least in Northeast Ohio -- have gone together for decades. While the sauce remains fresh, the live music over the years has become, for good or bad, a stroll down memory lane targeting baby boomers and most recently Gen-Xers (congrats, you're officially old). This year's lineup is more of the same, but what the heck; grab a rib and a plastic tall-neck, pull up a chair and let's rock like it was 1977, 1982, 1995 and 1997. Following are some concert highlights.

Alexa Ray Joel

6 p.m. today (reserved seats available), Bud Light Stage.

Apparently, Billy Joel turned down an invite to the Rib Cook-Off but he sent a close relative. Some aspiring musicians have the weight of the world on their shoulders. For 20-year-old Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of Billy Joel and Christie "Uptown Girl" Brinkley, the weight is not only a piano, but the Piano Man himself.

Just as Pops found an audience in Cleveland nearly 30 years ago, his daughter is hoping to create a Northeast Ohio following with two Rib Cook-Off gigs (Thursday night and tonight), her second visit to the Rock Hall city in as many months.

With a debut album in the works, Joel's set garners attention for what it doesn't include.

"People are always asking me to do my Dad's stuff, songs that are associated with me like Lullabye (Goodnight My Angel)' or The Downeaster Alexa,' " Joel said. "But what they don't understand is even though I'm a huge fan of my Dad's, it's really important that I make it on my own."

Spin Doctors

7:30 tonight (reserved seats available), Bud Light Stage.

As for the Spin Doctors, "Little Miss" really was wrong as this one-hit wonder from 1992 failed to last until 1993. Still, the band's cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Have You Ever Seen the Rain?" is the third best song on the 1994 "Philadelphia" soundtrack.

 

Billy Joel fast-tracked

Billy Joel fast-tracked
Melbourne Herald Sun - Australia
It was worried about illegal CDs being pumped out from Billy Joel's record setting 12 sellout shows at Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple. ...

MUSIC giant Sony BMG has found a way to beat the bootleggers at their own game.

It was worried about illegal CDs being pumped out from Billy Joel's record setting 12 sellout shows at Madison Square Garden in the Big Apple.

So it's run around like a chook with its head cut off and churned out the official bootleg album, 12 Gardens Live.

It doesn't hit record stores until July 8 though, so some of the more organised bootleggers might still have time to make a killing.

 

The Best Of Billy Joel Live Captured On Two CDs

The Best Of Billy Joel Live Captured On Two CDs
Chart Attack - Canada
Billy Joel played 12 sold-out shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden in April, and the best performances from those concerts have been included on the ...

IMAGE: http://www.chartattack.com/pics/2006/05/25-billyjoel.jpg

Billy Joel played 12 sold-out shows at New York City's Madison Square Garden in April, and the best performances from those concerts have been included on the new two-CD set, 12 Gardens Live.

The album, to be released on June 13 by Columbia, is a piece of history as Joel's string broke the record for the longest sequence of full shows for a single artist at the arena. A banner with the number 12 on it was unveiled at the final show of his run and now hangs alongside retired numbers of Rangers and Knicks players, making the Bronx-born, Long Island-raised piano man the first non-athlete to receive such an honour.

The collection was produced by both Joel and Grammy Award winner Steve Lillywhite (U2, Peter Gabriel, Morrissey). It features 30 tracks, including big hits and Joel's personal favourites from his extensive catalogue.

Joel has sold more than 100 million records over the last 30 years and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999.

Here are the songs on 12 Gardens Live:

Disc one:

·  "Angry Young Man"

·  "My Life"

·  "Everybody Loves You Now"

·  "The Ballad Of Billy The Kid"

·  "The Entertainer"

·  "Vienna"

·  "New York State Of Mind"

·  "The Night Is Still Young"

·  "Zanzibar"

·  "Miami 2017 (I've Seen The Lights Go Out On Broadway)"

·  "The Great Wall Of China"

·  "Allentown"

·  "She's Right On Time"

·  "Don't Ask My Why"

·  "Laura"

Disc two:

·  "Goodnight Saigon"

·  "Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)"

·  "An Innocent Man"

·  "The Downeaster 'Alexa'"

·  "She's Always A Woman"

·  "Keeping The Faith"

·  "The River Of Dreams"

·  "A Matter Of Trust"

·  "We Didn't Start The Fire"

·  "Big Shot"

·  "You May Be Right"

·  "Only The Good Die Young"

·  "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant"

·  "Piano Man"

·  "And So It Goes"  

Billy Joel's daughter, Alexa, makes Toronto stop as she launches ...

Billy Joel's daughter, Alexa, makes Toronto stop as she launches ...
Canada.com - Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
TORONTO (CP) - Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of piano man Billy Joel, says it took a bit of convincing to get her pop idol dad and supermodel mom Christie Brinkley ...
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 TORONTO (CP) - Alexa Ray Joel, daughter of piano man Billy Joel, says it took a bit of convincing to get her pop idol dad and supermodel mom Christie Brinkley to support her recent decision to leave university and become a musician.

"It wasn't hard for me because I ... just felt it. I knew that I needed to do it or I would not be very happy," the 20-year-old piano-playing singer said over the phone Tuesday.

"It was just a matter of convincing my parents who, of course, were very disappointed at first but now they couldn't be more proud."

Joel - whose middle name is an homage to the legendary Ray Charles - is on a Hard Rock Cafe Tour with three bandmates this month in an effort to get her bearings as a performer before she embarks on a recording session for her debut album.

The brown-haired beauty, who is scheduled to perform a free concert at Toronto's Hard Rock Cafe on Wednesday, says she's been singing since she was one, and playing classical piano since she was 10.

But last summer when she announced that she was taking an "open leave" from New York University's musical theatre program to launch a stage career, her parents were "concerned."

"I think it surprised them," she confessed in an interview just an hour after arriving in the city.

"They did not think I was going to pursue this whole thing so quickly and with such vigour and it's gone so well that they don't even mention school to me anymore, which is funny."

The New York City-based pop vocalist also finds it funny considering her parents also left school to pursue their careers.

"He didn't even graduate high school," she said of her father, who has since received five or six honorary degrees, including a doctorate of fine arts from Syracuse University earlier this month.

"And my mom didn't graduate college and I always throw that back at them too. I'm always like, 'You can't say anything!"'

The younger Joel, who grew up mostly in New York's tony Hamptons, hasn't shopped her demos to any record labels yet and she doesn't have a manager so she's calling her Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dad "all the time on the road" for advice.

Don't count on seeing him at any of her shows, though - they've both agreed "it would be a bad idea."

"If he came to all the shows ... it would immediately direct all the attention onto him," said Joel.

"He's been to a couple - you know, he's kind of snuck in and kept a low profile - and he's going to come to a few more later on. But he could never just start coming to them on a regular basis."

On the Net:

www.myspace.com/alexarayjoel

 

'Movin' Out' captures spirit of Joel's music

'Movin' Out' captures spirit of Joel's music
Eagle Tribune - Lawrence,MA,USA
By Rebecca Schoonmaker. "Movin' Out," the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical featuring the music of Billy Joel, is back in Boston after a sold-out run in 2004. ...
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You oughta know by now: 'Movin' Out' all about soul

You oughta know by now: ‘Movin’ Out’ all about soul
Boston Herald - United States
By Robert Nesti. When “Movin’ Out” opened in Boston two years ago, the evening was upstaged with an impromptu concert by Billy Joel. ...
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When “Movin’ Out” opened in Boston two years ago, the evening was upstaged with an impromptu concert by Billy Joel. Who better than the Piano Man to top a theatrical construct of his songs?

    There was no such celebrity sighting at last night’s opening at the Opera House; there was no need to. “Movin’ Out” can stand on its own as a spectacularly entertaining synthesis of theatrical forms. (If it needs to be pigeonholed, it is best called a “jukebox dancical.”)

  It even had a star turn or two of its own. First, there’s vocalist Darren Holden, who sits on the platform above the stage where he sings more than two-dozen Billy Joel songs that range from the familiar (“Just the Way You Are” and “Uptown Girl”) to the lesser known (“Angry Young Man” and “Big Shot”).

    Holden, who provided similar duties two years ago, has a full-throttled rasp perfect for Joel’s songs, and he’s assisted by top-notch musicians. They could have played all night if the audience had its way.

    Second, there’s dancer Brendan King, who plays Eddie, the high school heartthrob whose experiences in Vietnam nearly ruin his life. Whether it besomersaulting across the stage or (incredibly) dancing on his hands, he commands the stage with his athletic prowess and nearly steals the show from his fellow cast members.

    I say nearly, because the true stars of “Movin’ Out” are director/choreographer Twyla Tharp, who conceived the show, and this amazing company of dancers, who do her proud with their every move. Her exacting, Tony- winning choreography is a thrilling mix of elements as diverse as classical ballet and MTV music videos, which she uses to tell a period narrative that follows the coming of age of five high school friends in the late 1960s.

    Tharp’s lean narrative follows their romances, breakups and involvement in the Vietnam War. One of them is killed, while the survivors are tainted by their experiences.

What is most surprising is how well Joel’s songs work within this narrative context, providing the evocative soundtrack for this emblematic baby boomer story.

Billy Joel serenades convocation
ChronicleHerald.ca - Halifax,Nova Scotia,Canada
SYRACUSE, New York (AP) — Pop singer Billy Joel got a standing ovation from nearly 5,000 Syracuse University graduates after he serenaded them and urged them ...

 

Billy Joel serenades Syracuse students

Billy Joel serenades Syracuse students
Capital News 9 - Albany,NY,USA
Singer Billy Joel got a standing ovation after serenading nearly 5,000 Syracuse University new graduates Sunday morning. He told ...
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Singer Billy Joel got a standing ovation after serenading nearly 5,000 Syracuse University new graduates Sunday morning.

He told the grads to do what they love in life. He said, "Don't do it for security or status, prestige, money, or, for crying out loud, don't do it for somebody else."

Then he sang them a song based on the tune of "Down in New Orleans," and it included the phrase, "With any luck, you'll get a PHD at Syracuse University."

Joel never graduated high school, but now he holds five or six honorary degrees. That includes a doctorate of fine arts from Syracuse, awarded Sunday.

 

Joel serenades Syracuse students, Billy Joel speaks at SU commencement

Joel serenades Syracuse students
Newsday - Long Island,NY,USA
SYRACUSE, NY (AP) _ Singer Billy Joel got a standing ovation from nearly 5,000 Syracuse University graduates Sunday morning after he serenaded them and urged ...
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Joel serenades Syracuse students

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May 14, 2006, 1:35 PM EDT

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Singer Billy Joel got a standing ovation from nearly 5,000 Syracuse University graduates Sunday morning after he serenaded them and urged them to do what they love in life.

"Don't do it for security or status, prestige, money, or, for crying out loud, don't do it for somebody else," he said. "Do it for love. Because if you love what you do, you'll always do what you love."

Joel, who never graduated high school and instead traveled "the college of the road," estimated he has received 5 or 6 honorary degrees. That includes a new doctorate of fine arts from Syracuse.

"I'm not here to give you a big song and dance. Maybe a song," Joel said, and then he led the audience in a tune based on "Down in New Orleans." In part, the lyrics said, "Come on everybody, take a trip with me, up to Onondaga County, that's where I'll be. Oh, you're going to be a lawyer or an engineer, you can even study music in the college here. With any luck, you'll get a PhD at Syracuse University."

The crowd answered with thunderous applause.

Last fall, Joel gave $320,000 to the university's college of visual and performing arts for music fellowships.

Joel has sold more than 100 million records over last 25 years.

Billy Joel speaks at SU commencement
News 10 Now - Syracuse,NY,USA
Billy Joel returned to the Carrier Dome Sunday for the second time in as many months. But this time he wasn't wowing the crowds with his music. ...
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Billy Joel speaks at SU commencement
5/14/2006 11:57 AM

Sunday's SU commencement ceremony was extra special for all of the Billy Joel fans at the Dome. The singer, songwriter delivered the 2006 commencement address.

He encouraged all of the graduates to do what they love, instead of doing something for fame or money.

Joel, who never graduated from high school, was also presented with an honorary degree, and what better way to honor the "piano man" than with a doctorate of music.

Thank you for inviting me to be here with you today, and thank you for this doctorate you're going to give me. Now I can get out of this dead end job and get a real career going for myself,” said Joel.

Joel also surprised the more than 15,000 people at the Dome with a special little song he wrote.

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