Billy Joel in the News: 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"