Travel The World With Music
Travel The World With Music
With Jim and Theresa Segers and Eric Branch
Maitland Public Library, Maitland FL
June 11, 2010</strong>
This wonderful free concert popped up on my calendar with little warning, but I hopped into the car in time to arrive about 10 minutes before show time. The venue was the Multipurpose Room of the Maitland Library, and the head librarian apologized that the show wouldn’t start for 10 minutes. Would I like a tour of the facilities? “Why not?” I thought, and she eagerly showed off the new book shelf and the DVD section and the children’s room, explained the history of the building and that there was free Wi-Fi thought out. I thanked her and said I had to use the Orange County Library System, but that it was a wonderful library.
In the Multipurpose Room, unusually comfortable folding chairs were set out as the busts of Shakespeare and Poe peered down on us from a shelf crammed with board games. The Segers and Branch musical ensemble was setting up a microphone, keyboard, and a cute little footswitch to simulate the pedal on a piano. Today’s topic was “Travel The World With Music”, and the show began with a rousing version of “Oklahoma” complete with the wind whistling down from the air conditioning vents. Our host for the afternoon was a mustachioed John Segers in a top hat and tux. He both sang and introduced the other performers with a fine MC style honed over the years on the Holland America Cruise Line. He sang two more songs feature the USA, “Memphis in June” and the very obscure “Gary Indiana” from Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man. “Gary Indiana” is an odd choice, the song repeats the name of the city for several bars as if looking for inspiration, and then vamps around until the music runs out. Time to flee the country…
We head to Western Europe with Branch singing a nice “Come Back to Sorrento” in Italian and an unpronounceable Welsh love song. I think his Welsh is pretty decent, although it’s been years since I’ve heard a native speaker. “White Cliff of Dover” comes from Theresa Segers and her stunning vibrato, and then she teams up with her hubby for “Yes I Remember” from “Gigi.” Leaving Western Europe we hear “Bali Hai” and “Shall We Dance” from the “King and I”, both featuring Ms. Segers. Mr. Segers returns to sing about every country in the world with Grouch Marx’s “Lydia the Tattooed Lady” from “Animal Crackers.” It’s not bad hearing it from a guy with a real mustache and eyebrows, and he even gets Groucho’s awkward dance moves correct. The entire company wraps up this hassle free trip with the theme from “Around the World in 80 Days” just to nail the concept.
I’m not sure how multicultural this has made me, but there was no threat of unexpected food or odd sanitary facilities. As the group was striking their equipment, Mr. Segers gave us a bonus track: he sang an old Irish industrial accident song called “Bucket of Bricks.” It’s about the construction worker removing bricks from a 14th floor building with a barrel and a pulley, and even if Myth Busters disproved its possibility years ago, but it’s still a great song. I’m not sure when or where this show will reappear, but I suggest keep an eye on the libraries web site. This was a fun afternoon.
For more information on programs at the Maitland Public Library, please visit http://www.maitlandpubliclibrary.org