When the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s SuperPops conductor, Jack Everly, puts a show together, it’s not so much a question of what he’ll include in the program, but rather, what he has to leave out.
In tackling the music of the baby boom generation, the beat goes on and on and … well, you get the picture.
“It’s always a challenge to cram an entire decade into a two-hour concert,” Everly explained. “You have to figure out the big hits of the 1960s. Then, do you put them into a medley or do you spend a lot of time with them? What became iconic, or what represents what?”
| Onstage |
| BSO SuperPops |
| » Where: Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda |
| » When: 8:00 p.m. Thursday |
| » Info: $33 to $93; 410-783-8000; bsomusic.org |
In impeccably smooth fashion, however, Everly wraps up the popular music of a generation and presents his package to audiences tonight at Strathmore in a concert appropriately titled “The Beat Goes On! Music of the Baby Boomers.”
“We have a complete Burt Bacharach medley,” he continued. “He was changing the sound of American popular music during the ’60s and he’s written so much for so many people that we certainly have to pay tribute to him.”
The orchestra also elicits the help of guest soloists to perform these hits. Fresh from Broadway, off-Broadway, regional theater and clubs, the singing cast includes Matt Branic, Joe Cassidy, Roy Chicas, Farah Alvin, N’Kenge and Kristine Reese.
“Then there’s always television, and what it means to people in general; and those themes we just can’t get out of our heads,” Everly pointed out. “After all, didn’t we all go around whistling [the theme] from ‘The Andy Griffith Show’?”
Everly is also quick to note that it was in the 1960s when color TV came into popularity, and therefore the television segment will start with a medley from Walt Disney’s “Wonderful World of Color.”
Finally, there is a medley of Beatles music to close out the show because, as Everly said, “That’s truly the beginning of their time — in that decade.”
And there you have it; the evergreens of the popular American music of the 1960s. Now, naturally, the question begs: What if the audience starts singing, or whistling, along?
“Oh, it will happen,” Everly laughed. “I guarantee you.”
