Hamlisch’s MSO Pops Cole Porter show

Considering that the ceiling of the orchestra shell hit the Uihlein Hall stage Tuesday, the weekend’s Pops concerts were hastily moved to the Riverside Theater, and the MSO couldn’t rehearse the Cole Porter program until Friday, Friday night’s concert went reasonably well.

The audience, converted to general admission at the last minute, seated itself in orderly fashion and nearly filled the the Riverside. The concert started more or less on time. The orchestra, miked up for the occasion, sounded harsh through the amplifiers at first, but the sound improved as the concert went on.

Hamlisch opened at the piano, with Stuart Chafetz on the podium for an odd sort of concerto/medley. Chafetz did a remarkable job of scrambling along with Hamlisch’s off-the-cuff tempos. The piece had a certain scruffy charm, but would have charmed more had it been slightly less scruffy.

Later in the concert, Hamlisch twice played unaccompanied solo fantasies, on a medley and the other on Anything Goes, that sounded improvised. He’s one of the world’s greatest cocktail pianists, and his clever medley charmed and surprised at every turn. I loved his raucous, stride treatment of Anything Goes.

Hamlisch joked a little with some music majors in the front row, but otherwise his Henny Youngman persona was dormant. As a rule, Hamlisch has all the facts at the top of his head. Friday, he read Porter’s biographical notes from index cards.

Guest vocalists Jodi Benson and Gary Mauer each took a couple of solos and joined in several duets. Both are competent musicians and poised on stage. Mauer’s tenor, compared with Benson’s laser-beam soprano, sounds a little rounder and warmer. Both sang with the sort of slick pop style and sound you hear all the time in commercials. They didn’t make any mistakes, but neither did they plumb the depths of In the Still of the Night, Begin the Beguine, You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To and several other great Cole Porter songs. It’s a matter of taste, but after a while Benson’s cutesy inflections and mugging began to annoy me.

The MSO doesn’t always play well for Hamlisch. But under difficult circumstances Friday, the players were alert and Hamlisch attended to the nuts and bolts of beat and cue more clearly and specifically than he usually does. The result was good ensemble and respectable energy.

Still, the program grew tiresome: All those medleys! I recall at least five of them. And of course all the arrangers go for the most famous of Porter’s hits. Several tunes popped up in more than one medley, to give the distinct impression of programming to kill time rather than to make music.

This program will be repeated at 8 p.m. Saturday and 2:30 p.m. Sunday. Do remember that it’s at the Riverside Theater, 116 W. Wisconsin Ave. All tickets are $40, and all patrons will receive vouchers to future concert by way of consolation for the inconvenience. Call the MSO ticket line, 414 291-7605, or visit the orchestra’s website.