~ Author: Mark Anthony Martinez II
Above: conductor Steven Reineke
Friday October 24th, 2025 – The NY Pops opened their 43rd season at Carnegie Hall on October 24th with a phenomenal concert of music rooted in Broadway and cinema classics. The theme itself was explained more clearly by the conductor, Steven Reineke: the music from the program was picked from shows that either became movies or movies that became musicals. Normally, this distinction doesn’t make too much of a difference, but in some instances, the movie score for, say, The Sound of Music was played instead of the music composed for the Broadway performance.
It was my first time going to a Pops concert, and I was very excited but also curious as to what it would be like. It was quite a mix of ages in the audience, which was nice to see. The stage wall was awash in subtle changing colors when the conductor walked out.
Maestro Reineke cut a charismatic figure as the orchestra jumped into the Overture from Bernstein’s classic West Side Story. The music was fantastic and reminded me that this show really is an American classic. The orchestra also played deftly and enthusiastically. I remembered reading that orchestras had a very difficult time playing the swing rhythms when Bernstein first composed the piece, but the Pops orchestra was certainly at home and had none of those issues.
As the overture progressed through the different numbers from the show, the lights projected onto the stage changed, seemingly to match the mood of the numbers. When the overture got to the famous “Mambo!” number, the musicians all shouted “Mambo!” at the appropriate time when the dancers would have in the show, a very rousing way to start the concert.
After the first number closed, Reineke took to a microphone and explained the concept of the show and introduced the first guest performer of the night. Elizabeth Stanley, a veteran performer, walked onto the stage to what turned out to be the opening music of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.
I originally thought it was walk-on music, but her perfectly accentuated hip pops to the music and the vocals that ensued afterward proved otherwise. The song was a perfect number to start the vocal portion of the show. The song had three verses, each one making it seem as if the song had ended. What was so wonderful about this, though, is that it got the audience excited from the get-go, with applause after each verse ended. When the song itself actually ended, the audience was ecstatic and energized.
Stanley’s first number was one of my favorites of the night. She had a perfect combination of vocal prowess and performance ability that really made a song from 1949 stand out. I actually found that her voice shone best in older numbers like the aforementioned and later ones in the show, like the classic “The Sound of Music” by Rodgers and Hammerstein, popularized by the legendary Julie Andrews.
After Ms. Stanley’s exciting number, Broadway legend Hugh Panaro walked out onto the stage and introduced his first song. Mr. Panaro originated the role of Marius in Les Misérables on Broadway and also played the Phantom in the Broadway run of the show over 2,500 times.
Panaro started off by singing “The Impossible Dream” from Man of La Mancha, and much of the audience fell in love with his tone and delivery. I heard murmurs of approval from behind me. His big number in the first half of the performance was when he sang “Bring Him Home” from Les Misérables, where his emotional pianos enraptured the audience, which bolted into a standing ovation afterward.
Panaro and Stanley peppered almost all of their numbers with anecdotes, like how Panaro lost out on playing the Hunchback in the Broadway version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame to the performer Meat Loaf, or Stanley’s parents’ church congregation coming to her performance of The Bridges of Madison County while she performed as an adulterous Italian woman. It was these anecdotes that made each number come alive and not just be another song in a concert.
The excitement from the crowd was one of the more noticeable aspects of the show. Classical music audiences tend to know the decorum of when to clap or stand, but that can cause performances to seem stuffy at times. What I loved was the general enthusiasm the audience had for the performers and the music. Two young concertgoers in front of me were having the best time cheering after numbers they loved (and sometimes in between). And that really is what makes music so wonderful—when people can’t help themselves and simply enjoy the performance.
The second half of the show was stacked with crowd favorites and showstoppers. It started with the Overture and the song “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’,” sung by Panaro from the classic show Oklahoma! The overture actually came from the movie version instead of the stage show.
Stanley sang huge numbers like the previously mentioned “The Sound of Music,” followed right after by the dauntingly difficult “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from the musical Funny Girl. Panaro sang favorites like “Johanna” from Sondheim’s classic Sweeney Todd, and for his final solo number, the breathlessly anticipated “The Music of the Night” from The Phantom of the Opera, which he had performed so many times before on Broadway. The Phantom number received the most raucous applause and standing ovations from the audience.
The concert closed with a duet of the classic show tune “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors. I had a hunch, though, that this wouldn’t be the last number, and as I expected, the duo performed a beautiful rendition of “Somewhere” from West Side Story, providing a perfect Berstein bookend to close the concert.
~ Mark Anthony Martinez II
Oberon's Glade 