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greaterstokesawareness · 4 months ago

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My RECAP: Brian Stokes Mitchell at 54 Below Diamond Series, June 25, 2022

Better late than never?

I never did a proper recap of this monumental show because does anyone else have reverse seasonal depression in the summer? lolsob. Now, it’s two years later. But let’s be real, I’m still thinking about this show and how magical that night was, and I have a ton of very cool pictures and videos that I want to share. So my friends, here’s an extremely late recap.

An embarrassment of riches

For us, this show came on the heels of seeing Stokes on April 4th at The Town Hall (x) and in our hometown on June 11th on the New Haven Green (x).

The tickets were quite expensive, at a little over $350 each, which included a four-course dinner and a complimentary glass of champagne. I want to use so many unhinged emojis right now, but I’ll just say, folks, it was a miracle I had enough available credit on my card to charge the full amount for these two tickets. I wish I was an actual rich person because then I would have gone to all the shows in Stokes’s 54 Below weeklong residency.

We started the day very glamorously by taking the metro north from CT to NYC too early and then standing under an air conditioner vent at Grand Central while we timed our Uber to the club, because it was way too hot to walk anywhere. We stay classy always. Anyway, we enjoyed a really fancy and delicious meal and by the time our dessert was delivered to the table Stokes had taken the stage and I let my ice cream melt completely. 54Below is a super tiny club and our table was just to the left of the stage. We were seated next to a couple folks we didn't know, but we got to have a lovely chat before the show started.

Some highlights

So first of all just to be clear, the whole night was one big highlight. You can’t sit that close to the stage in a small, intimate setting and look over at your favorite artist of all time and not be in awe the whole time. That being said these were my favorite moments:

Stokes taking our request of “Wizard Every Day” and just absolutely winning the room over a thousand times with the goofy sincerity that is his specialty. [Side note: when he asks who has the album and no one cheers but us every time, I am puzzled because how and also why].

The back and forth instrumental song-story with the saxophone player in “Love for Sale” #adorable.

“Waters of March” god I love this song when he sings it, that night it was the plink of the piano keys and the clink of the silverware, the moments in the song where Stokes lets his voice fly a bit, the stomp at “the foot the ground,” the melodica as instrument and prop “the range of the bow.”

"Pick Yourself Up" because that is a Fred Astaire song and I love it forever.

All the songs I heard live for the first time: "I've Got You Under My Skin," "Another Hundred People/Take the A Train," "Love for Sale," "Lush Life," "Pick Yourself Up," and "Satin Doll."

My videos from the show (x), full show audio (x)

Set list:

I’ve Got You Under My Skin

Another Hundred People/Take the A Train

Man of La Mancha

A Wizard Every Day

Love for Sale

Lush Life

This Nearly Was Mine

So In Love

Waters of March

Pick Yourself Up

Satin Doll

Wheels of a Dream

Impossible Dream

What a Wonderful World

More pics:

#brian stokes mitchell #broadway #musical theater #brian stokes mitchell: concert #greater stokes awareness: author's note #greater stokes awareness: my recap #greater stokes awareness

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greaterstokesawareness · 1 year ago

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My RECAP: Brian Stokes Mitchell at Perelman Performing Arts Center in NYC, October 5, 2023

Autumn in New York when it still feels like summer

It was so warm out on this early October day that I didn't even get to wear my Richard Gere pea coat trench, maybe next time. We spent a bunch of time wandering around St. Paul's Chapel and graveyard and visiting the September 11 memorial reflecting pools. The performing arts center is just across the street. This isn't a part of New York City that we've ever visited so we did a lot of exploring. Our next stop was the Tin Building and the Pier 17 waterfront area overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a really cool spot with lots of built-in outdoor seating and restaurants.

Not a library

The new Perelman Performing Arts Center is a big marble cube of a building with spaces that are designed to be flexible to accommodate all kinds of different performing arts needs. There's also a restaurant and lounge, an outdoor balcony and a giant staircase leading up. I work at Yale and it reminded me of the Beinecke Library because the there are no windows and the marble is designed so the light filters through. It was a pretty cool spot and I would love to see another show there sometime. You can read more about the building in this New York Times article (x).

Songs of Hope and Life

The show was Brian Stokes Mitchell accompanied by Ted Firth on piano and was titled Songs of Hope and Life. It lasted for a good two hours and Stokes did 18 songs including several that I personally hadn't heard him perform live before. You can find the setlist below. Highlights were pretty much all the songs I've never heard live before which were "Hope," "The Best Is Yet to Come," and "Being Alive." And I'll give a goofy honorable mention to "It's Not Easy Being Green" and "Hooray for Tom" mostly because of the surprise green spotlight which honestly cracked me up. When Stokes did "Odds on Favorite" and "Over the Moon" he was in full excitable-boy-mode. He literally sat at the piano and played an instrumental song from the E.T. soundtrack with Ted Firth playing his part standing up. I mean it was objectively adorable.

[side note: I was surprised to hear the Bruce Hornsby cover and it made me think that the Jackson Browne songs on my wishlist (x) might not be too far off the mark :)) Brian Stokes Mitchell "Sky Blue and Black" when?].

Twice in a lifetime opportunity?

Did I mention we were sitting in the front row center? Yeah, in a repeat of good fortune just like at the Town Hall show last April, we were lucky enough to sit in the front row. Which means we were lucky enough to witness the absolute artistry of Stokes singing "This Nearly Was Mine" with no microphone. I will never get tired of seeing him do this. What made this time especially cool was that he moved right up to the edge of the stage, right in front of us, to sing. Honestly, I was frozen in my seat, literally holding my breath at times. Like I can't properly explain how captivating it is to watch someone that talented and professional at their craft sing that close up and to be able to catch every mannerism, every dramatic choice, all of the breaths and swallows, all those small decisions during a performance. Just stunning. Here's audio of the song from that night (x), I know it can't truly capture the actual performance but you can get an idea of how cool it was to have Stokes basically sing this really special song right into your face.

Next up for us is Ridgefield, CT on October 29th. Super excited, can't wait to see Stokes sing again! You can find a link to his upcoming concert dates and other goodies in my pinned post (x).