THE NUCLEAR WHALES SAXOPHONE ORCHESTRA, Eccles Center, Park City, Saturday.
Nobody else does what the Nuclear Whales do.
That band is totally unique. We're glad it does what it does, but we're also glad the band is the only one in the world like it.
Saturday night, the Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra came up to the Eccles Center in Park City. The six-member group, all wielding saxophones and a corny sense of humor, presented what one might describe as a musical comedy revue — or maybe that should be a comical music revue.
The program began with the sounds of (real) whale calls, played in a darkened theater. Pretty soon one of the group's members appeared on stage, "calling" the others by imitating the whale sounds on his saxophone. One by one, the rest of the group joined in, "swimming" through the audience and responding with "whale calls" of their own, until all six were on stage and segued into Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik."
Of course, it was just a matter of a few measures before the Whales began diverting to totally unrelated material — "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," for example.
By adding actions, staging and between-pieces banter, the group went for the complete comedy effect.
The rest of the program followed in the same spirit. The band played a variety of music, from "Tiger Rag" to "Danny Boy" to "Tip-toe Thru' the Tulips" (polka-style) to Bach's Prelude from Partita No. 3 (an alternative arrangement, of course).
One of the highlights occurred after intermission, where for a while a stage full of students and community members joined the Whales (with a dramatic black-light entrance) for a very large all-saxophone rendition of Gounod's "March Funebre" (also known as the theme music from "Alfred Hitchcock Presents") and the Brown Brothers' "Opening Oriental."
The main thrust of the program seemed to be the comedy shtick.
Musically speaking, the performances weren't too impressive, but they did the job. The group seemed to be a sort of musical "jack of all trades," utilizing lots of styles, but mastering none of them.
Although there was quite a bit of variety in the styles of music, the distinctive all-saxophone sound and the underpinning silliness brought equality to all. Any individual piece would have been easy to recognize as a Nuclear Whales production.
In summary: We're glad the band does what it does, but we're also glad it's the only one in the world like it.
E-MAIL: rcline@desnews.com