With rousing hyperenergy and its distinctive stamp of wholesome entertainment, the Young Ambassadors have seized the musical revue format to encourage optimism and friendship.
The popular BYU performers premiered the new stage show “Harmony: The Music of Life,” a singing scrapbook with which they will tour as far as South Africa and China during the next three years, at the de Jong Concert Hall.
Faithful fans filled the large auditorium and wildly applauded each of the 24 songs, though some worked better than others. In an all-singing, all-dancing revue, it stands to reason that performers need to excel in both singing and dancing. The singing was strong in most instances, but the choreography stretched many dancers so few fireworks were ignited.
In Childhood, the first of the four sections, two songs from “Casey at the Bat” were strongly staged as musical theater pieces. And “Fun” was, well, completely fun.
During the Falling in Love section, “Is You Is or Is You Ain’t My Baby” showcased the male ensemble and Conlon Bonner wowed with the jazz classic “Posin’.” Carson Wright and Emily Van Bloem led the ensemble in “Come So Far” but were overpowered by the cruise-ship choreography by the entire cast.
Family included, of course, “Family” from “Dreamgirls” and Oyoyo Bonner shimmered (literally!) in “Love You I Do.” Chris Brand torched “Grow Old with Me” for the revue’s final portion.
Three songs stood out that as less-than-successful for the theme. A holdover from the previous Young Ambassador show, “Popular” was a satisfying audience-pleaser, presented with Whitley Osborn’s lead vocals. But in the Growing Up portion, aren’t the “Popular” lyrics of “It’s not about aptitude / It’s the way you’re viewed” at odds with the importance of individual worth?
“Through Heaven’s Eyes” is a wonderful selection for Family, but the ancient Hebrew-era staging was jarring and muddled the song’s strength. There is just no point to replicating the time period of the song’s “Prince of Egypt” source. And just how does “Sing, Sing, Sing” further the Growing Older theme?
Excepting the few a cappella performances, many songs, however different in essence, began to sound pretty much the same. That could be due to the stringless synthesized jazz of the Young Ambassador band. The program ended with a splendid choral arrangement of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and, with its unfussy staging, the powerful song stood alone as the main focus.
Blair Howell is a freelance editor and writer.