Musical mayhem is known to have occurred on the stage of Orchestra Hall now and then, but murder?
Yes, guest maestro Gundar Bigherr, an Uraguayan bandleader, was done away with during rehearsal, Detective Francois Deuce informed the audience before the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s sellout benefit gala on Friday night. The show must go on, however, the Hercule Poirot soundalike offered, while the investigation would continue, on and off stage.
Luckily, the opening piece was promised to Alan J. Fisher, a California physician who bought, as a radiothon premium, the chance to emulate Sir Georg Solti’s podium manners. In his conducting debut, the good doctor was quite impressive, ministering a bracing whiff of the overture from Bernstein’s opera “Candide.” He might have wielded the baton all night, except he keeled over and became victim number two.
Luckily again, the orchestra’s erstwhile associate maestro, Kenneth Jean, was on hand. He graciously stepped in, leading members of the CSO through a zesty medley of show tunes and movie themes whose focus, apt for New Year’s Eve, seemed to be on escapism and inebriation. The selections included Miklos Rozsa’s delirious ode to alcoholic recovery from the 1945 Oscar winner “The Lost Weekend” and Richard Rodger’s jaunty “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue.”
All the while, Deuce and his sidekick were hard at work trying to solve the crime. First they uncovered a stick of dynamite. Then, during the romantic pastiche that is the suite from “Casablanca,” they handcuffed concertmaster Samuel Magad and carted him away. The familiar “As Time Goes By,” not surprisingly, ushered in a mysterious, red-gowned femme fatale. The plot thickened.
Finally, acting on a hunch, the sleuth demanded a performance of highlights from Prokofiev’s “Cinderella,” which Mr. Bigherr had been rehearsing. As the midnight music ticked and ticked, the real culprit stepped forward. He was none other than maestro Jean. His motive? The oppressed lot of young conductors waiting for the big break.
In case you haven’t already figured out, all this was fun-and-games for a good cause, hosted by the Women’s Association. The detective and the dame were wittily portrayed by Douglas MacIntyre and Maggie Petersen, members of the Magic Circle Mime Company. The hilariously hapless sidekick was Thomas Quincy.
The concert concluded with cascading balloons and a round of “Auld Lang Syne,” sung by the audience with much gusto. Afterwards, about 900 nattily dressed revelers crowded into the ballroom for a buffet and dancing.
“Smashing,” said one elegantly attired woman to her companion about the evening. “I wish there was more music than plot,” opined another partygoer, but he was probably a minority of one.
