Tiny Tim Tiptoes Into Town
His baritone is resonant-with a little help from the hand microphone.
It may become a bit shaky on top, or somewhat uneven in quality, but these problems may be attributable to opening night nerves.His soprano reveals the same troublesome shakiness, and he pounces mercilessly on the climactic high notes. But he can maintain a remarkably high tessitura, and navigates the coloratura passages with ease. He can't trill-but what a range... The staging for Tuesday evening's premiere of the one-man opera, "Complacencies of the Pegnoir," turned out to be more elaborate than might have been expected from this particular opera house. Lighting was handled smoothly and elegantly; the gauche colors fit into the spirit of the evening. The accompanying ensemble, about ten men played with sympathy and appreciation of the star's rather peculiar affinities. Yes, Tiny Tim made his Southern California debut at the Troubadour. "Complacencies," with Its tour-de-force aira "Never Hit Your Grandma with a Shovel- It Makes a Bad Impression on Her Mind," proved a marvelous vehicle for Tim's talents. It contains, of course, the selection that made him famous: "Tiptoe through the Tulips." But in Its survey of the various musical idioms from the past four decades, the "opera" also includes "Good Ship Lollipop" (with the soprano on ukulele), "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime"(one of the evening's finer performances) and "just a Gigolo." The high point of the performance came with a medley of Presley-style songs from the 50's and 60's, with "Bad Moon Rising," "Goody Goody," and "Great Balls of Fire," which Tim offered with tremendous feeling for the idiom and a good deal of histrionic embellishment. Several girls in the capacity audience offered the appropriate counterpoint (screaming) when Tim threw his tie into the crowd. The tie's the limit. In his awareness of this performer's talents, the uncredited creator of "Complacencies" has also included a duet for Tim-the-baritone to sing with Tim-the-soprano in a medly of songs of heretofor unparrelled narcissism. Tim gazes wistfully into a mirror, arranges his long, unruly curls and sings "When I have a brand new hair-do with my eyelashes all in curls...I enjoy being a..."
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