Mauceri Makes Heroic Effort for ‘Great American Concert’

Some concerts push the envelope. Conductor John Mauceri’s “Great American Concert: Heroes and Superheroes,” with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra on Friday at the Bowl, pushed the metaphor.

Just about anything could be included in this evening of valleys and peaks and valleys--Copland’s Common Man, a comic strip character, the inventor of ZIP codes. ....Even Mauceri’s genial commentary from the stage couldn’t fabricate cohesion where there wasn’t any.

The valleys included the world premiere of a suite that Kristopher Carter crafted from his music for the film “Batman Beyond: The Return of the Joker” and the West Coast premiere of four selections from Leonard Bernstein’s Broadway flop “1600 Pennsylvania Avenue,” sung by vocalist Marin Mazzie, baritone Rodney Gilfry and the Mitch Hanlon Singers.

The peaks included Copland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man” (marred midway by a premature entrance), Mazzie and Gilfry’s solos and duets from Broadway shows and, perhaps best, Mauceri’s rhythmically stodgy account of Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait,” ennobled by the narration of 81-year-old William Warfield.

Warfield returned to sing “Old Man River” from Kern-Hammerstein’s “Show Boat,” one of three encores (the others were the theme for the television show “The West Wing” and Sousa’s “Stars and Stripes Forever”).

A terrific fireworks show by PyrcoSpectaculars (Gene Evans, special effects consultant) accompanied three well-known John Williams film marches.