מיאמי אקספיריאנס תשס"ט סיקור + תמונות וקליפים

Brooklyn College (Gershwin Theater)

April 12, 2009 7:45 PM

Guest Stars: Benny Friedman and The Alumni

By: Josh Block (www.joshsjm.com)

All of the video cameras and photographers were in their positions.  The All New Miami Experience, scheduled to begin at 7:45pm, began at 8:05pm.  By this point, the crowd was ready.  Some people tried to start a slow clap, and finally the show began.  Nachum Segal, the MC for the evening, came out to introduce Benny Friedman, nephew of Avraham Fried.

Benny sang 5 songs including Ani Maamin, Refaeinu, V'Hishemda, and Adon Olam.  He mentioned that as a child, he always wanted to be in the Miami Boys Choir.  But, living in Minnesota stopped him from his dream.  He was so excited to get a call from Yerachmiel Begun requesting that he perform as a guest star at the Sunday night concert.  He gladly accepted with one request, ''you have to let me sing some of my favorite Miami songs from when I was young.''  According to Friedman, Yerachmiel Begun accepted his request, and he was finally able to live his dream of (almost) being in the Miami Boys Choir.

The Alumni were introduced next.  Made up of Menachem Klien, Moshe Teich, Eli Sinnreich and Tzvi Friedman, they surely added an exciting element to the, already incredible, show.  They sang 5 songs as well including Oseh Shalom, Eso Einai, Hakeid, M'Heiroh, and P'sach Libi.  Though they are not the original ''Miami Alumni'' they are a very talented group of guys who sing well together.  Hopefully we'll get to see them at another concert soon.

Nachum Segal came out next to introduce the stars of the evening.  ''Are you ready for tonight's all new Miami Experience?''  As smoke filled the stage, The Miami Boys came out from behind the risers (a new addition to the stage for this concert) and began their first part of the show with Galei.  It was very spirited and exciting.  The boys were wearing shiny Red and Gray outfits.  They looked very snazzy!  These outfits were definitely a good choice of costume.

Yerushalayim was next, but it did not begin with the usual slow part sung by Yoshi Bender.  Instead it began right away with the fast part.  Yoshi Bender did, however, start it off.  The show continued with the boys sitting in, what was meant to be, a campfire setting, singing Shovas.  While sitting in this position, they also sang Nikadesh.  The boys stood up as it was their turn to solo.

After two slow songs in a row, it was time for another fast song.  Ba'avur came next with just five boys performing in the song.  These boys were Jeremy Herskowitz, David Herskowitz, Yoshi Bender, Yair Kenig, and Naftali Jacobson.  The boys soloed together and individually throughout the song.  Yerachmiel Begun came out afterwards to introduce the next song.  There was one little problem.  It was evident in his voice, that his voice was just about gone.  He did sing throughout the show, but my guess is that he wanted to be present on the DVD, and he figured that they would just voiceover those parts that didn't sound right because of his voice.  In his low, crack voice, he introduced Eso Einai.

Eso Einai called for a costume change.  The boys came out with black suit jackets on top of their red/gray shirts.  They looked very nice.  Soloists included David Herskowitz, Binyamin Ravina Abramowitz, and Yair Kenig.

The boys finished off the first part of the show with Moshiach followed by Hey Hey with singing and dancing, as usual.  The intermission began at 9:10 and lasted for about 15 minutes.

Act 2 began with Nachum Segal, who introduced The Alumni for one more song.  The sang Ilu, a popular song, which they've sang at other concerts, such as Miami 25, and on their album.

The Miami Boys came out to finish off the concert with a wide spectrum of songs.  They began with a medley, which they've been doing for the last couple of concerts.  Though, one or two songs were different, I really do think it's time to replace the medley with a completely different block of songs.

The medley began with four boys dressed in army attire for  Lo Yisa Goy.  Od Yishoma followed with 4 boys in white shirts.  For Kol Mi, Tehilas Hashem, and Ki Hashem, the boys were wearing a nice navy vest over a white shirt with black pants.  They looked very nice and they wore these until Azor Noh.  As per usual, a different group of boys came out to sing each song.  All or most of the choir sang the final two songs.  Most of the boys soloed throughout the medley.

Me'im Hashem, off of the new album, was next.  Some soloists included Yoshi Bender, Meir Silberberg, Yair Kenig, Moshe Yaakov Braun, and David Herskowitz.  The choir sang this song beautifully.

The concert continued with Revach.  Binyamin Ravina Abramowitz had a nice-sounding solo during this song.  Afterwards, things slowed down, as the stage crew came to bring out 2 microphone stands, a keyboard, and a music stand.

A man named Aryeh, playing the violin, and Yair Kenig, singing and playing keyboard, were introduced for this next song.  It was Azor Noh off of the new album.  Both performers were very talented.  Yair, dressed in the black sparkly outfit that has been worn at the last couple of concerts, stood out with such an incredible voice and the ability to play the keyboard so flawlessly while singing.  This was a very special piece of the show.  Afterwards Yerachmiel came out to shake the performers' hands.  The Miami Boys wore the black outfits for the rest of the show.

Once everything was cleaned up, a bunch of boys came on stage and lied down on the risers.  The audience knew right away, it was time for Yavoh!  The choir sang this song with such spirit and excitement!  Many soloists were involved including Yoshi Bender, Yair Kenig, Binyamin Ravina Abramowitz, David Herskowitz, and Albert Ayal.

Sitting on the risers with their heads bent down, the boys began another new song, M'Heiroh.  Soloists included David Herskowitz, Akiva Abramowitz, Yair Kenig, Meir Silberberg, Yehuda Gorkin, and Binyamin Ravina Abramowitz.

Yerachmiel took this time to come out and have the boys introduce themselves.  Usually, he introduces them.  But with his voice in the state that it was, he had them do their own introductions.  You could tell that this was unplanned because some boys said their name before making it to the front of the stage.  Yerachmiel had them come down and say it again.  It all worked out in the end.

The unfortunate end had arrived.  The Miami Boys ended the all new Miami Experience with Ayom V'Norah, the first track of their new album.  Soloists in the final song included Moshe Yaakov Braun, Yoshi Bender, and Akiva Abramowitz.

This all new Miami Experience was a very special evening.  The only thing that could have made this event even more special is if they would have sung Zman Simchaseinu.  As one of the most exciting songs on the album, I was looking forward most, to hearing it.

The lighting was great.  The sound and microphones were a little bit off, but mostly acceptable.  The outfits were very nice.  The voices were excellent.  As always, this was a concert not to miss.  Hopefully, it will come out on DVD soon!

תוקן על ידי elmonsey ב- 14/04/2009 10:44:41