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Beautiful celebration
of ChristmasThe Brothers Caz: Christmas with the Pops: With the Honolulu Symphony and special guest Jimmy Borges, at Blaisdell Concert Hall. Repeats 7:30 p.m. today and tomorrow. Tickets $15 to $55. Call 792-2000.
By John Berger THE Drifters' "Up On The Roof" as a Christmas song? That was one of the surprises last night as the Brothers Cazimero and Jimmy Borges joined Matt Catingub and the Honolulu Symphony to open a three night celebration of Christmas in the Blaisdell Concert Hall.
Special to the Star-BulletinNo one has celebrated Christmas in Hawaii in recent years with more zest and charm than the Cazimeros and their Mountain Apple Company ohana. Their shows of years past in Blaisdell Arena and at Bishop Museum set the standard of excellence for other island artists. This year's production with the symphony is another triumph. The Cazimeros capture perfectly the magic of Christmas in both its spiritual and social contexts. Borges is a delightful guest.
The show last night was a landmark performance for the Brothers (Robert asked the audience "and anybody reviewing the show" to not mention some of things that happened. We're honoring his request).
Robert apologized several times for being a bit under the weather but deftly worked around any vocal limitations imposed by illness. He said at one point that if we couldn't hear all the notes it was because he'd be singing in a register only dogs can hear. He also mentioned the experience of seeing Joe Cocker at a long-ago Diamond Head Crater Festival and judging Cocker a bad singer.
"Bachi," he said with a big smile as "You Are So Beautiful," Cocker's huge hit of the mid-1970s, became the next number on the program.
There were many solemn and heartwarming moments. The Brothers opened by emphasizing the Christian essence of Christmas with a series of traditional hymns in English and Hawaiian. Robert shared memories of growing up in Kalihi, memories of the pink church with green trim on Kam IV Road ( "No, Kamehameha the Fourth Road," he said quickly correcting himself), and of how he and Roland always had secondary roles as animals or extras in the annual church Nativity pageant.
"Always a shepherd, never a king!" Roland commented.
The Brothers shared some of their favorite secular Christmas songs after intermission. "Up On The Roof" became a thematic reference point in an imaginative Santa medley. No Cazimero Christmas show would be complete without "Me And My Teddy Bear" and last night's rendition was the Brothers at their sweet and sentimental best.
The interplay among the Brothers, Catingub and the symphony made "Sleigh Ride" another of the big moments in the show. A clean acoustic medley of original Christmas songs performed with Robert on grand piano added yet another beautiful segment.
Borges was excellent as the star of a separate segment. No local vocalist fits more smoothly singing pop standards with Catingub and the symphony then Borges. He and Catingub featured several pop classics. A medley blending "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" with "I'll Be Home For Christmas" was beautifully executed. An up-tempo "swinging" arrangement of "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with Catingub jamming on grand piano was superb as well.
Borges returned to sing with the Brothers near the end of the scheduled program, which closed with almost 15 minutes of audience sing-along. I'd rather have had 15 additional minutes of musical magic with the Cazimeros, Borges, and the symphony
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