It’s pretty striking how many jokes fell absolutely flat — the comedy writing for this show was rather poor, and the audience sounds somewhat canned and respectful.  I know that when I’m on stage (especially if there’s somebody wearing sequins), I love a raucous and enthusiastic crowd!  The philosophy of returning stagecraft in music to the event of the night (a la Rat Pack) is something I’ll probably rant about many times in the future.

At 3:49, during For Once In My Life, check out how the saxophones are playing the flute/piccolo parts from the original recording — at the time, the stage musicians were reading from the original orchestration (listen to the more-amateur choir!) and didn’t have the instruments or the facility to play these woodwind parts on the flute.  Not to disparage at all, just thinking about the resources available and how the same composition/arrangement could be deployed in multiple different environments with great success in all.

What a grand performance.  Stevie is incredible.

Update: Best moment is 3:54-3:56.  Diana points to herself, and is kinda a ham, but still very entertaining.  There are some stiff jokes in here that were written for Stevie as being full of himself, but don’t actually match his personality.  She’s an experienced stagecrafter, who is constantly interesting and engaging, even when her stage presence is meant to be secondary.  It’s also worth remembering that Berry Gordy originally hated the hip and uptempo version of “Once In My Life,” refusing to agree to its publication.

Stevie Wonder is young, talented, enthusiastic, and completely unaware of any stage drama.  He’s blissfully clueless.  Diana Ross, on the other hand is a fantastically seasoned performer: sexy, talented, and aware of how to best handle the situation.  She wins the night, while Stevie will laugh about it later, slightly embarrassed at his younger self.

More tongue-clicking at 1:29!  And he looks like he’s sitting particularly low at the keyboard; this might have something to do with what they tell me about him playing without his thumbs.  The ballet dancer superimposed is pretty fantastic, but more so is the realization the Stevie Wonder is one of those people who simply does not sing out of tune — it’s obvious from the deviations from the recording that he’s singing live, but he’s always spot-on with his pitch.  The only person I’ve met to truly do that with such ridiculous (near-mechanical) consistency was Phillip Childers, in the Achordants.  Wowzer.

Now try this one:

The pitch is still ridiculously spot on, but the phrasing and the performance are much more “Greatest Hits”-y.  After all that time, the inspiration for singing a beautiful song is largely gone, and the natural spontaneous enthusiasm has left; in their place is a near-craven desire to spice it up somehow, lest the magic be gone.  Concerts like these are important to honor a great hero, but nostalgia does not equal innovation.  Stevie applies new musical styles to this performance; however, I always imagine he is much happier when he is producing new material.

The biggest hurdle, I imagine, is that those who grew up with his music are not longer looking for new music — only reminiscence.

Stevie’s a bit of a diva here, but he’s also relatively young and probably excited as hell!  That head shaking vibrato isn’t a great habit though — he stopped doing that later on in his career, but he never stopped letting the music move him.  He’s a musician beyond compare, with a golden voice and YouTube videos that are sensational to browse.

Update: I notice that Diana Ross was born in 1944, and Stevie Wonder in 1950.  When this was recorded, that 6 year difference qualified for an “older woman” joke.  If this video dated somewhere around 1970, that would make Diana about 26, and Stevie 20.  These are two young folks making jokes about their age, but as a twentysomething in 2008, they both seem exactly the same age — baby boomers.  At this time, however, it was a completely different story.

Was there a tension?  Clearly, Diana probably felt that Stevie was way too young for her, and made the obligate joke.  Stevie?  I imagine he was elated to be sharing the stage with what might be the equivalent of his friend’s famous older sister… and they were acting out a romantic tension!  At around 1:40, look at Diana’s body language leading into Stevie’s tongue clicks (!!!).  Something else, at the very least.

Finally, watch her strut over to him at the beginning!  Quite a swagger.