A DREAMER'S HOLIDAY

January 1999 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

A DREAMER'S HOLIDAY
by Jack Hardy

Once again, James Mastin and friends amazed the people of Abaco with a concert that was both professional and intimate in the Black Sound Theatre of Green Turtle Cay on 5th December. The moon tried to hide between the fronds of tall palm trees and the temperature was balmy in this perfect natural theatre area. Several hundred people were present but perhaps thousands could have been accommodated.

Star of the night was Joy Martone, whose delicious voice made every song her very own. Her rendition of Smoke Gets in Your Eyes was perfect and heartfelt. Others might have felt that Joy's My Heart Will Go On was better than Celine Dion's. Most of her songs were upbeat, but when she told the audience that singing Gounod's Ave Maria was her favourite performance we had to believe her after hearing her perfectly-paced rendition. Joy was assisted by keyboard artists Steve Thomas and Mel Arnold, who would be the despair of any youngsters taking piano lessons. Their expertise was sublime.

James Mastin professes to be no more than an inspired amateur when it comes to singing. His forte is sculpture. But his repertoire was wide and inspiring and his duets with Joy Martone were outstanding. They had a very great feel for each other and You Don't Bring Me Flowers Any More made you wonder whether they'd disappointed each other beyond all hope. That thought was dissolved when they got together for Christmas songs that were filled with festive feeling and even had Joy dancing around the stage (and trying to sing!) dressed as a reindeer with a Rudolph's red nose.

Actor Travis Neff changed the pace of the evening with monologues which deliberately skirted the border between serious and comedy. It became quite clear during his skit with author Sandra Riley that comedy was at the forefront. Shakespeare's Hamlet was the subject, and if that sounds boring - you weren't there. After the brief ten minutes of the skit you could have passed a high school exam in Shakespeare and enjoyed the process.

The Bahamian presentations of the evening stood without any need of apology. The Anglican Choir, featuring young people, held the audience rapt. After their two songs there were some who wondered why the choir leader, with her rich contralto featured in a question and answer spiritual, had not been asked to perform as an individual. I heard listeners comparing her voice with Mahalia Jackson's.

The other Bahamian performer who did not allow the tenor of the evening to lapse was Brian Thompson, at present out of Freeport. His Sweet Little Jesus Child from Black Nativity could only have been performed by a confident singer. United States artists gave us a wonderful evening of songs and entertainment yet the Bahamian input was in the same league.

Thank you, James Mastin. Thank you, Joy Martone. Thank you, everybody who had a part in such a memorable event. I have been told that there were hours and hours of practice from late summer up until the night of the concert. It showed.

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