{"id":243645,"date":"2010-07-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-09T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/from-joel-to-john-broadways-michael-cavanaugh-rocks-symphonies\/"},"modified":"2010-07-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2010-07-09T07:00:00","slug":"from-joel-to-john-broadways-michael-cavanaugh-rocks-symphonies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/from-joel-to-john-broadways-michael-cavanaugh-rocks-symphonies\/","title":{"rendered":"From Joel to John: Broadway\u2019s Michael Cavanaugh rocks symphonies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Christy Scannell
\nEditor s\u00e9nior de SDUN
\n<\/strong>
\n

\"From<\/a>
After his success with \u201cMovin\u2019 Out,\u201d Cavanaugh took Billy Joel\u2019s music\u2014and now Elton John\u2019s tunes\u2014from theater to symphonic hall. (Courtesy San Diego Symphony) <\/figcaption><\/figure>Be thankful Michael Cavanaugh\u2019s dad wasn\u2019t a Tiny Tim fan.<\/p>\n

A budding 7-year-old pianist in 1979, Cavanaugh became enamored with Billy Joel songs because his father listened to them in their Cleveland home.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just really liked his music,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think I was too young to know why.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suffice to say he does now. After years as a professional musician but yet to hit it big, Cavanaugh was playing Joel\u2019s music at Las Vegas\u2019 New York, New York casino in 2001 when Billy Joel himself came to see the show. Joel took him to Broadway, where Cavanaugh played more than 1200 performances of \u201cMovin\u2019 Out,\u201d Joel\u2019s hit musical based on his own songs, until the show closed in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly was my biggest (musical) influence and here I was playing his music every night,\u201d Cavanaugh said about his run in \u201cMovin\u2019 Out.\u201d \u201cIt was amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another chance encounter led to Cavanaugh playing Joel\u2019s music with the Indianapolis Symphony. The show, entitled \u201cMichael Cavanaugh Sings the Music of Billy Joel,\u201d became a touring success, pairing Cavanaugh with 40 symphonies around the country over two years.<\/p>\n

And then Indianapolis came calling again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018The next obvious choice is to do a show featuring the music of Elton John,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, these guys tour together. And most people who like Billy Joel really like Elton John.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh is one of those people.<\/p>\n

\u201cBilly was my biggest influence but Elton was pretty much right there next to him. He is one of my musical heroes,\u201d he said. \u201cWe put this (show) together, and once again I definitely think we\u2019ve got a winner here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cavanaugh will bring \u201cMichael Cavanaugh Sings the Music of Elton John\u2026And More\u201d to the San Diego Symphony\u2019s Bridgepoint Education Summer Pops series on July 23 and 24 at 8 p.m.<\/p>\n

Choosing from John\u2019s 40-year catalog for the right songs required some trial and error. Cavanaugh originally thought the piano-centric \u201cFuneral for a Friend\/Love Lies Bleeding\u201d medley from the \u201cGoodbye Yellow Brick Road\u201d album was an obvious selection.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a request section (at a concert) in Indianapolis,\u201d he said. \u201cOne guy screamed out \u2018Funeral for a Friend\u2019 and I was all excited and said, \u2018How many people want to hear \u201cFuneral for a Friend?\u201d\u2019 and \u2026 it wasn\u2019t crickets but it was close. That (song) would be amazing with an orchestra but people don\u2019t know what it is.\u201d <\/p>\n

Instead, Cavanaugh said, \u201cWe\u2019re going after the hits. We\u2019re doing the really big, epic Elton John songs.\u201d <\/p>\n

For the San Diego audience, that means \u201cYour Song,\u201d \u201cSaturday Night\u2019s Alright for Fightin\u2019,\u201d \u201cBennie and the Jets,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Let the Sun Go Down on Me,\u201d \u201cPhiladelphia Freedom,\u201d \u201cCrocodile Rock\u201d and \u201cCandle on the Wind,\u201d to name a few. <\/p>\n

Cavanaugh said he did manage to slot a less popular Elton John song, \u201cHonky Cat,\u201d onto the play list.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat might be the most fun for me because it\u2019s got this really cool honky-tonk piano and I kind of go off and do a solo at the end where everything stops but me and I have a lot of fun with that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

That enjoyment is genuine, Cavanaugh said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people saw me do the new (Elton John) show they said, \u2018Man, you look like you\u2019re having the time of your life,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I am. Not that I don\u2019t love those Billy Joel songs but it\u2019s fun to do some new stuff. I\u2019ve been singing most of these Elton John songs my whole life but it\u2019s new to do them with an orchestra.\u201d<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t expect the evening to be all Captain Fantastic and no Piano Man, though. Cavanaugh said the \u201cAnd More\u201d aspect of the show\u2019s title allows him to sample from other artists, including Joel.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not trying to be an impersonator,\u201d he said. \u201cI try to channel the song more than I try to channel Billy Joel or Elton John. But then again, I\u2019ve been listening to these songs for so long, they probably come out the same way they went in. People say, \u2018I closed my eyes and it\u2019s Elton John\u2019 and that might be true but when you\u2019re surrounded by the song kind of the way you\u2019re used to hearing it but a bigger version of it, it kind of just falls into that place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMichael Cavanaugh Sings the Music of Elton John\u2026And More\u201d
\nSan Diego Symphony\u2019s Bridgepoint Education Summer Pops
\nJuly 23 and 24
\n8 p.m.
\nEmbarcadero Marina Park South
\nTickets $17-$76<\/strong>
\nsandiegosymphony.org<\/a>
\n235-0804<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Christy Scannell SDUN Senior Editor Be thankful Michael Cavanaugh\u2019s dad wasn\u2019t a Tiny Tim fan. A budding 7-year-old pianist in 1979, Cavanaugh became enamored with Billy Joel songs because his father listened to them in their Cleveland home. \u201cI just really liked his music,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think I was too young to […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1287,"featured_media":243646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"From Joel to John: Broadway\u2019s Michael Cavanaugh rocks symphonies","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-243645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1287"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=243645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/243645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=243645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=243645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=243645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}