Recent Reviews From The
Movin' Out Tour
updated 4/28/06
Billy Joel tunes in
‘Movin’ Out’ come naturally
BY DAN KANE repository entertainment editor 4/28/06
(This article came out prior to
performing in Akron, Ohio. - Wade)
It seems divinely predestined, Wade Preston’s starring role as piano man in
the Broadway musical “Movin’ Out.”
Just as Billy Joel’s music fuels the show, it has been a mainstay in
Preston’s life.
“I grew up in Massapequa (Long Island), which is not far from Hicksville,
where Billy grew up,” Preston says. “I’ve known about Billy since I was a
little kid. Billy Joel is a Long Island prerequisite.”
He chuckles, then expounds.
“I remember my first slow dance at the junior prom to ‘Just the Way You
Are.’ Every song in the show has some kind of significance in my life. I can
remember when it came out, where I was and the people I was involved with at
the time.”
Later, Preston would perform these songs — “Piano Man,” “Always a Woman,”
She’s Got a Way” and so many more — routinely as a singer-pianist at
restaurants, parties and piano bars.
“I’ve probably played ‘Just the Way You Are’ a thousand times,” he
estimates.
VISUAL APPEAL
Two dozen Billy Joel hits are interwoven in “Movin’ Out” to tell the story
of a group of five lifelong friends over the course of two decades, from
high-school innocence through the Vietnam War and beyond.
As the band performs above the stage, a team of dancers enacts the storyline
entirely through movement choreographed by Twyla Tharp.
“It’s sort of a rock concert-slash-ballet. There is a lot of visual appeal,”
Preston says. “You’ve got a nine-piece rock band up there to watch, but
you’ve also got these Olympian dancers who are basically describing the
story through dance. It’s this really unique combination.”
Preston has been with “Movin’ Out” since its Broadway opening in October
2002. Because of the show’s obvious demands on its vocalist-pianist, the
production utilizes two men is rotation.
“It’s such a trying role. You don’t want to kill the guy with eight shows a
week, so we split it,” Preston says. “In a typical Broadway show, the lead
will do maybe five or six songs. In this show, I have 24 songs and they’re a
lot of work.”
After three and a half years of “Movin’ Out,” does Preston ever suffer from
Billy Joel burnout?
“I never get tired of this role,” he says. “I try to bring something to the
table with every show. You have to do things a certain for the dancers to
follow it, but there’s room in there to get loose and give it your all. The
audience can feel that spontaneity.”
BILLY’s VIBE
The obvious question: What is Billy Joel really like?
“He’s a really nice guy and a very intelligent man, too. He’s got a vibe
about him,” Preston says. “I’ve had the opportunity to hang out with him a
couple of times and talk about songwriting and classical music.
“I like to think of him as a regular Long Island guy who happens to be an
iconoclastic superstar.”
Joel was often on hand during the process of creating “Movin’ Out.” How
nerve-wracking was it to perform Billy Joel songs in the songwriter’s
presence?
Not so bad. “He basically was there to offer his support. He really didn’t
offer pointers,” Preston says. “The only vocal tip he ever gave me, ‘That
sounds phat, man.’ ”
He chuckles. “I’m hoping he meant P-H-A-T.”
On stage
WHAT: “Movin’ Out.”
WHEN: Tuesday through May 7. Shows at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 8
p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday.
WHERE: E.J. Thomas Hall, University of Akron.
TICKETS: $30 to $63.50. On sale at Ticketmaster and the Thomas Hall box
office, (330) 972-7570.
Click
here
for a
little bit of chatter and singing on Cleveland's WYNC
NEW
STATE of MIND
Story of 'Movin' Out' casts favorites by Billy Joel in a different light
By JANE KWIATKOWSKI
News Staff Reporter
Buffalo News
4/14/2006
WHAT: Movin' Out
WHEN: Opens Tuesday and runs through April 23.
WHERE: Shea's Performing Arts Center, 646 Main St.
TICKETS: $25 to $57 (box office, Ticketmaster)
INFO: www.sheas.org
Performing on Broadway before a star-studded audience is a possibility on
any night, but just a few years ago, when the one and only "Piano Man" took
a front-row seat at "Movin' Out" to witness the transformation of his
classic songs into a two-act musical production, his praise - much like the
songs he writes - was to the point.
"Phat," Joel told "Movin' Out" frontman Wade Preston. "Sounds phat."
Joel's praise, coming from a solo artist whose album sales in this country
rank third behind Elvis Presley and Garth Brooks, did not surprise Preston,
who will take his seat behind the piano when "Movin' Out" opens Tuesday in
Shea's Performing Arts Center.
"He's the real thing," Preston said during an interview from his Manhattan
residence. "A part of Billy Joel struggles with being the iconoclastic
superstar that he is, but he wants to be a regular guy, too.
"Of all the people I have performed for, he was probably the least
intimidating," added Preston. "My final audition was in front of Billy Joel,
and he didn't make me nervous at all."
The success of "Movin' Out" has been pretty much an anomaly in the growing
genre of jukebox musicals, where plays are built around a pop music song
list. Its three-year run on Broadway earned two Tonys for two stars: Twyla
Tharp won for best choreography and Joel for best orchestration. The touring
version, meanwhile, is scheduled to rock Japan sometime this summer. And a
new production recently opened in previews at the Apollo Victoria in London,
where it will run until July before starting on a European leg.
The key, according to many in the music industry, is the songwriting talent
of Joel, who at age 56 is in the middle of a highly successful concert tour.
"He's a great storyteller," said Preston. "If you're not a good songwriter
and you have a hit, it's a hit for one reason or another - marketing or
maybe the way you look, something trendy at the moment. But a really good
song is going to be around forever, and Billy has done a bunch of them."
The story of "Movin' Out" begins on Long Island in the '60s and focuses on
three couples who are at opposite ends of the relationship spectrum: Brenda
and Eddie are finished, while James and Judy appear ready to wed. Tony and
Brenda, meanwhile, have just begun to tango. But the Vietnam War interrupts
everything, taking the men - with one never to return.
Suddenly, songs like "We Didn't Start the Fire," "The Stranger" and
"Pressure" hold new meaning, especially when interpreted by a troupe of
dancers.
There is no dialogue spoken in "Movin' Out," allowing Preston - who will
alternate the piano man role with Matthew Friedman - to act as a singing
narrator. (Preston is on a monthlong special assignment, filling in for the
vacationing Darren Holden.) The tour also runs with alternating principal
dancers.
At age 44, Preston was raised on Long Island. In fact, his first slow dance
at the junior prom was "Just the Way You Are." Since then he has made his
career "singing and playing the piano in all kinds of bars and restaurants
and private parties."
"I've known about Billy since I was a little kid," Preston said, "and in
1973 when "Piano Man' came out, suddenly the rest of the world felt it, too.
He was already very well known on Long Island, the Tri-State area as well."
Joel, who has not had a new album of pop songs released since "River of
Dreams" in 1993, told London's Daily Telegraph that Broadway had always
inspired him.
"I guess I can look back at my albums as if they were little Broadway shows
in themselves," he was quoted in a March feature story. "Of course, I was
influenced by everything - classical music, rock 'n' roll, jazz, blues, I
liked it all. But Broadway is an inherent part of my writing. George
Gershwin was amazing. Richard Rodgers was maybe one of the greatest American
writers of popular music. Frank Loesser, Lerne and Lowe . . . I admire all
their stuff to this day."
When the production played Broadway, Joel periodically would join the cast
onstage at show's end.
"The audience would go berserk," Preston recalled. "He usually would play
"You May Be Right,' but the last show, he played the full version of "New
York State of Mind,' and then he played "Miami 2017' ("Seen the Lights Go
Out on Broadway'), and it was surreal because it was the last show, and
there was Billy, the man, playing."•
‘Movin’ Out’ is movin’
into Greenville
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Movin’ Out is coming to the Peace Center in Greenville this week.
By TONY BAUGHMAN
Staff writer, The Aiken
Standard
Wade Preston is in a New York state of mind.
As the lights come up and the dancers begin to glide across the stage,
Preston pulls himself up to the piano and channels singer/songwriter Billy
Joel. Like the song — and the hit musical’s title — say, he is once again
“Movin’ Out.”
“Ever since I was a little kid, even before Billy got really famous with
‘Piano Man,’ I’d known who he was,” said Preston, a Massapequa Park, N.Y.,
native who stars as “The Piano Man” in the national touring company of the
Tony Award-winning production. “Billy was a local boy done good, this
amazing piano player and singer that everybody knew. So for me, it’s
especially cool because as a Long Islander, I take a lot of pride in the
fact that he’s from my neighborhood.”
Preston and the rest of the “Movin’ Out” cast will bring that hometown pride
down south to The Peace Center in Greenville this week. The musical runs
nightly Tuesday through Sunday, with matinee performances Saturday and
Sunday.
For three years, Preston tickled the ivories at the Richard Rodgers Theatre
on Broadway, sharing “The Piano Man” role with Michael Cavanaugh. The show’s
New York run ended in December, and now the touring company is delivering a
healthy chunk of Billy Joel’s song library and the choreography of dance
legend Twyla Tharp to audiences across the U.S.
“Essentially, I get to be Billy Joel,” Preston said. “I’m basically the
storyteller. It’s a story that’s built on the lyrics of Billy’s songs and
told physically through dance.”
With Preston and his band playing live from a suspended stage, a troupe of
dancers interpret Joel-penned hits woven together into a loose narrative
about four friends balancing life and love in the aftermath of the Vietnam
War. There is no dialogue; the lyrics speak for the dancers.
For Preston, performing Billy Joel’s music every night in the
autobiographical “Piano Man” role is a transportive experience. For two
hours, he is back home on Long Island.
“It’s all so personal to me. I grew up with this music,” he said. “‘Do you
remember those days hanging out at the village green?’ I played at the same
village green that he’s talking about in ‘Scenes from an Italian
Restaurant.’ He’s talking about me growing up in Massapequa. He was in
Hicksville; they’re not that different.”
“Movin’ Out” features 24 of Joel’s biggest (and not-so-big) hits. With such
a wealth of great songs, Preston said he has a tough time choosing
favorites.
“He has an extraordinary catalog. He’s a great performer, great songwriter,
great storyteller. Everybody can kind of see themselves in his songs,” he
said. “It’s hard to pick one, but I guess my favorite song to perform is
‘Goodnight Saigon.’ I think it’s the quintessential tribute to what these
guys went through. I have friends who were vets, and that one really means a
lot to me. It’s such a beautiful song. It’s such a powerful moment in the
show.”
Preston performs “Goodnight Saigon” while one of the main characters, Eddie,
suffers a flashback to Vietnam as he struggles with post-traumatic stress
syndrome.
This sobering, moving scene is in sharp contrast to the upbeat, sing-along
appeal of such lighthearted radio fare as “Uptown Girl” and “It’s Still
Rock-n-Roll to Me,” also featured in the musical.
Though “Movin’ Out” has a distinctly New York flavor, Wade Preston said
Joel’s music and Tharp’s moves enjoy universal appeal and should be a blast
for South Carolina audiences.
“Wherever you grew up, there are issues that are relevant to everybody,” he
said. “Everybody had a village green. They had a neighborhood. They had
friends that got married early, right out of high school, and had a rough
time of it. They had friends who went to Vietnam. They danced a slow dance
to ‘Just The Way You Are.’ Certainly, Billy encompasses the Long Island
experience, the New York experience, but more importantly, he really does
encompass the American experience. The accents might be different, the
states might be different, but we all go through the same stuff.”
www.peacecenter.org 800-888-7768
'Movin' Out' is the hit of
Center's season
This is a must-see production
Published: Wednesday, March
1, 2006 - 6:00 am
By Ann Hicks - ahicks@greenvillenews.com
A phenomenal show opened at the Peace Concert Hall on Tuesday night that has
everything you ever wanted and more in great entertainment.
It’s “Movin’ Out” — and without a doubt is THE hit of this Peace Center
season.
The show without a dialogue tells its tale through composer/rocker Billy
Joel’s mega-hits and famed choreographer Twyla Tharp’s passionate,
high-voltage, dance numbers.
What is most amazing about this show is how each of the 24 songs — from
“Scenes from an Italian Restaurant” to “Uptown Girl” and “Shameless” gains
meaning and weight as it is translated into motion that is at once
thoroughly athletic, rowdily sexy and classically lyrical.
The show is so right-on in other ways as well.
It wonderfully chronicles the life of five young and close friends — Eddie
(Rasta Thomas), Brenda (Laurie Kanyok), Tony (Keith Roberts), Judy Whitney
Simler) and James Eric Otto), — who feel invincible in high school only to
find out that life can turn mean after graduation.
This is the 1960s and the guys go off to fight in Vietnam where James dies
and from where Eddie and Tony return home broken to Brenda and Judy who are
also unable to cope with the pain and sorrow of their own predicament.
Not to worry. There’s lots of drugs, sex and rock’n’roll to ease the pain.
And they all go down together.
And we, the audience, get absolutely caught up with every moment of this
drama that demands us to sit at the edge of our seat and at times fight back
the emotions that we can’t quite subdue.
And at other times, urges us to jump up, dance in the isles and scream and
shout our approval of the fantastic dancers and the sweeping power of the
music that stirs us to the very depth of our core.
Each performer is a star in this show and that includes the dynamite
principal vocalist, “piano man” Wade Preston, and the nine-member band that
rocks and rolls the stage.
The production is greatly enhanced by Donald Holder’s consistently dramatic
lighting, Santo Loquasto’s minimalist sets and Suzy Benzinger’s costumes
that in their own way drape the action from bliss, to hell, to redemption.
The show has seven more performances and you simply shouldn’t miss it. If
you haven’t been to the Peace Center now is the time and this is the show to
start you off. And if you’re a steady customer, what are you waiting for?
Call 467-3000 and see the show at least once.
He's Got a Way
Billy
Joel's songs make "Movin' Out" a smooth move for pianist
Published: Friday, March 3, 2006 - 6:00 am
By Donna Isbell Walker
ENTERTAINMENT WRITER
dwalker@greenvillenews.com
Wade Preston, who plays piano and sings in the Broadway musical "Movin'
Out," is a self-described "Long Island boy," just like the show's
co-creator, Billy Joel.
Having that mindset and those similar life experiences puts a little extra
dash of realism into his vocals during the show, Preston said recently,
chatting by phone from New York.
"Billy encompasses the Long Island experience," Preston said. "I think
anybody who grew up on Long Island can relate to most of Billy's songs. ...
It's very personal to me; this is where I grew up. It's my little world."
There are many parallels between Joel's songs and Preston's life.
For example, the song "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant" talks about
hanging out in the Village Green. Preston played in that same Village Green.
And the musical's title song has special resonance for Preston, who left
home at 16 and can relate to the song's protagonist, Anthony.
Preston himself ended up moving to Los Angeles in the early 1980s. He played
piano in clubs and bands, and has worked in a variety of musical styles.
The big break, though, was doing "Movin' Out" on Broadway, which he did
for three years.
The way "Movin' Out" is structured, the songs and the dancing tell the story
of a group of pals over a period of a couple of decades. The main characters
are Brenda and Tony, the latter from the song "Movin' Out." Brenda was
introduced in "Scenes From an Italian Restaurant."
Joel's songs form the core of the show, and more than two dozen of them are
performed.
Since there's no dialogue, and Twyla Tharp's choreography is keyed to the
music, everything must be precise. It's quite the workout for the vocal
cords, Preston said.
"Twyla really stressed to me how important it was, rhythmically, for me to
perform the songs the same way every time, because the dancers were really
counting on that. And the joke, which really isn't a joke, has been, 'You
sing a wrong note, somebody could get hurt.'"
Even so, Preston still has a little freedom to put his own stamp on his
performance.
"Within the constraints of performing it the same way rhythmically, I still
have room to personalize it and make it a little bit different for each
show, so that each one feels fresh," he said. "But for whatever reason ... I
never get tired of it. It never feels old to me."
CLICK TO DOWNLOAD
Recent Radio Interview on KJOY (MP3)
December of 2005,
Just prior to the closing of the show
Kim and Jim In The Morning
The Great Guitar Smash,
Hard Rock Cafe, Times Square New York, August 8, 2005
That's Little Steven with his back to us and Brian Wilson
Photo by Bob Frady
Less Recent Reviews, Quotes
and Articles
updated 10/17/05
Here are some of the things that
have been said about me since we started Movin' Out in May of 2002, starting
in Chicago.
Since Michael Cavanaugh is the original "Piano Man", I am often compared to
him. This made me uncomfortable initially, since there were a lot of reviews
that favored my performance over his, and he's my friend, but Michael himself said I shouldn't
think twice about posting those things. So...
CHICAGO - Charles Eichler - July 24, 2002
Piano/lead vocals performed by Wade Preston are impressive, resonant
and clearly in the mode of Billy Joel himself; the orchestration is well in
harmony with the lyrics, Joel's artistry and the dancers' precision.
Great! - by
BrdwyThtr on June 17, 2003
Saw Movin' Out and loved it! Unfortunatly,
Michael Cavenaugh was not performing, but Wade Preston was equally great!
Great show!
Broadway Review in Newsday
A Movin' Dancical of Waste of War, Power of Art -
By Linda Winer, October 25, 2002
The elevated onstage
10-piece band with the singing piano man (the hard-driving Michael Cavanaugh
at night, the funkier Wade Preston at matinees)...
SHOW BUSINESS - Review By Astrida Woods - October 25, 2002
Two casts of principals–matinees and evenings–are required for Movin' Out.
Both are excellent. The huskier voiced Wade Preston sings with more depth at
the matinee performances. The matinee lead, William Marrie, a principal
dancer with national Ballet of Canada, delves deeper into Eddie's darker
side.
CRAZY EDDIE'S by JOAN ACOCELLA -October 28, 2002
Yet the things that Tharp is counting on, the music and the dance, do indeed
keep the show afloat much of the time. If you like Billy Joel, you will
probably like "Movin' Out." The ten-piece band, led by the excellent,
relaxed Michael Cavanaugh (Wade Preston, in the second cast, is even
better), performs on a platform that is alternately raised and lowered at
the back of the stage. The musicians are very hot. Broadway audiences adore
familiar music, and from the minute the band started up—with "It's Still
Rock and Roll to Me," natch—the people around me were bouncing up and down
in their seats.
Back To Movin' Out, New York 2003 - Matt J. Fuller
http://mattjfuller.com/albums/nyctheatre2003/movinout.htm
http://mattjfuller.com/albums/nyctheatre2003/movinout/7-14-DSCF0028-tb.html
Movin' Out played a pre-Broadway run at Chicago’s Shubert Theatre
from June 25 to August 4, 2002. During this time,
I saw the show twice, each time with a different Piano/Lead Vocals performer
(Michael Cavanaugh and Wade Preston). While Michael Cavanaugh performs with
a decidedly "Broadway" pop sound, I prefer Wade Preston's piano playing and
vocal style for this role. I was pleased to hear Wade Preston at the July 14
performance of Movin' Out in New York. I was also delighted to see Karine
Plantadit-Bageot dance the role of Brenda (whom I also saw in Chicago at one
of the performances). Both performers were very gracious after the shows by
signing many autographs, posing for pictures, and talking to fans.
"I stole most of my flashiest, most impressive piano moves from Wade." - Bob Malone, singer / songwriter, recording artist and pianist.
“Wade Preston is the fiercest piano player on the planet. If you don't
believe me, ask Billy Joel.” - Tommy Byrnes, composer, producer, Billy
Joel’s guitarist since 1989, Billy's musical director since 1995.
"If you took Harry Connick Jr., Doctor John and Jerry Lee Lewis, made them
all better piano players, and combined them all into one guy, he'd be almost
as good as Wade." - Michael
Cavanaugh, singer / songwriter, pianist, star of Movin'
Out.
"I've played with a lot of people and a lot of singers, but nobody who is as soulful a singer as Wade. And he's an amazing piano player.” - Kasim Sultan, bass player and back up vocalist for Todd Rundgren, Meatloaf, Patty Smith, Patty Smythe, Celine Deion, Ricky Martin, Jon Bon Jovi, and Darrell Hall.
An article came out in a The Beach Reporter, a local
Redondo Beach paper where I used to live in CA, not too long after I got the
Movin' Out gig. It came out on April 15, 2004, and was penned by By Whitney
Youngs, who I hereby thank for her interest.
Click here for that interview.
I post it as it comes in. Thanks for alerting me to some of these, folks.
Thanks also to the authors of these articles.
If you find something, even something bad, please let me know.
Email me at:
wade@wadepreston.com or
Wadeprestn@aol.com
Thanks, I'll see ya soon.
Wade
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