The New York Pops: In Forest Hills with Megan Hilty & Matthew Morrison

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The New York Pops in Forest Hills with Megan Hilty & Matthew Morrison

By Elyse Sommer

L-R: New York Pops Director/Conductor Stephen Reineke, July 7th guest stars Megan Hilty and Matthew Morrison

Journalists covering the New York entertainment scene spend a lot of time on buses and subways. Living in Forest Hills, Queens as I do, I'm fortunate to be close enough to two major express subway lines that I could go to one of Lincoln Center's venues on a rainy day without needing an umbrella. Uptown, on or off-Broadway . . .getting there is a breeze.

Still, needing only my feet to get me there and home again is a rare treat — especially on a summer night, as was the case when I ambled down Austin Street and to hear Broadway Musical stars Megan Hilty and Matthew Morrison as the main attraction with the New York Pops during its second annual summer residency at the Forest Hills Stadium.

While the U.S. Open Tennis Matches have moved to Flushing Meadows, the historic West Side Tennis Club is still an active enterprise, a remarkable oasis in a section of Queens that, despite enormous growth and high rise building boom retains much of its architectural charm and small village atmosphere.

One of two brand-new murals in the neighborhood pays tribute to The Ramones, and the Tudor style architecture that still graces much of the neighborhood. (Photo: Elyse Sommer)

Neither Hilty or Morrison or the Pops' director hail from Queens (She was born in Seattle, Morrison and Reineke from California and Ohio). Neither does Bob Dylan (who's scheduled to grace the Stadium Stage the day after them. However, Forest Hills has been home town and weekend/summer retreat to a large and distinguished roster of internationally known celebrities. That's why one of Forest Hills High School's most famous graduates, Paul Simon, chose to end his last performing tour with two evenings at the Stadium last week. And that's why one of the murals that have since last month beautified the underpass leading to the Stadium feature the Forest Hills raised seminal punk band, The Ramones whose drummer, Tommy Ramone, famously described Forest Hills as the land of "musicians, degenerates or dentists."

The Ramones mural was created by a group of Brooklyn street artists known as Crisp and Praxis. The tennis murals on the other side of the street depicting that sport's greats ( Althea Gibson, John McEnroe, Arthur Ashe and Billie Jean King), wa done by a Bronx-based artit Andre Trenier

LIRR Station Plaza (Photo, Elyse Sommer)

Forest Hils Inn (Photo: Elyse Inn)

The fastest way to get to one of the summer concerts is by subway. However, whether you come from Manhatton or further out in Long Island, you can also take the If you come by Long Island Railroad instead of the subway, you'll be getting off at the charming Station Plaza that leads into the Forest Hills Garden section of town. Facing the station is the former Forest Hills Inn, now an apartment complex. The historic building includes a restaurant with outside seating. It's one of many neighborhood eateries, many with outdoor seating. So it's a good idea to arrive early enough to amble around the neighborhood and enjoy a meal or snack at one of the many eateries. They tend to get very busy on concert nights, but if you wander a bit further afield you'll find interesting choices on the side streets (off Austin Street which is the town's main stem).

However, you arrive, you'll be walking down a closed-to-traffic path between the Tennis Club's courts and outdoor swimming pool and the railroad tracks. The Stadium is huge but the 78-piece orchestra fills the stage and both Hilty's and Morrison's voices carried beautifully all the way to the top of the rafters.

The two stars only appeared together, in a rather strange arrangement of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" and for the final encore. Morrison had more numbers than Hilty and while he's got the looks, presence and voice to make a strong showing on the concert stage, I found his efforts to enliven his numbers with dancing rather forced, repetitious, and distracting. His "Singing in The Rain" — complete with an umbrella — was nice but hardly likely to make anyone forget Gene Kelly in the movie and the brilliant dancers in the current American in Paris on Broadway. His choice of numbers included nice medleys from his early Broadway appearance in Hairspray and the more recent Finding Neverland

Hilty is a true diva. A tall, gorgeous blonde with a magnificent voice, she knows how to charm and delight a crowd without any enhancement gimmicks — unless you put three stunning form fitting gowns in that category. She too tapped into her best known roles, with "Popular" from the forever running Wicked in which she made her Broadway debut, and "They Just Keep Moving the Line" from the popular TV series Smash. Of course, the major star of this or any of these concerts in the most diverse of New York's outer boroughs is the pleasure of listening to ear pleasing music as daylight turns to a dark summer sky.

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WELL-KNOWN PEOPLE WHO HAIL FROM FOREST HILLS
Hank Azaria, actor
Jimmy Breslin journalist
Dale Carnegie, self-improvement guru
Geraldine Ferraro member of U.S. House of Representatives/Vice-Presidential candidate
Art Garfunkel, singer/songwriter
Donna Karan, fashion designer
Bob Keeshan, creator of popular Children's TV show character Captain Kangaroo
Helen Keller, famed for overcoming mutiple handicaps
Jacob Lew, current US Scretary of the Treasury
The Ramones, punk rock band
Thelma Ritter, movie actress
Paul Simon, singer-songwriter
Tatiana Troyanos, Metropolitan Opera singer
Anthony Weiner, {disgraced}politician -- fortunately Forest Hills can't claim Donald Trump}
Pia Zadora, actress