Take a perfect summer evening, a million dollar view and a $90 million outdoor concert hall and add a living legend to the mix ”“ you”™ve got the makings of a wonderful night in a resort-area that”™s turned  the corner from blight to putting things right.
That”™s what Tony Bennett did for Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on Saturday night, July 19. With a crowd of more than 10,000 adoring fans ranging in age from 19 months to 91 years, you didn”™t feel like you were sitting stiffly in a chair watching someone showcase their talent: you were right in Bennett”™s Astoria neighborhood, maybe sitting out in the back yard listening to your next-door neighbor. You could almost hear the whistle of the Steinway & Sons factory down on 20th Avenue in Queens, where Steinways”™ homes, built for the workers, still stand and where Bennett was born and raised.
From his first song, “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” Bennett was at ease with the audience; you weren”™t in the Catskills, you were back in the neighborhood with Tony.Â
When he crooned Liza Minelli”™s “Caberet” hit, “Maybe This Time,” one young fan yelled out, “Don”™t worry, I love you, Tony!” It was that kind of magic that made the summer heat fade away while Bennett fanned the crowd with some cool and breezy tunes, most of them his all-time hits that had some clapping, some tearing up and everybody loving every single second of his 90-minute performance.
Though the turbulent ”™60s found Bennett ”“ like most of his contemporaries ”“ searching for a place to land, the crooner was introduced to Barry Gordy and asked if he”™d due a duet with one of Gordy”™s protégés, “Little” Stevie Wonder. “For Once in My Life” won a Grammy Award, and Bennett, a lifelong devotee of civil rights having experienced “No Italians Wanted” bigotry in his own young life, lived the lines of the Frank Sinatra standard “That”™s Life”: “Each time I find myself laying flat on my face, I just pick myself up and get back in the race.” It”™s an attitude that has found him legions of fans young enough to be his great-grandchildren.
He paid tribute to longtime friend and fellow crooner Sinatra both in song and, though unstated during the concert, in brick and mortar when he helped found The Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Queens in 2001.
Bennett, who filled every seat under Bethel”™s canopy, didn”™t forget the thousands of fans who filled the lawn, who greeted him with a roar when he acknowledged them. He also gave his musicians plenty of spotlight. They included Harold Jones, whom Bennett called “Count Basie”™s favorite drummer.”
After being in show business “for 50 ”“ no, make that closer to 60 years,” said Bennett, who will celebrate his 81st birthday this week, his finale, “The Music Never Ends,” had the crowd on its feet. But one of America”™s remaining icons of the Rat Pack era knew, as if on cue, it was time to cut the footlights. As they say in showbiz: Always leave them (a) laughing or (b) wanting more.
The crowd was as mixed a bag as you could imagine. From babies in strollers to seniors in wheelchairs, Bennett held sway. Not a peep, not a whimper, not even a sneeze while he was singing and talking to the audience ”“ except for an “I love you!” here and there.Â
For many, it was their first visit to Bethel Woods. It may have taken Tony Bennett to bring them there — but one trip could be enough to bring them back. Health care worker Ellie Cutler of Middletown, Jennifer Green, a student at Massachusetts School of Law, and Dale and Ellie Richmond from Pennsylvania all may have come to see the Grammy-winning artist but didn”™t expect to find a venue like Bethel Woods in the wilds of the Catskills. “We”™ll definitely be back,” all said in unison. Â
For Marvin Miller and his wife Phyllis it was a long drive from Monroe Township, N.J., but worth every minute, said the couple with their grown grandson in tow. Â “This was our first visit here, and the entire place is just unbelievably beautiful. I loved the museum,” added Marvin Miller, who was a 38-year-old camp director when Bethel swelled to a half-million hippies in 1969.
“Everything in the museum was relevant ”“ the music, the culture, the history ”“ it was just an extraordinary experience,” he said And look around; it is just beautiful, no detail has been forgotten. Bethel Woods is a work of art.”
Nearby Villa Roma in Calicoon was packed with time-share vacationers, many of them getting ready to make the eight-mile ride to the concert, including manager Kevin Ducey, who walked Hudson Valley Business through the new Villa Roma, scheduled to open next month. “We”™ve been enjoying the shows there, and it is getting better and better each year. Mr. Gerry just keeps adding to it, and it gets better and better,” said Ducey, a Sullivan county native, referencing Bethel Woods developer Alan Gerry. “When we are fully up and running, it will be a great added attraction for our guests. And it”™s great to see the Catskills coming back, too. We”™re looking forward to Entertainment City” ”“ the proposed Louis Cappelli development ”“ “and with Bethel Woods and the development coming here, the Catskills is finally turning a corner.”
