My Pal Izzy – The Early Life And Music Of Irving Berlin – Fact, Fiction, and Peaches (FRIGID New York 2011)
by Diánna Martin on March 4, 2011
My Pal Izzy - The Early Life and Music of Irving Berlin featuring Melanie Gall
Imaginative and educational, Melanie Gall’s My Pal Izzy – The Early Life And Music Of Irving Berlin combines a healthy dose of fact and fiction as we are given a panoramic view of the life of brilliant composer Irving Berlin during his early formative years through his ill-fated albeit loving marriage to Dorothy Goetz. Our narrator, Rebecca, shares small stories behind several of his songs (many of which, in this fictionalized narrative, are based on their friendship) while the character also weaves in a considerable amount of history about the famed Berlin, who was born Israel Baline, and his childhood dreams that he hustled and worked so hard for to make a reality. As she describes the songs, she also shares them – with her opera-trained voice and pianist (John Murphy). Continue Reading…
