Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Super Second Rate
Leah Coloff
Genre: Live Music, Storytelling
Venue: theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Cellist Leah Coloff takes the audience from her beginnings as a young music student to her successes as a top professional musician. Coloff has written a poignant portrayal of difficult family dynamics, completely engaging from beginning to end.
Review
Cellist Leah Coloff takes the audience from her beginnings as a young music student to her successes as a top professional musician. The story tells of her relationship with her father, who was passionate about classical music but not convinced that his daughter had the necessary skills to succeed as a musician. Coloff has written a poignant portrayal of difficult family dynamics, completely engaging from beginning to end.
As the audience enters, Coloff is playing a movement from a Bach cello suite. The playing is impeccable, yet it seems that she is “woodshedding” the parts, going over sections to perfect them. We see her cello case on stage, adorned with stickers that say “peace”, “mean people suck”, “recall Bush”, “Guiliani is a jerk”, and more. We get a sense of who she is from reading these.
Coloff begins masterfully weaving her tale of her family and the musical influences. She started her nightly cello lessons at age seven with her father, Lawrence, who was a public school music teacher and a perfectionist. She describes her dad as a kind of fundamentalist who believed that classical music was the most important thing in the world.
By the age of 10, Coloff had really connected with the physical act of playing the cello. She was single-focused. Her father discouraged friendships as they took her away from practice time. He criticized her for not loving music enough and not practicing enough hours. By 16 she had won a concerto competition.
Coloff left home to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and found a new life. She could do whatever she wanted, no longer under the strict orders of her father. She played music every day, this time to suit her. By age 23 she was the first chair in the orchestra and was accepted into Julliard and the New England Conservatory of Music to study with famed cellist Bernard Greenhouse. Then she dropped out, moved to New York, and began an acting career.
In 2000, her father died. Coloff returned to help clean out the family home. She comically describes finding a box of 50 stuffed Easter bunnies, her Campfire Girl Vest, life-size baby dolls, and the item that gave the title to this show. She poignantly tells of the discovery a letter her father had penned to her cello teacher. In it, he said that his daughter did not have what it takes to become a professional musician. She discovered a sign in the basement: “Super Second Rate”. That gave title to the show.
Coloff is far from second rate. Throughout the show we are treated to the most inspired and immaculate cello performances, along with gorgeous singing. She is one with her instrument. The music ebbs and flows, as do the stories. She is a vibrant and captivating storyteller. We laugh with her as she describes some of her childhood experiences with humour. We cheer for her successes. Our hearts break for her from the pain she experienced from a father that told her that she had to be better at music than anyone in the world. We are moved by her passion for playing music.
Coloff came to the realization that the genius is in being yourself. She has used her genius to play many styles of music in recordings and concerts, from punk-rock style to classical. She has performed and recorded with million-selling pop artists including David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Debby Harry, Rufus Wainwright, Lou Reed, and Angelique Kidjo. She has worked with contemporary classical composers including Philip Glass, Ted Hearne, Joel Thome, Sean Friar and Michael Gordon. She has played on Broadway and won a Grammy Award. She has proved her father wrong in his assessment of her future.
This show is an hour of first-rate – not second rate – stunning cello performance, beautiful singing, compelling storytelling, and humour. Coloff is a consummate performer who has mastered the art of turning her journey into a show that will have you glued to your seat while cheering for her success.
