Michael Feinstein will make movie music at Pasadena Pops concert

Michael Feinstein’s work inside the Great American Songbook may seem largely derived from Broadway of the past century, but he is quick to say that the unexplored treasures from Hollywood studios are equally significant.

“There are a few movie musicals that we feel we know every note from,” Feinstein said during an interview this spring at his Los Feliz home. “But beyond that there is great composition that has been bypassed coming out of most of the studios in the 1930s-1950s which is now largely unheard.

“MGM alone equals Broadway for indelible output during this era.”

The program that Feinstein has organized for the Pasadena Pops concert on Saturday zeros in on the studio. In addition to familiar music from original MGM scores such as “Singin’ in the Rain,” “Meet Me in St. Louis” and “Gigi,” among others, there was an underlying level of detective work as the singer turned conductor hunted down the material he wanted.

“In the 1953 Leslie Caron movie ‘Lili,’ part of the ballet music by Bronislau Kaper has a brilliant orchestral confection in it -- this is a crowd pleaser,” said Feinstein.

“[Composer, arranger and then music director at MGM] Johnny Green conducted this song live just once, in August 1954 at the [Hollywood] Bowl. I saw the score among his papers, which are now at Harvard.”

But the plot thickened.

“Now in the Bowl program it’s listed as ‘Halloween,’ but when Green recorded it the name had been changed to ‘Confetti’... a written note on the music reveals how this happened: it says ‘retitle all parts “Confetti.’

“But who changed it and why, I cannot say.”

Joining Feinstein and the orchestra for Saturday’s program will be singers Christine Ebersole and Ron Raines, and the Debbie Allen Dance Academy Tap Ensemble.

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Pasadena Pops. Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden, 301 N. Baldwin Ave., Arcadia, Saturday. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. for picnicking, concert begins at 7:30 p.m. $20-$88. (626) 793-7172 or www.pasadenasymphony-pops.org.