OCEAN CITY – Broadway’s Bernadette Peters appeared with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra Sunday night to open a star-studded season of concerts in the Music Pier.
The 76-year-old Peters brought the energy of a Broadway singer half her age. And the sold-out audience clapped and cheered with her on a familiar repertoire. She offered energy, variety and high style for a full 90 minutes — no intermission.
The Pops Orchestra was led by Peters’ musical director Tedd Firth. Vince Lee was hiding somewhere backstage and had only been involved in the rehearsal preparation earlier that afternoon. The orchestra showed its talent and adaptability by easily responding. Firth has had previous experience with the O.C. Pops as an arranger.
A line-up of extra winds — saxophones doubling on oboe, flute, and clarinets — augmented the usual instrumentation. Peters’ own drummer and bassist assured the steady rhythm. A short opening from the orchestra alone — lots of percussion and brass — introduced a medley of show tunes before Peters appeared for the first of many Stephen Sondheim selections.
Following “Merrily We Roll Along” Firth accompanied at the piano, along with a lovely cello counter-melody, as Peters sang “No One Is Alone” from the Stephen Sondheim hit in which she starred, “Into the Woods.” She showed her wide range and confident control of high notes.
Quickly changing styles, she danced her way through a coquettish “Nothing Like a Dame” (“South Pacific”). The patter was delightful as she flirted with one of the front-row sax players. She exploited her extremes of tessitura with a glissando from very low to stratospheric.
A few stories that connected her with dozens of other stars were interspersed. After a mention of Harry Belafonte, the string bass launched the Peggy Lee version of “Fever” and Peters climbed a couple of steps to lie voluptuously on the grand piano as the orchestra snapped fingers on the backbeat. She doesn’t take herself too seriously.
More Rodgers and Hammerstein: she sweetly sang “Mr. Snow” (“Carousel”) and “It Might As Well Be Spring” (“State Fair”) with gentle pit-orchestra accompaniment. A series of Sondheim tunes included “Children Will Listen,” from several of her cast recording albums. With soaring melodies and silky orchestrations, she carefully handled “Send in the Clowns” (“A Little Night Music”).
A standing ovation brought Peters back for a story about her friend Mary Tyler Moore, their shared love of animals and her composition “Kramer’s Song.”
– STORY by RICHARD STANISLAW/For the Sentinel
