OCEAN CITY – Maestro Vince Lee and the Ocean City Pops Orchestra completed their 95th season as the resident orchestra of Ocean City’s Music Pier over the weekend. Sunday night, a sold-out crowd heard Kristin Chenoweth, Tony Award-winning actress and singer. The night before, the Pops welcomed dancers from the Atlantic City Ballet. The concerts capped a season of musical variety and excellent attendance.
Musical director Lee has consistently programmed concerts that engage the audience, challenge the fine instrumentalists and contribute to an arts-rich community in this vacation setting. Week after week, outstanding soloists were featured and innovative repertoire satisfied every taste. From the outdoor community concert on the football field, to an anniversary Beethoven Symphony, to stars of stage and popular theater, the consistent quality all summer brought enthusiasm to every standing ovation performance. The City of Ocean City is both sponsor and recipient of this unique treasure.
Sunday’s concert with Kristin Chenoweth demonstrated that the 56-year-old star still has the stamina and stage presence for a full evening of solo performance. She brought along her music director, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, two back-up singers, guitarists and drummer. Campbell conducted the Pops and accompanied from the piano. Even under her leadership, the gathering of fine musicians and precision performance reflected the work of Vince Lee.
Chenoweth’s 16 selections ranged from standards such as “Moon River” and “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” with gorgeous full orchestrations, to Stephen Foster’s “Hard Times,” featuring a cello solo, rhythmic energy, and Chenoweth’s extensive vocal range.
For “Zing Went the Strings of My Heart” she flirted with members of the orchestra, hopped on the piano, and shouted a “whoop” of excitement. Her tribute to Judy Garland, “The Man That Got Away,” included a trombone solo and Chenoweth’s pacing the entire stage in step with the music.
Many of her selections were biographically based. Telling her parents’ story she sang “Fifty Years” with a bit of country music sentiment and a convincing refrain, “oh, it’s real.” Back-up singers complemented her voluptuous treatment of “Woman” and the bluesy “You Don’t Own Me.” In stark contrast, she gave a sensitive performance of Weber’s “Pie Jesu” from his “Requiem,” with the other singers tastefully concealed back stage.
A well-deserved encore, “Smile,” with simple piano accompaniment had an authenticity that summed up the entire show. The only disappointment was that the orchestra never played a selection on its own for this final concert of the 2024 summer season.
Saturday night, the Pops opened with a medley of familiar Billy Joel tunes. Later, the orchestra came back with a charming and showy orchestral setting of “Luck Be A Lady,” the crapshooters’ ballet from “Guys and Dolls,” complete with percussion rattling the bones, trumpets blasting out the melody, and Maestro Lee toying with the audience. Marvin Hamlisch was represented by “Nobody Does it Better,” beautifully orchestrated, and selections from “A Chorus Line” including “What I Did for Love,” with sweet strings and rich brass.
As he likes to do, Lee selected an historic manuscript from the “upstairs” collection, this one from 1919, “Flirty-Flirts,” a bouncy dance-band tune. He brought back one of the Ballet dancers, Kirra Matthews, to sing “Bewitched” with the orchestra. Her developing clear voice typified the growing appeal of the orchestra with the next generation.
The Atlantic City Ballet provided a line-up of more than a dozen dancers. From the five basic positions, they twisted and jumped, turned and extended. These talented youngsters are learning poise and doing so with beauty, grace, and joy. The orchestra provided ballet music by Leo Delibes, selections from “Coppelia,” an 1870 fantasy of impressionistic light music and romantic full orchestration. Tchaikovsky’s “Sleeping Beauty,” an archetypical classic ballet, showcased both the lavish orchestra and the lovely young dancers.
– STORY and PHOTOS by RICHARD STANISLAW/For the Sentinel