REVIEW: Patti LuPone performs with Orange County's Pacific Symphony

COSTA MESA, CA-Somewhere in the universe, the cosmos decided that Orange County would host two of Broadway's most accomplished and popular divas on the exact same dates, literally just a few feet from each other. Granted, in New York, this is perhaps a nightly, normal occurrence. But this anomaly is exactly the kind of exciting one-two punch that is rare on the left coast, even most particularly outside of a bigger mecca like neighboring Los Angeles.

But it is to be: October 8, 2009 marked the day Christine Ebersole began her intimately wonderful one-woman cabaret series of concerts at the Samueli Theater (read the review here), while just steps away at the beautiful Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, Patti LuPone performed her critically-acclaimed show Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, this time backed by the magnificent Pacific Symphony over the same consecutive nights. Both venues are on the campus of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. It is certainly a Broadway diva lover's dream come true (all that's missing is if Liza Minelli staged a show on the main stage of OCPAC; alas it is currently hosting the final tour stop of Spamalot, instead).

Though the concert series marks the opening of Pacific Symphony's Pops season, the real star here is no doubt Patti LuPone. The first half of the concert features the Symphony's tribute to Audrey Hepburn. Under the able direction of Pops conductor Richard Kaufman, the audience is treated to a melange of music from Hepburn's films My Fair Lady, War and Peace, The Nun's Story and Roman Holiday. The final medley is a tribute to both Hepburn and the late composer Henry Mancini, who composed the scores for Charade, Two for the Road and, of course, Breakfast at Tiffany's. (Listening to an orchestral arrangement of "Moon River" proves to be an aural pleasure).

The second half was all about LuPone. With Rob Fisher behind the podium conducting the Pacific Symphony (and with Joseph Thalken as pianist), LuPone takes the audience for a ride through her musical theater past. As the show's title Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda suggests, the evening's selections are from musicals she either auditioned for, shows she thinks she could/should have starred in, or-as in the case of Evita-shows that made her the star she is today.

Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, as presented in concert here, is a condensed version of the same solo concert she debuted at New York's famed Carnegie Hall, and which she now performs with other major symphony orchestras around the country, including tonight's accompanists, the Pacific Symphony of Orange County. Coincidentally, the show was conceived and directed by Scott Wittman, the same impresario behind Ebersole's cabaret show in the adjacent venue of the concert hall (again... what's going on, universe?!)

As expected of the two-time Tony® Award winner, she belts every big note with gusto and proves herself to be a hilarious comic storyteller. In between Broadway classics, she reminisces about being a young girl with theater dreams, her auditions for the Julliard school and her early dramatic work as a member of John Houseman's Acting Company. Watching her, you know she is speaking and singing out even to those at the very top-and very high-reaches of the enormous concert hall (at certain points, she actually turns upward and sings directly to those seated several stories above and behind the orchestra).

As she recounts her early backyard patio performances and auditions and early musical theater desires (with "An English Theater" from Bye Bye Birdie and "I'm in Love with A Wonderful Guy" from South Pacific), she dives into a show-stopping rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade" (from Funny Girl) that few should dare attempt. A very funny and schizophrenic take on the West Side Story duet "A Boy Like That/I Have A Love" poses her willingness to play both Maria and Anita-at the same time. In this boastful yet amusingly self-effacing rendition, the star realizes the limits of her musical range, and allows the orchestra to play the higher notes she couldn't sing in the song by simply dropping out mid-lyric.

A few touching surprises include "Easy To Be Hard" from Hair (a show she tried to audition for when it arrived on Broadway), an enchanting take on "Meadowlark" (from her work in Stephen Schwartz's short-run musical The Baker's Wife), a subdued "A Quiet Thing" (from Kander and Ebb's Flora, the Red Menace) and "Never Never Land" from Peter Pan. In a hilarious mock-protest before singing the latter ballad, she shouts, "I could've been Peter Pan! I could've been Mary Martin...but you people turned me into Ethel Merman!"  (Obviously, a tongue-in-cheek comment considering Ethel Merman's same role in Gypsy garnered her a recent Tony Award).

But then, she recounts, that the trade-off for not flying away as Peter is the ability to land the role of a lifetime: Eva Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's classic that awarded the star her first Tony Award. Although possibly her most requested, most-notable tune from her repertoire, her performance of "Don't Cry For Me, Argentina" still stirs every time, but here is further enhanced tremendously by the huge sound produced by the Pacific Symphony orchestra behind her. It is the absolute thrilling highlight of the evening.

She concludes her set with a delicate rendition of "I Was Here" before launching into Stevie Wonder's "If It's Magic" (a nice yet unexpected choice) and a song from The Robber Bridegroom (a show that earned her a Tony nomination in 1976). Her final "The Way You Look Tonight" capped off an incredible evening of music.

With LuPone's marvelous orchestra-backed show playing in conjunction with Ebersole's intimate jazz ensemble-backed cabaret set, the Orange County Performing Arts Center-at least for a few days-was ground zero for amazing Broadway talent. Will the universe align the stars once again?

Photo by Ethan Hill.

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Upcoming shows in Pacific Symphony's Pop Series:

CHICAGO'S PETER CETERA
Thursday through Saturday, November 5-7, 8 p.m.
Richard Kaufman, conductor

AN OSMOND FAMILY CHRISTMAS
Thursday through Saturday, December 17-19, 8 p.m.
Bob Bernhardt, conductor

VALENTINE'S DAY WITH Chris Botti
Thursday through Saturday, February 11-13, 2010, 8 p.m.
Richard Kaufman, conductor

PINK MARTINI
Thursday through Saturday, March 11-13, 2010, 8 p.m.
Richard Kaufman, conductor

A SALUTE TO John Williams
Thursday through Saturday, April 8-10, 2010, 8 p.m.
Richard Kaufman, conductor

GOOD VIBRATIONS-A Beach Boys Tribute
Thursday through Saturday, May 6-8, 2010, 8 p.m.
Richard Kaufman, conductor

About the Pacific Symphony

Pacific Symphony, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2008-09, is the largest orchestra formed in the United States in the last 40 years. Recognized as an outstanding ensemble making strides on both the national and international scene as well as in its own burgeoning cultural community of Orange County, Calif., the orchestra launches a significant and celebratory season in 2009-2010. The season-a milestone year for Music Director Carl St.Clair, who marks his 20th anniversary with the orchestra-includes inventive, forward-thinking projects including the launch of a new series of multi-media concerts called "Music Unwound," featuring new visual elements, varied formats and more to highlight great masterworks.

In addition to classical music, Principal Pops Conductor Richard Kaufman leads a spectacular Pops season in 2009-10-one of the most elaborate ever, starring some of the world's leading entertainers and enhanced by a state-of-the-art high-definition video and sound system. Each season also includes a three-concert chamber music series and "Classical Connections," which offers an intimate exploration of selected works hosted by St.Clair. And rising star Assistant Conductor Maxim Eshkenazy brings a new energy to the highly popular Family series-featuring holiday favorites and a number of new concert programs designed for families-as well as the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra.

It was at the start of the 2006-07 season that the orchestra first moved into the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, an acoustical gem designed by architect Cesar Pelli with acoustics by the late Russell Johnson. In September 2008, the Symphony debuted the hall's stunning new 4,322-pipe William J. Gillespie Concert Organ.

The Symphony has played a central role in the phenomenal growth of the performing arts in Orange County. Presenting more than 100 concerts a year and a rich array of education and community programs, the Symphony touches more than 275,000 Orange County residents-from school children to senior citizens. In addition to its winter home, the Symphony presents a summer outdoor series at Irvine's Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, the organization's summer residence since 1987.

Visit www.pacificsymphony.org for more information.

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