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PTM
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6/26/2003 | posted: 8/25/2004 at 1:03:33 AM ET
Sometime back I said I wish I could find a review I had read of one of Peters' concert where the critic said he couldn't think of another performer who could attract such a multi-generational crowd -- well I finally found the review. It was from the Hartford Courant 11/6/95 by Steve Metcalf:
There may be any number of female singers who can offer up an evening-length, one-person show in which the repertoire ranges from Hank Williams to Harold Arlen, who can do a cheerfully campy "We're in the Money" one moment and a deeply poignant "No One is Alone" the next, who can both create and poke fun at her dizzy ingenue persona at one and the same time, who can attract an alert, multigenerational crowd and then hold it rapt for two hours of nonstop, high-octane vocalizing.
It's just that, offhand, I can't think who they might be, apart from the one person who actually did it Saturday night at the Bushnell Memorial.
That person was Bernadette Peters.
Peters was the opening attraction in this season's Bank of Boston Showcase series.
At 47, she is an entertainer in her prime -- possibly just coming into it.
She still does, from time to time, that coquettish thing, with the piping little voice and everything, only now it's done in a knowing, ironic way, as if to say, "Yes, I can still be that former version of myself, but notice that there's now much more to me besides."
And there is. Having passed through the artistic crucible of two of Stephen Sondheim's more demanding and boundary-stretching shows -- "Sunday in the Park With George" and "Into the Woods" -- Peters has emerged as a singer and entertainer of subtlety, wit, style and depth. In addition to all this, she wears an evening gown well.
Among Saturday's high points:
* A touching rendition of Sondheim's "No One is Alone," preceded by an improvised, oblique reference to the unsettling news from Israel. This could have been achingly out of place, but she said it quietly and genuinely, and the audience felt it.
* A knockout, almost hallucinogenic version of Hank William's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," in a piano-only treatment that was distinctly non-country, but nevertheless respectful.
* A hymnlike reading of Sondheim's "Not a Day Goes By." This song, great as it is, is rapidly on its way to serious overexposure, sort of the "Send in the Clowns" of the 90s. But since Peters owns the song, she's entitled.
* A memorable treatment of J.D. Souther's great anthem "Faithless Love." How the kid from Ozone Park got these country vibes is a question worth exploring.
Peters' finale was, fittingly, a medley of tunes by Harold Arlen, a composer whose range and versatility closely resembles her own.
Peters was backed by a tight 26- piece orchestra of mostly local players, led by music director and pianist Marvin Laird, who responded to Peters' every nuance. And there were a lot of them.
PTM
| PTM
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6/26/2003 | posted: 8/25/2004 at 1:09:46 AM ET
Here's another review a few years later:
For Peters, More Than a Night's Work
By DON HECKMAN, SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
Los Angeles Times Monday August 17, 1998
Was there ever a more adorable performer than Bernadette Peters?
Who else manages to combine sheer, svelte sensuality with
cute-as-a-button good looks, an engaging voice and a sly, squeaky sense of humor?
All these qualities and more were onstage, front and center, Saturday night in an exquisite Peters performance at the season-opening concert of the Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts.
Adorable though she may be, what was particularly fascinating about Peters' performance was the depth of talent revealed. The first half of the program included a number of routines familiar to those who have seen her before: a pig Latin rendering of "We're in the Money," a buoyant romp through the audience, a sexy use of the piano as a chaise longue.
Despite the familiarity, she did it all very well, singing an attractive selection of tunes beautifully, adding a dance step here and there, constantly crossing the stage to reach all of the capacity
audience, and tossing in bits and pieces of whimsical humor that were immensely heightened by her superb comic timing.
For some artists, that would have been good enough for a full night's performance. But Peters had other ideas. During intermission, she traded the fire-engine red gown of the first half for an elegant black outfit, with music director Marvin Laird now garbed in full dress black tails.
The change underscored the more serious nature of the balance of the program, which was devoted to Stephen Sondheim songs. Peters, of course, has a considerable history with Sondheim (although she now is scheduled
to return to Broadway in a revival of Irving Berlin's "Annie Get Your
Gun"). And she did not hesitate to choose some of the composer's most
demanding material, from the rollicking "You Could Drive a Person Crazy" to the thoughtful "Children Will Listen" and the passionate "Being
Alive."
The songs--with their sudden twists of melody, complex rhyming and sophisticated themes--activated the full extent of Peters' skills. Still adorable, still sensual and engaging, she now was mature and insistent as
well, reaching out to her audience with interpretations that moved beyond the pleasantries of pop into the multilayered intricacies of art song.
The result was a rare example of an artist refusing to talk down to her listeners, instead offering them the opportunity to experience some of the finest (if, sadly, more obscure than it should be) music of recent
decades.
Peters closed, as she has in the past, with a lovely rendering of "I'll Be Seeing You." If Saturday night's program was any indication of
what audiences can expect from future appearances, one can only hope that we will again be seeing Peters very soon.
PTM
|  Jean
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6/7/2003 | posted: 8/25/2004 at 8:13:29 AM ET
PTM, thanks so much for these, I love reading old reviews, they really put her career into perspective for me.
But these are especially telling--they show the "before and after"--Carnegie Hall, Dec 1996, that is. I've felt that that concert was a real turning point in her concert career, and these 2 reviews show it. She seems to be presenting a more mature, sophisticated, deeply felt, emotional yet not over-the-top version of herself lately.
I have a few reviews also that are fun to read. Compare this brief excerpt from a review of a 1991 San Francisco concert, for example, with her later ones: "At times, Peters verges on self- parody while searching for a character. Depending on the song, she slides from teasing campy-vampy sex kitten (''We're in the Money''), to turn-of-of-the-century Floradora Girl (''If I Was the Only Girl in the World''), from Shirley Temple pouts to nasty ''Baby Doll'' nymphette giggles, from a powerhouse diva growling woman-with-a-past Harold Arlen blues to anecdotes told in a Tweetie Pie twitter. It's adorable, it's daffy, it's
terminal cutes, it's show biz in the raw."
But here she is in 2000:
"Putting a fresh spin on her acclaimed 1996 Carnegie Hall debut, Bernadette Peters continues to display a canny knack for fusing irresistible charm and whimsy with deep poignancy. At a gala black-tie benefit at McCarter Theater, backed by a richly supportive 25-piece orchestra, the delectable Broadway star with the hourglass figure and an avalanche of tumbling curls captivated her audience with a voice of wide range and flexibility, plus the purring sensitivity of a knowing actor."
Posted 10/10/00, Variety
No longer "terminal cutes", ok for 1991 but much better now.
| Karen
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5/3/2002 | posted: 8/25/2004 at 10:57:58 AM ET
Great quotes. Thanks, PTM and Jean (also for the Impropmptu comments in the other thread).
| PTM
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6/26/2003 | posted: 8/25/2004 at 11:11:21 AM ET
I remember laughing a lot when I read that review especially the line "Peters is like Snow White and [the] seven performing dwarfs all rolled into one: Weepy, Flirty, Dippy, Nasty, Trendy, Campy and to be sure, Bouncy."
I was actually at that SF concert. I had seen her a few times before in concert, but the SF crowd's reception was so enthusiastic that I think she felt comfortable enough to venture off script a bit. She told a funny story about getting stuck in a friend's bathroom the night before, Joel Grey was in the audience, and the audience applauded so long in between numbers that she didn't even have time for her encore.
PTM
|  SingOutAnnie
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Registered:
8/23/2003
From:
Bradenton/Sarasota, FLA | posted: 8/25/2004 at 12:31:31 PM ET
Great thread. Interesting.
And whet's the appetite for her to start a tour!!
| PTM
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6/26/2003 | posted: 8/26/2004 at 12:05:38 AM ET
Here's a little trivial information. The photo on the Sondheim, etc. CD cover is from that 1991 San Francisco concert.
Speaking of Bernadette's concerts, has anyone heard her sing any songs that were not part of her usual concert set. Supposedly she sang Peter Allen's "I Honestly Love You" as an encore at her concert in Australia, and at another one she sang "My Funny Valentine." I heard her sing "Woman Be Wise" once and a song called "Because of You" Don't know if she sang those much at other shows.
PTM
| Karen
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5/3/2002 | posted: 8/26/2004 at 8:49:10 AM ET
The last time I saw her in concert, it was about a month after 9/11 and during the anthrax scare. The first night she did her usual encore of "I'll Be Seeing You," but a lot of people in the audience were calling out for her to sing something patriotic. The next two performances she encored with "America the Beautiful."
|  leebee
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Registered:
1/19/2004
Fav. BP Song: Being Alive
Fav. BP Show: Sunday In The Park With George
| posted: 8/26/2004 at 11:15:06 AM ET
I don't have anything to contribute except to say that this is a great thread!
| Jean
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6/7/2003 | posted: 8/26/2004 at 12:13:18 PM ET
Yes, she also sang "America the Beautiful" at a concert I attended on Nov. 3, 2001 at the Keneseth Israel Hall in Philadelphia; she introduced it by saying something like this next song is good for these times, or something similar. I was quite moved by her rendition and thought that she should keep it in her repertoire, at least for special occasions.
During her concert at University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown in Johnstown, PA in June 2001 she sang a song I've never heard. It was just Marvin playing the piano and it was short, maybe 3 minutes long, and at the end Bernadette hugged Marvin and kissed him. The song had something to do with friendship-it was quite moving.
(Well, it looks like she either moves me close to tears or makes me laugh until tears run down my cheeks--and I'm really not an emotional person at all.)
|  mrbig
Registered User
Registered:
6/16/2003
From:
Dallas, Texas
Fav. BP Song: Not a Day Goes By
Fav. BP Show: Sunday in the Park...
Fav. BP Character: Dot in SITPWG
Fav. BP CD: Sondheim, Etc.
| posted: 8/26/2004 at 7:45:35 PM ET
I am pretty sure I posted this before, but in a 1994 Dallas concert she sang a few unusual songs in her show. One of them was an AWESOME version of the Lyle Lovett song "Here I Am". She also put on this funny wig (imitating huge Texas country hair) and sang "D-I-V-O-R-C-E".
mrbig
"No matter what you say, Children Will Listen..."
| daedreams
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6/21/2002 | posted: 8/27/2004 at 12:00:50 AM ET
when she performed here at orchestra hall in minneapolis there was a review in one of the local papers here....some good parts some bad parts, i'll look it up and post it if i find it. all i remember is the critic didn't like her versions on blackbird and faithless love. they were appalled that she would cover songs like that.
"beauty belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams" eleanor rosevelt
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