The New York Times-20080128-A Little Bit County- a Little Bit Coloratura- -Review-
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A Little Bit County, a Little Bit Coloratura; [Review]
Full Text (413 words)How is a Broadway golden girl to proceed when the whole world appears to be at her beck and call? That is the treacherous question facing Kelli O'Hara, the luminous star of two successive hit shows (The Light in the Piazza and the revival of The Pajama Game) and an imminent production of South Pacific.
Should she remain in a theatrical hothouse where conquest has been achieved but the pickings are slim (worthy shows don't come along every day), or venture into a commercial pop realm where the stakes are much higher and the outcome uncertain at best?
As Ms. O'Hara sang a mixed program of pop, quasi-country and Broadway songs on Saturday at the Allen Room as part of Lincoln Center's American Songbook series, it was clear that she was keeping her options open. Accompanied by 10 musicians (including four on strings), her show was buoyed by the pianist Dan Lipton's discreetly sumptuous arrangements.
Like Kristin Chenoweth, a fellow Broadway princess who is also from Oklahoma, Ms. O'Hara is a marvel of vocal technique and stylistic flexibility. But the artistic personality behind her training has only begun to emerge.
Singing Mr. Lipton and David Rossmer's amusing novelty, They Don't Let You in the Opera if You're a Country Star, Ms. O'Hara switched effortlessly from a Southern twang to a trilling coloratura. When Ms. Chenoweth effects the same metamorphosis from Dolly Parton to Joan Sutherland, she does it with a ferocious comic brio that does not come naturally to Ms. O'Hara.
The incandescent moments at Saturday's early show (I Could Have Danced All Night, And So It Goes, The Light in the Piazza) were matched in number by dubious song choices. The Sun Went Out, composed by Ms. O'Hara's husband, Greg Naughton, who accompanied her on guitar, and Wonder in the World, written by her Pajama Game co-star Harry Connick Jr., sounded like pleasant, unremarkable filler from her forthcoming album.
Ms. O'Hara also made the questionable decision to perform a light, swinging version of Fable, her co-star Victoria Clark's climactic number from The Light in the Piazza. The song, which Ms. Clark owns now and forever, should have been left alone.
So much talent, so many tough decisions. For Ms. O'Hara choosing the right path will not be easy.
The American Songbook series continues on Feb. 6 with This Is the Life: Eric Comstock Salutes Charles Strouse @ 80, Allen Room, Frederick P. Rose Hall, Broadway and 60th Street; (212) 721-6500 or lincolncenter.org.
