Bernadette Peters and the BPO Pops
Bernadette Peters, the Broadway singer, is an original, and the last time she appeared at Kleinhans Music Hall, it was a riot. Peters, resplendent in a slinky gown, went about tormenting the men in the front row. She put them on the spot, asking them who their first celebrity sighting was. One man, I remember, stammered, "You, right here." Peters, astonished, said, "I was here??" The man, trying desperately to correct the situation, said, "No, I mean.. now." The poor guy!
Another fan couldn't talk at all. Peters teased him, saying, "He doesn't want to talk!" Who could blame him? Peters has a presence that is charming but also, somehow, intimidating. No one who saw her swaggering around singing "There Is Nothing Like a Dame" will ever forget it.
I had the fun of reviewing Peters' last concert, and at the end, I wrote that I wished she could come back sometime. And lo, I am now getting my wish. I wish I could say the same about everything I have asked for in the pages of The Buffalo News! My church wouldn't have been closed, the Aud wouldn't have been condemned, the Sabres would forever be wearing those classy blue and white jerseys, and we'd still have "Artemis and the Stag."
But I can claim this victory. Peters will be back Sept. 20 to inaugurate the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra's 2008-2009 Pops concert season. Which is a dandy, if you ask me. Another concert, on Valentine's Day next year, features a singer I love, the soprano Sylvia McNair. McNair sings classical music but she also sings some jazz and the Great American Songbook, and she sounds natural and good, not cloying or awkward in that kind of music the way some classical singers sometimes do. I don't think she has ever sung in Buffalo before. I am looking forward to seeing her.
Thanks to the Philharmonic for presenting us with talent we'd probably never see otherwise.
-- Mary Kunz Goldman
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