So you get my perspective going in.
To start, she won everybody over with a "Gorgeous" opener. As in "Gorgeous" from The Apple Tree (Bock and Harnick). This was a total esoteric start and NOBODY sings this gem from 1966 any more and guess what it was wonderful. See? I'm already babbling.
In fact, the concert broke down into two halves (despite its lack of intermission): a fight between crowd-pleasing favorites and lesser known "new" ballads, from the likes of Jason Robert Brown, Jeff Blumenkrantz, etc. One minor problem I found was, that with the lack of any info in the program, the names (and composers) of some of these lesser known goodies went unmentioned, even by Audra. I will have some tracking down to do!
To name a few: "Can't Stop Talkin' About Him" which is a lickedy-split novelty number done back in 1950 by Betty Hutton in Let's Dance (which also starred Fred Astaire. Can something "also star" Fred Astaire?). The composer: Frank Loesser. Audra does this one with only 1 out of breath moment, which is totally pretended/acted, cuz she's got enough O2 to last til Labor Day.
"Stars and the Moon"....Audra, Sutton and Jessica Molaskey all do excellent renditions of this song from Jason's Songs for a New World, Jessica having "dibbs" as the first to do it in that show. A Jeff Blumenkrantz number, "Auntie Lizzie" jumped in (Sutton also included a JB song in her most recent Rochester concert, so his material is bubbling!). Sondheim, Lerner & Lane, Rodgers and Hammerstein all showed up as well, but perhaps my favorite of the night was "Ice Cream", from She Loves Me, Audra's bow to Barbara Cook.
Missing in Action: Lady Day stuff! I thought for sure she'd pull at least one Billie Holiday song from her Emerson Bar & Grill trunk, but no. Also hoped for a crazed rendition of "Down With Love", with Valentine's Day being around the corner. But rats! A no show.
But it was lovely.
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