A knockout performance by Idina Menzel one expects. A total lack of pretentiousness on the part of a superstar ones does not.
Maybe aficionados of Menzel’s work on stage and screen were prepared for the vocalist’s dynamic, disarming manner in her collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra Saturday night at Blossom Music Center. The rest of us were taken by surprise.
Where many artists in her position might treat a show in Cleveland like a chore, Menzel treated it as a highlight of her career, taking great care not only to entertain but also to connect. With tale after charming tale from her personal life, the star of Broadway’s “Wicked” and “Rent” bonded with both audience and orchestra.
The vibe at Blossom was unique from the outset. Long before Menzel strode out barefoot in a billowy, yellow-green gown singing “Life of the Party,” the evening stood apart as the orchestra’s summer-season kickoff and a benefit for its new audience-development ministry, the Center for Future Audiences.
The orchestra also used the occasion to announce million-dollar gifts from five local companies and present the first of three fireworks displays at Blossom over Independence Day weekend. Thankfully for the throngs who’d packed the lawn Saturday, the weather held out.
Guest conductor Steven Reineke, the Ohio-born director of the New York Pops, also set a festive tone early on, stocking the brief, orchestral first half with two of his own rousing compositions, two patriotic favorites, and Gould’s colorful “American Salute.” If his name isn’t already on Cleveland’s call-back list, it should be.
Then came the singing, and what a voice it was. How it is that Menzel has starred on Broadway, won a Tony Award, appeared on “Glee,” and released three solo albums was plain for all to see.
Still, even in this respect, Menzel proved surprising, wielding an instrument of tremendous versatility. Big, dramatic numbers were clearly her forte. Each one she belted out with peerless force. But when it came to smaller, more intimate songs, such as Porter’s “Love for Sale,” she also had the power to make the pavilion and lawn together feel like a lounge.
Given the many arenas in which Menzel has made a name for herself, the varied nature of her program was the night’s only predictable element.
From “Rent,” she sang “No Day But Today Day,” while “I’m Not That Girl,” “For Good,” and “Defying Gravity” amply represented “Wicked.” From her own appealing albums she drew liberally, but she also presented two Streisand hits and covers of “Roxanne” by the Police and Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.”
Menzel’s act was not entirely free of pretense. Several times, the singer feigned surprise when the audience recognized a tune.
But just as the crowd’s applause was clearly genuine, so too did one have the feeling that when Menzel thanked everyone for attending, she really meant it.
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