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Charlotte
Astounds
Atlanta
It's
midnight in Atlanta and I just got home from Charlotte's
first Atlanta performance. She did not disappoint me (or
anyone else in attendance!). Amazing.
After a two to three paragraph write-up in the Weekend
Entertainment section of this morning's Atlanta Constitution
heralding her performance this evening and a 1/3 page ad
announcing her new album's debut date as Oct. 17th in
Border's stores, I didn't know what to expect from the
audience in
attendance. as some of you know, two comments in particular
in the brief write-up were not very positive towards
Charlotte. One said she is a "cross between an English
choirboy and Britney Spears", and another said the
audience better be prepared for her "wobbly" voice
on songs such as Summertime and O Mio Babbino Caro. Atlanta
reporters are notoriously critical.
As my wife and I arrived at the Woodruff Arts Center and
entered, it was obvious that this concert would have fewer
"youth" present than Nashville's, and clearly was
dominated by older, "stuffed-shirt" types. The
program distributed didn't even have the itinerary in the
correct order!! The Youth Orchestra's conductor, Jere Flint,
was in charge as opposed to the main Atlanta Symphony's
regular conductor, Robert Spano (who is being saved for
tomorrow night's ASO performance with soprano Sylvia
McNair). I was really worried that this entire appearance
was being downplayed about as much as it could be. However,
9 songs and 4 costume changes later, Charlotte clearly had
won all those in attendance over!! Her CD's were being sold
out front in the foyer and pretty much sold out after the
concert ended (a great sign !). The place was abuzz with
talk afterward by exiting patrons who were raving about
Charlotte's poise, tremendous charisma and stage-presence,
as well as, finally, her voice!!!!
After
an opening by the ASO of four Scottish dances, Op. 59 by
ARNOLD, conductor Jere Flint personally left the stage to go
escort Charlotte onstage to a microphone out in front of
where his podium was. She received what I deemed to be
token applause at first, as though the audience knew of her
alleged reputation, but wanted to see for themselves if she
really was a penom. She ultimately, over the course of two
hours, showed them how gifted she was. She came out in a
beautiful pink evening dress that had lots of sparkling
glitter on it. She also had BUNCHES of sparkling glitter on
herself!! Her eyelids and eyelashes had glitter all over
them and around them, and speckles were on her cheeks. After
her first set she flashed that wonderful, bubbly personality
to the audience by saying "Don't any of you think I'm
winking at you down here in the front or get any ideas. It's
this glitter that keeps getting in my eyes and I have to
keep clearing them of the stuff!", which brought one of
many roars of laughter and approval from the audience.
She
sang La Pastorella first and did a creditable job, but was
still not fully warmed up. She talked to the audience in a
very delightful, personal manner before each song, giving
the audience both a chance to learn about her personality
and the historical background behind the songs. Pie Jesu
came next (no male or secondary harmonic part was included),
and was done totally solo. Then Charlotte departed while the
ASO played a nice piece called The Lark Ascending with a
tremendous solo by Helen Kim, 1st violinist for the evening.
It was such a good solo that Charlotte, upon reentering the
stage commented to the audience about how tremendous she
felt it was. That won more praise for her....a featured star
giving praise to another when unnecessary and unexpectedly.
I began to realize myself that Charlotte is just really a
nice individual...a good person without ANY ego at
all. When she returned, she had
completed one of 4 costume changes, now appearing in a
long-sleeved lavender dress with light pink sleeves. Her
hair stayed the same throughout the entire night....down,
flowing, with a little curl on the ends. It was a much
lighter brown than I'd remembered, bordering on gold.
However, I detected quite a few comments about how truly
"pretty" the people around me thought she was.
Also, by intermission, I even heard the
comment, "Face it. She is just adorable," from a
nearby seat.
Then
something truly remarkable happened where Charl showed her
human side and poise. She started talking to the audience
about how they'd like the next song, My Lagan Love, since
all Americans claim to be Irish in some way (This drew more
laughter.) After telling the origin of the song she turned
and was about to begin singing it when she realized that
that particular song wasn't even in the first half's
itinerary!! She'd spent 4 minutes telling the audience about
a song that she, unfortunately, wasn't scheduled to sing
yet. She just got a wink from the conductor, turned to the
audience, and charmed "Well, folks, I blew that, didn't
I? You'll love it whenever I finally do get around to
singing it!" The audience melted and clapped for her.
She sang Ave Maria and then O mio babbino caro before
exiting for intermission. The audience was clearly charmed
by this young, incredible poised and personable 14-year-old,
but they hadn't quite learned to love her talented VOICE
fully yet.
As
the show started back with the symphony playing Pomp and
Circumstance March No. 4 by ELGAR, Charlotte once more was
brought in wearing a pants outfit. She had on a white,
satin, sparkling blouse with spaghetti straps, along with
black satin pants and what she termed "very" high
heels. She apologized ahead of time for her
"awkwardness" in walking around the stage in them.
She then commented, "Well, you can be Irish now"
referring to her gaffe in the first half, and she sang My
Lagan Love WONDERFULLY. She was really getting comfortable
with the audience now (It was obvious she was a little
nervous when this concert began. She must have seen that
article in the paper....Britney Spears cross indeed.). She
sang Amazing Grace and the audience finally began to realize
she had a voice!! As she left the stage, they clapped for
her....but continued on for 45 seconds after she was
OFFSTAGE. The conductor tried to get her to come back and
take a bow but she had gone off for her last costume change.
Finally the applause ceased and the orchestra played their
last pieces. It served as a transitional part of the show.
They played show tunes from the musical My Fair Lady. The
audience loved it!! That set the stage for Charlotte to come
back out for the last time and perform HER show tunes.
She
wore a red satin gown with gold tassels dangling inlayers
from the neck to her waist. It was my favorite of all her
wardrobe choices this night. Charlotte sang If I Loved You
from the musical Carousel followed by, of course,
Summertime....but she did these two with so much more
feeling and emotion than all the previous songs of the
evening, and the audience could see it as well as hear it!!
If I Loved You was incredible and several stood in approval
after it concluded. Charlotte's range was demonstrated in
that song and her growth in stage presence showed. There
were no doubters of her musical ability now. She was hitting
every note with robust energy and clarity. She easily put
crescendos and diminuendos in
emotional parts of the last two songs, regardless of the
pitches needed. The audience was impressed with her voice
now. It was the first time I sensed they all loved her, not
for just her personality, but for her talent!! They
clapped for 1 minute after Summertime, prompting her to
return for her expected encore, Bali Hai. She claimed that
IT is her most favorite song to sing, and she showed it to
be such, clearly reveling in its presentation to the
audience. She held the final note of it for what seemed like
eternity. People wondered how she could hold a note so high
for so long...and so distinctly. They stood and cheering
finally broke out.(Up until that point the crowd had been
applauding only). Charlotte left the stage and the people
continued to cheer. She had already said that she was only
going to be able
to do one encore, but the crowd wanted another anyway!! She
came back out on stage TWICE more and proceeded to do four
very cute curtsies in that evening dress that left everyone
with a final lasting impression of warmth. They all
respected her talent. I was SO happy to see that.
So....how
did my evening end? I met Charlotte Church. My wife and I
walked out of the Arts Center and chanced upon a
nice-looking limousine. Almost everyone was gone from the vicinity
and we were sure Charlotte was gone also. But 6 people were
sticking close to this limo just in case. Sure enough, out
from the rear of the concert venue came the cutest 5'
3" girl you could ever hope to meet. We all were just
DRAWN to her as she exited the building, for she was still
smiling and bubbly. She started the conversation with all of
us. She said she was really looking forward to shopping
tomorrow. She wore bell-bottomed blue jeans and a nice dark
blue shirt to match. The glitter was off her face and she
acted so cordial to EVERYONE. I thanked her for coming
to Atlanta and everyone concurred. She actually signed
personal messages on CD's and Stage Programs for all of us
(I am so impressed by this for she had to have been so very
tired and weary. It was 11 o'clock at night.) Finally,
she looked up at the group of us (6-8) and actually
asked if any of us had been missed for an autograph that
might have liked
one. (When's the last time you heard a baseball player or
some other celebrity say that one?)
My new greatest keepsake, my program from
this event, now reads "To David....
Lots of Love.... Charlotte Church". What an amazing
young lady. Dave from Team USA will arrive tomorrow. I have
a lot to share with him. He says he has a ticket for me for
Sunday's matinee. Needless to say, I can't wait. We love
you, Charlotte Church. Don't ever change.
-
David (Team USA)
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