| Charlotte
Conquers Milwaukee
On the
evening of Saturday, October 7th, 2000, Charlotte Church
appeared in concert at the Milwaukee Auditorium as soloist
with Milwaukee's Festival City Symphony Orchestra, conducted
by Monte Perkins.
To my surprise, Charlotte's initial entry onstage was
greeted with polite, and very subdued, applause. Since the
event had elements of a fundraiser, the best seats in the
house were occupied by tux- and gown-wearing patrons who
paid $400 a table for the privilege of being seen at this
event. Perhaps they had read the Journal's pre-concert
marginalizing of Charlotte's talent and were intentionally
low-key about welcoming her.
 But what a difference a song or two makes. After her opening
numbers, "La Pastorella" and "Ave Maria"
the stuffed shirts loosened up and became decidedly generous
with applause. Judging from their expressions it was as if
they felt tricked ... "We weren't expecting her to be
THIS good!"
Charlotte's voice was piercingly clear, especially at the
upper register in these opening two songs. "La
Pastorella" came through with more nuances than I had
heard in Nashville and the final note (top C) was more
spot-on than a tuning fork.
And then came the serene "Pie Jesu". Even though
Charlotte has performed this song umpteen-and-a-half zillion
times, she made this rendition something extra special. I
think she took it a little slower than usual while
stretching out certain notes for dramatic effect. It was by
far her
most colorful version to-date of this song. You could have
heard a proverbial pin drop for about three seconds after
the final notes ended before a powerful eruption of applause
took over the auditorium, this time led by the fancy
dressers in the high-class seats. Charlotte was clearly
winning them over.
 Her second set led off with an impossibly moving rendition
of "Danny Boy." Sung in a profoundly emotional
tone that set it apart from the other songs of the evening,
it seemed to silence the audience the longest prior to the
onset of applause. More than a few concertgoers had to
regain composure before proceeding with the cheers.
Next up was "She Moved Through the Fair." Since
she was in excellent voice this night Charlotte bathed the
song in a sweet Celtic accent with delightful lilting
flourishes in all the right places. This display of vocal
versatility was a turning point in the concert in that its
well-deserved ovation was now accompanied by unabashed
cheers. Every song she sang thereafter was met with huge
vocal approval as well as fierce clapping.
To close out the set, "Summertime" was sung with a
smile on her face that may have had as much to do with the
jubilant reception she was getting as the song's sentiments.
She produced that haunting, jazzy, note-bending sound -- the
one that made us all say, "Is that Charlotte??"
when we first heard
it on her second album -- effortlessly throughout.
The
final set began with the evening's biggest surprise: An
electrifying and thoroughly enchanting
"Tonight" from West Side Story. The song calls for
a certain acting ability to convey that joyous anticipation
for the night ahead and Charlotte played it to the hilt. Her
facial expressions in this
performance sang as beautifully as her voice. The ovation
that followed would rival that for a game-winning homerun at
the World Series.
Her
final offering, "If I Loved You" was,
appropriately enough, the evening's ultimate show-stopper.
Certain to be on her fourth album, this is a song that was
made for Charlotte to sing. There are two moments during the
song where her voice lingers briefly after the music stops
to create an ethereal effect about the room. When she's
singing along with the orchestra you tend to forget just how
pure a sound she emits; at those two moments the brilliance
of her voice is brought home in dazzling fashion.
I'm sure you can guess by now that she got a
"wicked" standing ovation from this initially
tough-sell Milwaukee crowd that now had a delirious
appreciation for Charlotte's singing. A thrilling encore of
"Bali H'ai" again brought the audience to their
feet. When it was all over, everyone in the auditorium was
grinning, from ear to overjoyed ear.
Not surprisingly, after the concert the concession table in
the lobby did a brisk business in "Voice of an angel"
and "Charlotte Church" album sales.
- Steve
(Team USA)
|
