By Dale King
Few modern composers have been packaged, repackaged, mixed, dubbed, overdubbed, worked and reworked more than Andrew Lloyd Webber. You can probably Google him in dozens of different incarnations.
But none of that compares to hearing three dynamic vocalists perform 22 of Sir Andrew’s famous and lesser-known songs on a sparsely decorated stage with just a piano as accompaniment.
The Plaza Theatre in Manalapan has packaged its own combo of Webber greats in The Music of the Night, a genuinely entertaining and exceptionally moving program.
The celebration of Webber stars Laura Hodos and Wayne LeGette, two veteran performers of stage, TV and cabaret, and Ann Marie Olson, a less experienced, but no less dynamic performer, who has been seen locally at the Wick Theatre and the Slow Burn Theatre, both in Boca Raton.
The show hit a glitch early on when musical director Mark Galsky became ill just prior to the May 2 show, which had to be canceled. But with pianist David Nagy taking to the keys the following night, the show went off without a hitch, playing to a capacity audience.
With only some risers and stools on the stage, the performers drift in and out via side curtains. Slides on a big screen to the rear show images of the productions that feature the songs being sung.
The show opens with a set of 12 tunes, then an intermission and a second set of 10. Hodos, LeGette and Olson seem to sound better and better as the evening progresses.
Webber’s most familiar tunes are part of the mix. But the songs that don’t always get the most notice, from shows that are not always the first ones that come to mind when you think of Webber, make the night unique.
The song “Any Dream Will Do,” sung by all three, takes the audience back to 1968 and one of the earliest of the Webber-Tim Rice collaborations, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Ditto for another tune from Joseph called “Close Every Door,” featuring LeGette.
Evita, a personal favorite, is done proud by the three performers who blend perfectly for “Night of A Thousand Stars.” Olson comes right back and performs “Buenos Aires,” and later come three more Evita specialties: “High Flying Adored,” (LeGette and Olson) “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina,” (an emotional kudo for Hodos) and “Another Suitcase in Another Hall,” nicely shared by Hodos and Olson.
The final six songs in the show are undoubtedly the most dynamic, with each vocalist putting his or her all into their performance. The set kicks off with the haunting “You Must Love Me,” from The Phantom of the Opera, from the film version of Evita, sung by Olson with a high-pitched soprano sound reminiscent of Sarah Brightman. Hodos’s rendition of “Tell Me on a Sunday” (from the show of the same name) is touching, with its sad tale of lost love.
“As If We Never Said Goodbye,” another emotion-touching tune from the generally grim Sunset Boulevard, gives Olson a platform to shine. And LeGette steps into a different element as he tackles “Heaven on their Minds,” a song from the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar with a thudding piano beat. The song demands the singer adopt the anger of Judas Iscariot telling Jesus his mission is a failure – and LeGette ably meets the test.
The penultimate tune, “Memory,” from Cats, is done beautifully by Hodos, whose voice runs softly over the notes that carry the squalid images of ragged mornings.
The finale, obviously, is Phantom’s “Music of the Night,” done by the trio in beautiful harmony. The show received a standing ovation, for the top-notch performers and in no small part, for Nagy and his last-minute call to the keyboard.
Editor’s note: This review was changed after posting to correct a factual error.
The Music of the Night is playing through Sunday at the Plaza Theatre, 262 S. Ocean Blvd., Manalapan. Tickets are $35. Call 561-588-1820 or visit www.theplazatheatre.net.