Patty and the Pops Do Broadway

Erich Kunzel leading the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra at Music Hall

Sandi Patty

   She couldn’t have been in a better place to live her dream since Kunzel and the Pops have Broadway in their veins.

   The show, “Sandi Patty’s Broadway,” played beautifully in Music Hall.  A large and enthusiastic crowd was on hand, and they demonstrated their support and affection for Kunzel (diagnosed last week with pancreatic cancer) by rising to their feet in a unanimous ovation the moment he walked onstage.  True to form, Kunzel remained his familiar jovial self throughout the evening.

    Joining Patty, Kunzel and the Pops were tenor Don Peslis (Patty’s husband), baritone Mark Gilgallon, the eight-member Sandy Patty Singers, all of whom had roles to play during the show, the Sandi Patty Trio (piano, drums, bass) and members of the May Festival Chorus.

   It was a semi-scripted event, with child actress Maddie Pay as “Young Sandi,” who recreated a scene from Patty’s childhood, as her parents reminded her to turn off her records (Broadway, of course) and go to bed.  Leading into the first medley, Patty recalled the time as a young child she first heard “the sound that says love” (“applause”).

   Then she was off and running through vintage Broadway hits from “Oklahoma” to “Phantom of the Opera.”

   Some of her “impersonations” (though for the most part she sang as Sandi Patty) were better than others.  Her soprano was heavier than the silvery Andrews in her prime (“Sound of Music”) but her British accent was on target.  She copped a nice twang as Annie Oakley (“You Can’t Get a Man with a Gun”) and mugged Ethel Merman with relish (“Gypsy”).

   Peslis joined her for a lovely “All I Ask of You” from “Phantom,” but it was “Hello Dolly” that topped the first half, Patty and Kunzel high-stepping it off the stage, arm-in-arm.

   Patty ventured into male roles in the second half, donning different hats (and voices) for “Wilkommen”  Perhaps her brightest musical comedy moment came in “Adelaide’s Lament” from “Guys and Dolls,” where she coughed and sneezed in perfect time with the Pops. (“Cabaret”), “If I were a rich man” (“Fiddler on the Roof”) and “Trouble” (Harold Hill).

   By far the evening’s most moving number was “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (“Carousel”), where Patty was at her inspirational best.  There were a few tears in the audience, given that the song might have been sung for Kunzel, who kept the music soaring in sweeping gestures to the orchestra and chorus.

   Kunzel and the Pops reminded everyone of who they are – the best pops orchestra on the planet – in their purely orchestral numbers, “Mack the Knife” (“Threepenny Opera”) and “Gimme Love” (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”) where they rocked the hall.