11/24/03    Donald Rosenberg - Plain Dealer Music Critic

Something was special about the opening concert of the Cleveland Pops Orchestra's ninth season Friday at Severance Hall. Was it the evening's honorees, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein? Possibly, although this team's accomplishments in musical theater aren't exactly trade secrets.

No, the principal beacon of enchantment was Susan Egan, the original Belle in Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast" and currently Sally Bowles in "Cabaret." Egan took a night off from 1930 Berlin to spend a few hours in 2003 Cleveland lending her gleaming voice and charming personality to heroines in some of Rodgers and Hammerstein's greatest hits.

Egan didn't have quite enough time to reveal if she has the dramatic chops to play Nellie, Julie, Laurey, Anna, Maria or other favorite R&H characters in full productions. Purely in song terms, she's a delight, able to negotiate the music with ease and send the emotional aspects far across the footlights.

Wistful? Egan wraps her voice around "It Might as Well Be Spring" (from " State Fair"). Ardent? Savor the tenderness with which she shapes "If I Loved You" (from "Carousel"). Funny? From the way Egan sang "I Cain't Say No," she would make an adorable Ado Annie in "Oklahoma!"

Egan never played the Broadway diva at Severance Hall. She collaborated beautifully with Michael Lackey, whose healthy baritone and game spirit allowed him to move nimbly from dashing Emile and laconic Billy to dapper Curley and playful King of Siam. The guests even tripped the light fantastic to winning effect in "Shall We Dance?"

A large number of other visitors also elicited smiles. The young singers of Beck Center's Riverside Chamber Choir piped nicely and handled the tricky physicality in "Do-Re-Mi" with equal assurance, aided by a buoyant Egan in the role immortalized by Mary Martin on Broadway and Julie Andrews on screen.

All of these handsome voices could have left the Cleveland Pops itself trailing in the distance as mere purveyors of background music. But music director Carl Topilow's pacing was unerring, and he and his players gave fresh, sonorous life to the familiar fare. They brought fine sweep and color to selections from "South Pacific," "Flower Drum Song," "Oklahoma!," "The King and I" and "Carousel" (though the famous waltz would have been much better served in Don Walker's original, uncut orchestration).

Along with Egan and Lackey, the evening held one other debut: Sean Newhouse, the Pops' new assistant conductor, who presided confidently over a medley from "The Sound of Music." Speaking of that Alpine- laced show, the audience sang along nicely in "Edelweiss," the last lyric Hammerstein penned. 

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:

drosenberg@plaind.com, 216-999-4269