Review: A NEW YEAR'S EVE CELEBRATION WITH BERNADETTE PETERS AND THE BOSTON POPS

Bernadette Peters doesn’t use only her glorious voice to command a concert stage, although she very easily could. The Broadway legend also brings ample amounts of excitement and verve to her shows, as she did when she joined the Boston Pops on New Year’s Eve at Symphony Hall.

Under the baton of jovial guest conductor Troy Quinn, the first half of the program opened with Richard A.Whiting’s always rousing “Hooray for Hollywood,” and included other memorable film music such as Marvin Hamlisch and Marilyn and Alan Bergman’s “The Way We Were,” and Henry Mancini’s irresistible theme from “The Pink Panther.” Broadway music was showcased, too, with the overtures of “The Phantom of the Opera” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, “Mame” by Jerry Herman, “Beauty and the Beast” by Alan Menken, and “42nd Street” by Harry Warren.

But it was Peters’ night and she delivered, as she always does, opening her half of the program with the bouncy welcome of “Old Friends,” from Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along,” and mentioning that while she’s never done the musical, she will be doing the song on Broadway this season. The London production of “Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends,” which marked her long-awaited West End debut in the fall of 2023, makes its North American premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in February before transferring to Broadway's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre , where it will begin previews March 29 ahead of planned April 8 opening night.

Considered to be among the finest of Sondheim interpreters, the singer segued seamlessly from her exuberant opener to a plaintive “No One Is Alone” from “Into the Woods,” pointing out that, this time, she had done the show – though not the song – on Broadway. Peters, of course, originated the role of the Witch.

Known for having perfect pitch, Peters can make just about any song her own, as she did with her full-throated, spirited take on “There Is Nothing Like a Dame,” written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II to be sung by four sailors in “South Pacific,” and her sultry spin on the Eddie Cooley and Otis Blackwell classic “Fever,” which she did while lounging alluringly atop the concert grand in a figure-hugging, bejeweled Bob Mackie gown.

Accompanied by conductor and pianist Joseph Thalken, with Kevin Axt on bass, and famed original Mouseketeer Cubby O’Brien on drums, the three-time Tony Award recipient continued with Rodgers and Hammerstein, turning to the higher, lighter side of her voice for a lilting “It Might as Well Be Spring” from the 1945 movie “State Fair,” R&H’s only original film score.

The sold-out audience was in the palm of Peters’ hand when she launched into a series of  Sondheim songs – offset by a tender and wistful “Before the Parade Passes By” from Jerry Herman’s “Hello, Dolly!” which she did, to widespread acclaim, on Broadway in 2018  – that included the haunting “Losing My Mind,” that Peters performed so memorably as former showgirl Sally Durant Plummer in the 2011 “Follies” revival. A stunningly beautiful “Send in the Clowns,” from “A Little Night Music,” was met with rapturous applause, prompting Peters to recall joining Elaine Stritch in stepping into that musical’s most recent revival in 2010. As she said with a smile, “Elaine loved applause, so please, continue.”

And they did, as Peters splendidly paired “With So Little to Be Sure Of” from “Anyone Can Whistle” and “Children Will Listen” from “Into the Woods,” and gave full power to a high-energy “Being Alive,” from “Company.”

For her encore, Peters offered up a warmly evocative “Auld Lang Syne,” with the Scottish ode to old friends providing a thoughtful close to a perfect evening.

Photo credit: Winslow Townson.

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