Review: Tony Award Winner Joaquina Kalukango Makes Segerstrom Center Cabaret Debut

To kick off their 2024-2025 Broadway-filled Cabaret season, Orange County's Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, California recently showcased Tony Award winner Joaquina Kalukango, making her West Coast solo-concert debut at the intimate Samueli Theatre for a triumphant three-night engagement, accompanied by musical director/pianist Michael Orland on September 19-21st.

Born in Atlanta, Georgia to Angolan immigrant parents, Kalukango's Broadway credits include HOLLER IF YA HEAR ME, THE COLOR PURPLE, and, most recently, as the final "Witch" in the closing cast of the much-lauded 2022 revival of INTO THE WOODS. She also starred in several City Center Encores! productions THE WILD PARTY, JELLY'S LAST JAM, and RAGTIME. Outside of her extensive theater résumé, Kalukango also appeared on screen in projects that include Regina King's One Night in Miami…, Ava DuVernay's When They See Us, and HBO's Lovecraft Country.

But the talented, accomplished actress blessed with superb, Juilliard-trained vocal chops truly solidified her mark in the theatrical sphere after earning a 2022 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Musical for her groundbreaking lead role as Nelly O'Brien in the Broadway period musical PARADISE SQUARE—highlighted with a tearful, piercing performance on the Tony telecast that has since become a viral YouTube staple for Broadway fans around the world. Before that, she also earned a 2020 Tony nomination for her work in SLAVE PLAY.

For her Orange County concerts, Kalukango provided her rapt audience with a wonderfully eclectic set filled with Broadway showtunes, pop classics, and lots of delightfully melodic surprises and fascinating personal anecdotes that garnered ecstatic cheers throughout the night.

Dressed in a lovely suffragette-white pantsuit on Opening Night, Kalukango opened her show with a buoyantly joyful "Get Happy" followed by an endearing rendition of Norah Jones' "Don't Know Why" and a Portuguese-language tune called "Sodade," all of which showcased her impressive jazz vocal skills as well as her prowess with stratospheric high notes that hint at, perhaps, past opera training.

Next, she earned lots of deserved wows with "Purlie" (from the musical PURLIE) which she followed up with medleys from the musicals RAISIN (the little-known musical adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's groundbreaking play A Raisin In The Sun) and Stephen Schwartz's GODSPELL—the musical revival in which she made her Broadway debut. 

She then had the audience mesmerized with her takes on the classic ballad "To Make You Feel My Love" and "Easy As Life" from the musical AIDA. Later, she had me teary-eyed during a gorgeous, heartfelt rendition of Joni Mitchell's classic "Both Sides Now"—easily my favorite of the evening.

Though she certainly slayed with her ballads, she also made room for some fun with her jazzy, Sarah Vaughan-inspired "I Feel Pretty" (from WEST SIDE STORY) and her medley of hits from country superstar Shania Twain.

She then closed out her entertaining set with songs from her most recent roles—that cemented my absolute adoration for her. She enchanted first with a lovely mashup of "No One Is Alone" and "Children Will Listen" (both from INTO THE WOODS) followed by a mashup of "African Homeland" (from THE COLOR PURPLE) and "Omboio," another song featuring lyrics in Portuguese that pays homage to her Angolan ancestry—which she even urged the audience to sing along (not sure we did it justice, but she seemed pleased enough).

And then, as one would have expected, she ended her set with "Let It Burn," the powerful 11 o'clock number from PARADISE SQUARE—the very same song she performed on the Tony Awards in 2022 that earned her a standing ovation and, of course, a much-deserved Tony Award. Personally, I still to this day could not get that intense performance she gave at that ceremony out of my head, and so, naturally, I was absolutely floored to hear her reprise the song in person as a capper to her impressive solo concert. 

She also performed a couple of encores: a fun, scat-tastic "Mister Paganini"—again an impressive blend of her legit opera and musical theater skills—followed by a touching "For Good" from WICKED.

With this solo cabaret concert, Kalukango proved without a doubt that she is a singular, special talent… and I cannot wait to hear what she does next.

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Tickets to upcoming performances of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' 2024-2025 Cabaret Series can be purchased online at www.SCFTA.org, by phone at 714-556-2787 or in person at the SCFTA box office (open daily at 10 am). Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

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