Egan’s powerful performance mixes new and old

Tim Titus

Susan Egan’s love for the Broadway musical is obvious. In the

intimate setting of the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s

Founders Hall, Egan’s powerful voice and charming personality

beautifully combine Broadway classics with insightful new music by

some wonderful up-and-coming composers.

While her voice is impressive, it turns out to be only a

supporting character. There are frustrated singers all over the

country with fantastic voices. The more important ingredient, the

ingredient that makes an evening with her such a joy, is Egan’s

down-to-earth persona and genuine empathy for the messages embedded

in her music. It is like an all-night conversation with your best

friend.

This performance is not about the Susan Egan. This performance is

a seamless weaving of the classic and the modern, an homage to the

music of the past and the present and the universal human emotions

experienced in each. Egan sets this tone early, disarming her

audience with the comically self-critical “Obligatory Opening

Number,” by Paul Loesel and Scott Burkell. Aside from making the

audience laugh, this number has the effect of humanizing Egan, making

her just another one of us, and we are ready to enjoy a night of

conversation with our new friend.

From here, Egan launches into a playful rendition of Cole Porter’s

“I Get a Kick.” To solidify the concert’s grounding in Broadway

classics, Egan also peppers in Rodgers and Hart and Gershwin. Classic

numbers such as “Where or When,” and “Someone to Watch Over Me” slide

beautifully into an appreciative audience.

These older pieces, however, are merely a skeleton onto which Egan

attaches brand new flesh. It is the music from modern composers that

steal this show.

These pieces cover a wide range. Christine Lavin’s “You Look

Pretty Good ... “ is a fun number that allows Egan flash her friendly

style by playing with her male audience members. Georgia Stitt’s

“Ordinary Thursday” is a strong, picturesque ballad that deftly

captures the curiously anonymous, yet public experience of living and

falling in love in the big city.

Another ballad, “Stars and Moon” by Jason Robert Brown, is simply

breathtaking. Egan nails this one. Her empathetic style clearly

delivers its heartening message.

There are some wonderful songs in this show, but the music of Zina

Goldrich and Marcy Heisler is truly the highlight. These songs

skillfully craft age-old human emotions and desires (sometimes to the

point of neurosis) into a modern framework. “Fifteen Pounds Away from

Your Love” (sung by guest performer Lisa Richard) appeals to everyone

who enjoyed going to their 20th high school reunion to find that

everyone who used to pick on them is now fat, lazy, unsuccessful, and

boring. “Taylor” is a showstopper and an anthem for every Starbucks

barista. You may never look at your latte the same way again. “The

Last Song,” a song that seems to avoid its own ending, completes the

show with a laugh, leaving the audience the way they started: wanting

more.

Susan Egan and Lisa Richard have wonderful voices, but it is the

innovation of the music they perform that sets this show apart.

Tributes to Sondheim, Porter, Rodgers and Hart/Hammerstein, Gershwin

and Lloyd-Webber have dotted the stage for decades, and while Egan

certainly pays tribute to many of these classic artists, she also

seems elated to expose her audience to the new.

It might be disappointing to look at the program and recognize

very little, but the payoff is worth it and reveals exciting new

possibilities for musical theater.

* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for the Daily Pilot. His reviews

appear Fridays.