When I write up these concert reviews and synopses, I try to maintain an objective voice, merely imparting to the reader what I witnessed. Even now, scribbling in a subjective manner seems a little out-of-character. But last night’s Christmas show at the MGM Northfield took me by surprise, and therefore you get the hyperbolic gushing that’s about to follow.
An alumnus and the runner-up on the fifth season of American Idol, Katharine McPhee joined her husband, Canadian record producer and songwriter extraordinaire David Foster, in a 90-minute show that really brought the roof down.
The evening started off with a short video highlighting the enormous successes of Foster’s career. He’s produced many of the songs and albums that defined the 1980s and ’90s. The video showed snippets of tunes such as “I Will Always Love You,” covered by Whitney Houston from the Billboard-topping soundtrack from The Bodyguard; “The Prayer,” made famous by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli; “After the Love Has Gone,” by Earth Wind and Fire; “Hard to Say I’m Sorry” and “Hard Habit to Break,” both by Chicago; “Glory of Love” from The Karate Kid Part II; and a host of others, combining in a remarkable 50-year career playing, composing, and producing some of the most well-known songs of the last 40 years.
How’s that for an intro? Taking the stage by himself, he introduced his wife, who came bouncing onto the stage in a ballerina tutu and slippers, careening across the stage in a weird intro.
A guest vocalist, who practically stole the show, was Florida resident Fernando. He got things moving with a rendition of “Man in Motion,” which Foster used in the 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire.
Fernando then tackled “O, Holy Night.” This version, produced and arranged by Foster,was made famous on Josh Groban’s Christmas album from several years ago. This particular arrangement, Foster said, has been the same one on all of the Christmas albums that he’s been involved with over the last few decades.
McPhee then came back out to share a duet on Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
After knocking “I Have Nothing,” from The Bodyguard soundtrack, out of the park, she settled in for a few standards: “Singing in the Rain” and a song she made famous all over again, Yip Harburg’s “Over the Rainbow.”
The band, a trio consisting of drums, standup & electric bass, and keys, accompanied Foster on the piano and McPhee through three more Christmas standards. McPhee hen handled “Redneck Woman,” an interesting choice as a holiday show interlude, before Fernando returned to the stage for a phenomenal version of “The Prayer.”
Perhaps the highlight of the night though was when Ferndando offered a beautiful cover of the Italian aria “Nessum Dorma.” Foster said he hates playing other people’s music, songs that aren’t “his,” but remarked that “Nessum Dorma” is the “most beautiful piece of music ever written.”
Midway through the show, Foster offered an audience participation segment and let two randomly chosen people sing one of his songs. Cleveland-transplant J.R. tackled one of Foster’s earlier tunes, while “solid Clevelander” Bernadette took a swing at Donna Summer’s “Last Chance,” which the crowd solidly ate up.
After “Got to Be Real,” made famous by Cheryl Lynn (and co-written by Foster and David Paich of Toto), McPhee soloed on a Sammy Fain classic, “I’ll Be Seeing You.”
The night ended with a men/women sing along of “Silent Night.”
Hokey? Maybe.
But it’s the holidays, and we’re all allowed a bit of nostalgia to warm the bone-chilling nights.
Here’s all the action we caught.
