Live from Lincoln Center: Leslie Odom Jr.

This is the second of the four-part Lincoln Center concert series.  Having seen Leslie Odom Jr. perform live back in March, I was already acquainted with a lot of the numbers he did, but you really can’t go wrong with that voice, and I was more than happy to hear them again.

Like I said, this was definitely a familiar concert.  Odom performed with the same band he had when he came to Minnesota – I recognized his wildly-enthusiastic piano player – and quite a few of the songs were the same.  That makes sense, though.  I think most, if not all, of them are from his album, and if these concerts are about including songs that are of personal significance to each artist, he already did that work in choosing them for his record.  I really didn’t mind hearing these songs again.  They were all terrific songs, I liked his arrangements, and of course, he sang them beautifully.  Highlights for me included “Winter Song” by Sarah Bareilles, “Joey, Joey, Joey” from The Most Happy Fella, and “Without You” from RENT.

Still, there were a handful of songs I hadn’t heard him do before, particularly in the second half of the concert.  I really enjoyed his lovely rendition of “At Your Best (You are Love)” by the Isley Brothers, and he closed the show fittingly with “The Party’s Over” (from Bells are Ringing, but it’s also been performed by the likes of Nat King Cole and Shirley Bassey.)  Odom had one guest for the evening – his wife, actress Nicolette Robinson, who came out to share a duet with him.

The format of the program was a little different than the Sutton Foster concert.  Whereas Foster’s kept the camera on the stage the whole time and included her occasional remarks between songs, Odom’s only showed the song performances themselves, replacing the between-song patter with short pre-filmed bits that were brief interviews overlaid onto footage of Odom rehearsing/walking through the city.  There, he discussed what his songs meant to him and his personal history with them.  Some nice, thoughtful comments, and for some reason, I always enjoy seeing performers rehearse in their street clothes.

One complaint, however – no Hamilton!  Odom even talked about it in one of his interview clips, returning to the theatre and discussing the show’s importance to him.  I thought for sure it was leading into “Wait for It” or “Dear Theodosia,” but then he pivoted to “Joey, Joey, Joey” (for the theme of knowing when to leave, even when it’s still good.)  Then, I thought he was saving it for the end, but nothing!  That really surprised me.  Come on, man – give the people what they want!

Leslie Odom Jr. Live Performance – March 23rd, 2018

A while back, my aunt emailed me a news article announcing that the Minnesota Orchestra was adding a second concert date with Leslie Odom Jr., having so quickly sold out the first.  Now, I hadn’t even heard he was doing one concert with the Minnesota Orchestra, let alone two, so as soon as I saw the email, I called up my aunt all, “What are we going to do about this?”

Back by both the orchestra and his own five-piece band, Odom put on a hell of a show.  He opened, naturally, with “Wait for It,” then promised more Hamilton would be coming later – he couldn’t frontload the show with Hamilton, he explained, because he knew there’d be a “mass exodus” as soon as he sang everyone’s favorite songs. 

It was a great, varied concert, full of jazz standards and old hits.  Among others, he sang “Autumn Leaves,” “Forever Young,” and several Nat King Cole numbers, including “Unforgettable.”  I’ll fully admit to being unfamiliar (or at least not overly familiar) with quite a few of these, as my music knowledge is mostly weirdly-specific eclectic pockets with a scattering of random bits of different genres mixed in.  But even though concerts are often the most fun when I know the songs, I like this too, getting exposure to great songs I don’t really know.

The second act of the show was more Broadway-oriented, so I did have more familiarity there.  Odom did a very cool rendition of “The Guilty Ones” from Spring Awakening – preemptively warning us that it was about to get very sexy onstage – and gave a gorgeous performance of “Without You” from RENT.  He closed out the show with more Hamilton, solo versions of “Dear Theodosia” and, of course, “The Room Where It Happens.”

It goes without saying that Odom sounded incredible.  His voice is so smooth and velvety, his upper register so pure and well-controlled.  He did a good job playing to the whole crowd, including the side balconies, and his band was a lot of fun to watch as well.

Odom’s stage banter was on point.  He did quite a few mini-medleys, two or three songs at a time that would flow into one another, but in between, he had all kinds of amusing anecdotes and observations.  He side-eyed anyone who claimed to be Smash fans, told the story of his youthful dream to be in RENT (and then trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his life after that dream came true!), and questioned how there came to be people in the audience who’d never even listened to Hamilton before.  All in all, a fantastic show by a great performer.