"Broadway Here and Now!" is the name of the concert that opened last night at the Embarcadero Marina Park South, and to fans of vocalists Capathia Jenkins, Rachel York, or Doug LaBrecque, it may be worth grabbing a ticket to the second and final showing this evening. With the lights of Coronado twinkling across the water and the occasional ship sailing by in the night, the San Diego Symphony's Summer Pops venue could not be nicer. Add the balmy bay breezes of August and some spectacular vocalists, and you've got the makings of a pleasant San Diego summer evening.

The program began with the three singers leading off with a rousing "Everybody Rejoice" from "The Wiz," the big Broadway musical hit of the 1974-75 season. A rollicking good time, for sure, but a strange choice indeed for something called "Broadway Here and Now!" -- the show is older than I am, and I wasn't exactly born yesterday.

Ms. Jenkins followed that up with a lovely rendering of "Home" from the same show, and Mr. LaBrecque brought all the pop sensibility he could muster to "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)," featured prominently in "Jersey Boys."

Ms. York looked absolutely stunning in a sleek pleated gown, reprising "Back to Before," a song she sang in the national tour of "Ragtime."

Rachel York

Copyright©2008 www.rachelyork.net

Then it was time for a little girl-power, as the two ladies tackled a couple of numbers from recent hits "Hairspray" and "Wicked." Newly clad in a blue- and green-dominated 60's print top, Ms. Jenkins, God bless her, lent her thousand-watt smile to Tracy Turnblad's "Good Morning, Baltimore" -- a role, let's face it, she'll probably never play. Ms. York joined her for the witches' touching, if schmaltzy, duet, "For Good," from Stephen Schwartz's prequel to "The Wizard of Oz."

The symphony took center stage when conductor Randall Craig Fleischer led them in a spirited performance of Marvin Hamlisch's Overture of "'A Chorus Line," adapted from the score to his 1975 hit show (the tour of which plays through tomorrow at the nearby Civic Theatre). Though not heard in the show itself -- overtures had already started to become passé by that time -- Hamlisch created the piece from the various songs of his electronically-orchestrated score. It's a treat -- though a little strange, too -- to hear them expanded by a bigger-than-Broadway symphony orchestra. Though the current revival of "A Chorus Line" closes on Broadway tomorrow (and thus technically qualifies as "Broadway Here and Now!"), again, anything from a show that's 33 years old seems a little suspicious in this lineup.

Doug LaBrecque

Copyright©2001 Julee Jaquays

For reasons unstated, the printed program's next offering, "Why God Why?" from "Miss Saigon," was omitted, and they skipped straight ahead to three songs from "Les Misérables" to close out the first half. In some vague approximation of a Thénardier costume, Mr. LaBrecque was at his most amusing taking swills from some hapless front-row audience member's champagne bottle during "Master of the House," and Ms. Jenkins made a delightfully crass Madame (though her contemporary floral print dress was at odds with his half-hearted attempt at period costume; their accents couldn't seem to agree, either). Ms. York sang a heartbreaking "I Dreamed a Dream," and the three closed Act One with "Do You Hear the People Sing?" accompanied by the Broadway Pops Singers.

Act Two highlights included Ms. Jenkins's sassy "When You're Good to Mama" from "Chicago" and Ms. York in the offbeat "Diva's Lament" from "Spamalot." The powers that be excised all Sondheim that was promised in the printed program (gasp!), so alas, fans did not get to hear "Sunday in the Park with George" or "Sweeney Todd," instead getting "The Lion King" and even more Andrew Lloyd Webber. Well, at least we got Ms. York's delicious "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina," and the most powerful "And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going" that I've ever heard live, thanks to the Supreme vocal talents of Ms. Jenkins.

Capathia Jenkins

Copyright©2008 www.capathiajenkins.com

If some of the program credits were inaccurate (repeated misspellings of "Lloyd Webber," an attribution of Stephen Schwartz's "Wicked" to Charlie Smalls), they're not half so worrisome as the fact that the majority of the lineup is comprised of things most Americans not living under a rock for the past thirty years have heard before. This summer alone, San Diego is enjoying productions of "Les Misérables," "A Chorus Line," "Dreamgirls," and "The Phantom of the Opera." With the myriad of recent Broadway credits that these performers have amassed, would it be too much to ask to hear some slightly lesser-known titles they've performed on the Great White Way: "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "The Scarlet Pimpernel," "Victor/Victoria," "City of Angels," "Caroline, or Change"? All worthy scores, and much more "Here and Now!" than "The Wiz," I'm afraid.