'DIVAS' is divine

Both casts of singers ably perform vocal gymnastics, making this musical an exhilarating experience

By RICHARD HUNTINGTON
9/12/2006

… The six marvelous singers, all classically trained, ranged over operatic selections, pop and Broadway songs, jazz, blues, soul, gospels and spirituals, even a wad or two of bubblegum music from the 1950s girl-groups.

This kind of vocal leaping about is, as you might guess, no easy task for a singer. As some wag long ago said, opera is like music, only louder. This thrust of volume on the human vocal chords is infamously strenuous. But then so is the rendering of the wandering pitch and shifting rhythms of jazz, or the belting out of high notes in a Broadway song, or the power demands of the gospel and spiritual. Even the ordinary pop ditty requires its own set of vocal acrobatics.

Both were marvelously adept at these stylistic gear changes. The lingering remnants of operatic inflection that invaded some pop and jazz songs on both nights were minor flaws in performances of such high musical quality. The strain on the voices is the reason for the alternating casts, but with these two casts a reviewer is in the happy situation of not having to choose one over the other.

Studio Arena has dubbed the casts Cast 1 and Cast A, an an effort at enforced democracy in billing. Thursday's performers, Cast 1: Laurice Lanier, Andrea Jones-Sojola and Yvette Gonzalez-Nacer; and Friday's Cast A: Gretha Boston, Jamet Pittman and DeVonna Lawrence, are vocal equals. Not to worry, whichever performance you attend will hold great musical pleasures…

… But then there's such a thing as stage presence. Lanier and Boston have it in abundance. Lanier is a big woman who merely standing exudes potential rhythm. Her voice is that kind of all-embracing instrument that has both operatic power and soulful depth. It is breathtaking. Her "Strange Fruit" had an excruciating beauty that was amplified by Jones-Sojola, whose deliciously mellow soprano accompanied in a sweetly melting vocalise.

But then, Boston's rendition of the same song was equally heart-wrenching. Like Lanier, Boston immediately commands the stage, and her voice comes at you in deep, rich layers that seem to issue from a fabulous well of sound that has no bottom. At the close of Friday's performance her wondrous a cappella singing of "His Eye On the Sparrow" was the emotional clincher for an evening that covered the spectrum of feeling from the bang-bang rock 'n' roll of "Little Shop of Horrors" to Pittman's delicate and precise rendition of "In My Solitude" to Lawrence's well-wrought "My Funny Valentine." Each evening had its special qualities. Gonzalez-Nacer had the best show-tune voice and gave the divas a much-needed brassy edge on the Broadway and movie medley section. On Thursday Jones-Sojola and Lanier were marvelous with their operatic arias. The next night Boston's "Carmen" aria was also a highlight, along with a superb treatment of "Vissi D'Arte" from "Tosca" by Pittman…

… Victor Simonson directed a fantastic six-piece band from the keyboard. Good thing: Simonson and the band were the only people on stage who really rocked with conviction…

… Both performances made for great entertainment. Caffey has done a service to the art of singing by making all music, whatever its style, seem to meld in the voices of his six sensational divas….  

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