Review: After shocking postponement, how did Andrea Bocelli make it up to Charlotte?
To a certain degree, it’s not been the best week and a half for Andrea Bocelli — or for a sizable contingent of his fans.
On Feb. 7, the world-famous Italian tenor announced, with just six hours’ notice, that he was postponing his highly anticipated Valentine’s Day-themed concert at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center due to an affliction that would topple anyone who relies on the health of their voice for a living: laryngitis.
It turned out not to be an isolated incident. Three days later, still suffering, the 61-year-old Bocelli shelved a performance at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House; and the day after that, he postponed a third show, at AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.
Thus far, Bocelli has not announced new dates for the New York and Miami shows. In some ways, then, Charlotte fans were lucky to nail him down again so quickly. Lucky, that is, if they were still free to attend — or still able to get here at all — on Sunday night.
In the days leading up to the Charlotte make-up date, the event’s Facebook page was flooded with posts by people trying to unload tickets they said they could no longer use due to other obligations. Anecdotally, I also received emails from and saw social-media posts by folks who had made special visits from out of town for the original concert, and weren’t able to make another trip.
So, a part of me half-expected that Spectrum Center would be half-empty on Sunday night. But when the lights went down at 8:15 p.m., the arena was brimming with fans, and when Bocelli was led onto the stage 13 minutes later by longtime music director Eugene Kohn, those fans were palpably brimming with excitement.
As soon as Bocelli’s booming voice exploded into first verse of “La donna è mobile” — the bright aria from Giuseppe Verdi’s “Rigoletto” that even those with zero opera experience know, thanks to pasta-sauce and Doritos commercials — it was clear that his larynx was no longer inflamed.
It was, however, on fire. Or maybe better to say: a fuoco. Or, en fuego.
Whether singing operatic arias in his native Italian tongue, time-honored pop standards in Spanish (the sumptuous “Amapola,” the haunting “Bésame Mucho”), or a newer number, briefly, in English (“Return to Love” from his 2019 release “Si Forever: The Diamond Edition”), he made every note into something of a work of art, from the pitch to the tone color to the texture.
While Bocelli’s setlist only repeated eight of the songs performed during his first-ever Valentine’s Day show here two Februarys ago, in many ways, it felt quite similar.
The first half of the show again focused on classic works from famous operas — and classic famous-opera love duets that paired him, this time, with the wonderful Cuban-born coloratura soprano Maria Aleida — while the second again fixated on more-pop-minded fare — and more-pop-minded love duets that paired him, this time, with 31-year-old former “American Idol” finalist Pia Toscano.
(Those two halves were again separated by a 20-minute intermission, which again was completely unnecessary, given that the total running time including that intermission was only 1 hour and 56 minutes; I’d have much preferred the show maintain its momentum by, say, using the orchestral medley from “The Sound of Music” that opened the second half to simply just split the two halves.)
In 2018, the Opera Carolina Orchestra was invited to back Bocelli because the Charlotte Symphony — the organization that normally would have been tapped — had another obligation. This time around, Opera Carolina got the call outright, both for the original date and the make-up date. Opera Carolina again also brought along several dozen members of its diverse and excellent chorus.
(Bocelli took his collaboration with Opera Carolina a step further Sunday night, giving three of its singers a moment in the spotlight by inviting them up front to perform the Act 3 quartet from Puccini’s “La bohème” with him near the end of the first half of the show. That was soprano Melinda Whittington Bugaiski right next to Bocelli in the blue dress, and baritone Harrison Bumgardner and soprano Corey Lovelace on the nearby microphone. Incidentally, “La bohème” was performed by Opera Carolina four times in January as part of its 2019-20 season, so it was fresh in its singers’ and musicians’ minds.)
Once again, the way-way-better-than-average backup dancers — Brittany O’Connor (a professional ballerina) and Paul Barris (a world champion Latin dancer) — were back, with O’Connor seductively complementing “En Aranjuez con tu amor” by herself and then the pair doing the contemporary-ballroom thing with passion during both “Bésame Mucho” and “Return to Love.”
And, once again, there were goosebump-inducing reactions during and back-to-back standing ovations at the end of the one-two finale punch of “Con te partirò” and “Nessun dorma.”
In a way, however, Sunday night’s show lacked some of the life of the 2018 concert, and I’d attribute it to the fact that we didn’t have the benefit of Tony Award-winning Broadway star Kristin Chenoweth this time around.
Maria Aleida was, as I said, wonderful — particularly during her fetching performance of “The Doll Song” from Offenbach’s “The Tales of Hoffman,” the opéra fantastique in which the title character is crushed when he finds out the ballerina he’s in love with is actually a wind-up doll.
(As in the opera, Aleida robotically pitched forward multiple times, finally to be amusingly rewound by conductor Eugene Kohn. It also should be said here that Aleida won raves in Philadelphia back in 2011 for portraying Olympia in the Academy of Vocal Arts’ production of “The Tales of Hoffman.”)
But while Pia Toscano’s voice soared close to Celine Dion-esque heights on her cover of Eric Carmen’s “All By Myself,” her lack of personality may have stood out to anyone with fond memories of Chenoweth’s good-natured goofiness in 2018.
“I am so, so honored to be a guest of Mr. Bocelli’s tonight — I can’t believe I have to go after him!” Chenoweth practically squealed back then, before regarding her outfit and adding: “I had a different dress I was going to wear tonight, but I went to Bojangles’, and now it doesn’t fit.”
Still, the biggest difference between Bocelli’s 2018 show here and Sunday night’s was a welcome one: While last time he didn’t utter a single word to the crowd outside of his singing, this time, he had something to say.
“Honestly in 25 years of my career, I never lost my voice so much than this time,” Bocelli said softly, in his broken English.
“Incredible, but true. And now ... my voice is coming back,” he added, as the crowd roared its approval, drowning out the parts of his brief address.
He then introduced esteemed flutist Andrea Griminelli — whose talent would later be showcased in re-creations of “Flight of the Bumblebee” and Ennio Morricone spaghetti Western scores — explaining that he invited his fellow countryman to join him on this tour “because I love the flute,” and revealing that “sometimes, he gives me some lessons.”
To prove it, he borrowed Griminelli’s instrument and breathed a handful of simple but melodic notes into it.
“If I lose my voice (again),” Bocelli said, smiling, “I must learn to play the flute better.”
He made no other remarks for the rest of the evening; not even a thank-you. But what mattered most — to both us, and to him, I would imagine — is that he was singing again.
And as Bocelli bowed and waved and smiled to the crowd after the encore, over and over, it was obvious:
He was thankful.
Andrea Bocelli’s setlist
1. “Dance of the Hours,” from “La Gioconda” (Orchestra only)
2. “La donna è mobile” from “Rigoletto”
3. “Di quella pira” from “Il trovatore”
4. “The Doll Song” from “The Tales of Hoffmann” (Maria Aleida solo)
5. “Waltz duet” from “The Merry Widow” (with Maria Aleida)
6. “Flight of the Bumblebee” (Andrea Griminelli solo)
7. “Czardas” (Andrea Griminelli solo)
8. “O soave fanciulla” from “La bohème” (with Maria Aleida)
9. “Act 3 quartet” from “La bohème” (with Melinda Whittington Bugaiski, Harrison Bumgardner and Corey Lovelace)
10. “Brindisi” from “La traviata” (with Maria Aleida)
Intermission
11. “Orchestral Medley” from “The Sound of Music” (Orchestra only)
12. “Amapola”
13. “En Aranjuez con tu amor” (with Andrea Griminelli)
14. American themes (Andrea Griminelli solo)
15. “Bésame Mucho”
16. “’O sole mio” (with Maria Aleida)
17. “All By Myself” (Pia Toscano solo)
18. “Return to Love” (with Pia Toscano)
19. “Canto della terra” (with Pia Toscano)
Encore:
20. “Con te partirò” (with Maria Aleida)
21. “Nessun dorma”
Théoden Janes: 704-358-5897, @theodenjanes
