It was heaven on the hoof Saturday night at Pulaski Academy's Connor Performing Arts Center in Little Rock, as Broadway singer-dancers Joan Hess and Kirby Ward joined the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra and Associate Conductor Geoffrey Robson for some "Dancing and Romancing."
Ward (Show Boat, Crazy for You) and Hess (Mamma Mia; also the "leggy blonde" on HBO's Flight of the Conchords), superb of voice and up on their toes, brought down the house as they stepped, tapped and twirled Fred-and-Gingerly across the temporary parquet floor that occupied the front few feet of the stage (compressing a bit the orchestra, swelled by a drum kit and a four-player sax section).
The program involved a triple handful of tunes from the Great American Songbook, mostly Broadway and Hollywood love songs (for the first time in years, the annual Valentine pops concert actually fell on Valentine's Day).
Hess carried less of a solo load, but her solo numbers -- "Johnny One Note" and "I'm Gonna Live Til I Die" -- packed quite a punch.
Kirby took on several songs just right for his warm tenor, including "They Can't Take That Away From Me" and "Begin the Beguine", and added choreography in a jazz-tap arrangement of "I Could Have Danced All Night" and swinging an umbrella and parquet-puddle jumping in "Singin' in the Rain."
They put those TV dance shows in the shade with major moves in "Cheek to Cheek," "Chattanooga Choo-Choo," "In the Mood," "All That Jazz," "Shall We Dance" and the "Carioca."
Orchestral highlights included the overtures to Girl Crazy, 42nd Street and West Side Story, and principal percussionist Blake Taylor on the drum kit did his best Gene Krupa impression in "Sing, Sing, Sing."
They'll do it all again at 3 p.m. today at the center, 12701 Hinson Road, Little Rock. Ticket information is available by calling (501) 666-1761 or online at ArkansasSymphony.org.
Metro on 02/15/2015