You Got A Dame

Last night I made my first foray to the Symphony. Okay, the catch was Bernadette Peters was performing wth the SF Symphony, but still - it was the Symphony. First I have to say what a beautiful building! I had no idea it was so huge inside. I don't know how many people the facility holds at capacity, but the layout obviously leaves not a bad seat in the house. Well, unless there's a performer. There are seats behind the stage, which are great for a musical performance, last night they saw Miss Peters' rear most of the night. There aren't many venues where one actually gets dressed up to go out for an evening - the Symphony is definitely one of these rare occasions. During the "intermission" ( I say this lightly because there was a conductor led musical performance of five songs before Miss Peters began her portion of the evening), I enjoyed a glass of champagne from the balcony terrace, enjoying the beautiful summer night in San Francisco and admired the design on top a building that I've only viewed at ground level in the past. They just don't make buildings like they used to. Following her overture, yes, she had an overture!, Miss Peters came out and delivered an evening of spectacular song and performance. She brought the house down with a one woman performance of a song from 'South Pacific', I don't know the exact title, but "You Ain't Got A Dame" is usually performed by the men in the show, her take was spectacular. She even came down to the audience and nearly gave an older gentleman a heart attack has she sang ON him. MIss Peters followed "Dame" with a great rendition of "Fever", sprawled out over the Grand Piano. I knew the performance would be fantastic, but until you've seen her in person, you don't have a concept of what a powerhouse voice she really has! The 90 minute performance certainly left me wanting more.