Uggams’ Rich Voice Takes Control of Hall

The question confronting the packed house waiting for Leslie Uggams to sing Thursday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center was simple: Which Leslie Uggams would turn up for the cabaret season’s opening performance in Founders Hall?

Would it be the Leslie Uggams of “Sing Along With Mitch�? The Leslie Uggams of “Roots�? Or the Leslie Uggams of countless concert and musical-theater performances?

The answer, as it turned out, was a lot better than the question. Although her performance ran for only a too-brief hour, Uggams filled every minute with a nonstop collection of songs, reminiscences and humor. The only area of her career that did not receive much attention was her award-winning appearance in “Roots,� largely, of course, because it was not a musical show.

Uggams was bright and upbeat from the beginning, immediately cranking the intensity level with a big, room-filling rendering of “From This Moment On.�

Then, seemingly determined to reveal her range, she shifted dramatically into a sensuously intimate reading of “It Had to Be You�--particularly impressive for her ability to generate a high level of emotion without raising her voice beyond a whisper.

The show focused on Uggams’ early years, especially her youthful experiences when she was billed as an “Extra Special Attraction� at Harlem’s legendary Apollo Theater along with Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington and others.

Uggams celebrated Armstrong with “Up a Lazy River,� and Fitzgerald with “A-Tisket, A-Tasket.� She focused on Washington, clearly an important influence, via a stirring medley of “What a Difference a Day Makes,� “I Wanna Be Around� and “You Made Me Love You.� Good stuff, all of it gorgeously interpreted.

One of the most touching pieces was her version of the Carole King-Gerry Goffin hit for the Drifters, “Up on the Roof.� Over solo guitar accompaniment, Uggams again revealed the virtues of understatement, finding the surprisingly poignant heart of the song with a quiet but intense interpretation.

And again emphasizing her capacity to make sudden creative shifts, she followed it with a hard-swinging romp through “Hello, Young Lovers,� which was dramatically transformed from its original waltz form into an up-tempo jazz number, accompanied only by percussion.

Uggams concluded her set with a medley of tunes from George Gershwin--whose songs, she said, “give her goose bumps.� Yet despite her obvious desire to provide a rip-roaring climax, it was the least appealing segment of an otherwise entertaining performance.

Largely setting aside the rich range of feelings that had informed her other material, Uggams went for the emotional jugular, especially during a combination of “The Man I Love� and “Someone to Watch Over Me.� Musically stirring, perhaps, but far too dramatically overripe for a performer with her musical intelligence.

That glitch aside, Uggams was first rate, a mature artist at the peak of her powers. Those years at the Apollo, the musical training that her association with Mitch Miller provided, the personal insights associated with “Roots,� have all paid off handsomely.