UTAH SYMPHONY WITH DONALD O'CONNOR, Abravanel Hall, May 9-10, 8 p.m.
Song-and-dance-man Donald O'Connor brought his light-hearted, nostalgia-laden show to Abravanel Hall over the weekend, and his performance - backed by the Utah Symphony - was well-received by a crowd that obviously appreciates the old songs. And the old soft-sell.And the old soft-shoe, for that matter.
In fact, those who thought the 71-year-old hoofer might not deliver in the dancing department got a pleasant surprise.
And if there wasn't anything quite as spectacular as the wall-climbing "Make 'Em Laugh" routine O'Conner performed 45 years ago in the classic musical-comedy "Singin' in the Rain," there was the next best thing - a clip of that performance. And, naturally, it brought down the house.
It was a calculated move late in the show, of course. But there's no denying that it's a hilarious routine, no matter how many times you've seen it.
O'Connor, with his own conductor and pianist - and "a little bigger orchestra than I'm used to working with" - came on the stage to the familiar strains of "Singin' in the Rain" and immediately launched into the energetic "Nothing Can Stop Me Now."
That was followed by a mix of songs from the '40s and the '70s - from "Make Someone Happy" to "Can't Smile Without You" to "Anything Goes" to "Once in a Lifetime," etc., interrupted occasionally by patter and exchanges with people in the front row.
O'Connor, looking trim and fit, adopted an informal demeanor, laced with self-deprecating humor, and knowingly worked the crowd, occasionally dropping an anecdote about Gene Kelly or Debbie Reynolds - or Francis, the talking mule.
He only showed two film clips in the Friday show, the aforementioned classic moment from "Singin' in the Rain" (1952) and his 1938 film debut at age 12 with Bing Crosby and Fred MacMurray. "Could you tell which one was me?" he asked when the lights came up again.
The show was so casual it was obvious that this was simply O'Connor doing his Vegas lounge act, though the setting was quite different from the usual cabaret atmosphere. But the audience didn't seem to mind. In fact, if anything, symphonygoers were overly enthusiastic.
O'Connor is, after all, an old friend to those of us who have enjoyed his many movies. And it was just good to have him drop by for a visit.
"So, what else would you like me to do?" he said at one point, and then began a sly exchange with himself: "You want me to dance?
"Any particular dance?
"A soft shoe?
"Any particular tempo?
"Slow?"
After the "Make 'Em Laugh" clip he joked, "We were all set to do that for our opening number, but we couldn't get the walls."
During the first half of the evening, Robert Henderson brought out 11-year-old Laura Ferry, who performed a violin solo (Kabalevsky's "Violin Concerto, Op. 48"). And later, O'Connor would bring young Ferry on stage again, this time for a bit of tap-dancing (to "Tea for Two") under his encouragement.
Another highlight in that first segment was Dr. K. Gary Shields stepping in for Henderson to conduct the Utah Symphony in a Sousa march. Shields' wife purchased the guest-conducting shot at the Symphony Guild's charity auction for his 60th birthday.
Henderson got a big laugh when he said, "I gave him some conducting lessons and he's going to teach me surgery."