Latest Headlines
Posted 03.02.11

Harry Connick: In Concert on Broadway

By CURT SCHLEIER March 2, 2011 TV SOUNDOFF Early on in “Harry Connick, Jr.: In Concert on Broadway,” the multi-talented performer shows how well he wears the mantle of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. When Connick sings the Sinatra standard, “All the Way” it goes down as smoothly as single-malt Scotch. (See concert video here:) Sure, Connick is a great song stylist, but there’s more to him than just a great voice. He’s also a wonderful musician, a talented composer and an extremely confident and generous performer. You see his generosity in the way he shares the limelight. He features members of his band throughout the concert and they frequently do show-stopping solos. His confidence is evident in his song selection. The easy approach is to sing obvious and bouncy crowd pleasing favorites. But when he chose to sing from “Guys and Dolls,” which he claims is the perfect musical, he eschewed “Luck Be a Lady Tonight.” Instead he sang My Time of Day/I’ve Never Been in Love Before, songs more likely to elicit sighs than raucous applause. Connick also did a song from a score he wrote for a Broadway flop 10 years ago and a plaintiff ode he wrote in memory of James Hooker, a pianist who mentored him as a child and died at age 42,both interesting but sluggish. (This Hooker is not to be confused with John Lee Hooker, the bluesman or the James Hooker who founded the Amazing Rhythm Aces and currently lives in Ireland. I couldn’t find any Google reference to Connick’s Hooker [no pun intended].) If the pace was a little slow in the first act, it quickly picked up when he returned in more ways than one. Not only was he on stage again, but he returned to his New Orleans roots playing up tempo songs that fuse jazz, Dixie and Creole styles often on an old upright honky tonk piano.. His “Light the Way” and “St. James Infirmary Blues” set the house afire and so did his uninhibited dancing. Good filmmaking makes this almost as good as seeing the show live. ★★★★☆ -- Curt Schleier Harry Connick, Jr.: In Concert on Broadway airs tonight (March 2) at 9:30 p.m. on PBS following Troubadours (reviewed here). Check local listings. The show is also available in DVD ($14.98 SRP) and Blu-ray ($29.98 SRP) formats.