At one point in her triumphant, multi-faceted, first orchestral concert at the Hollywood Bowl, Sara Bareilles turned to her adoring crowd and said something to the effect of, quite bluntly yet inspirationally “If we’re not spending our lives lifting people up and encouraging them to be their best selves, then what the F** are we doing here?”
Throughout a 90-minute set backed by the beautifully caressing dynamics of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra under the direction of Thomas Wilkins, Bareilles - dressed in a silver suit/dress as shimmering as her resonant mezzo-soprano vocals – made us feel like we were all our best selves. She touched brilliantly on both her success as a Grammy winning pop singer/songwriter, Tony Award nominated stage performer and Broadway composer/lyricist, elevating us, holding our rapt attention to every colorful and witty turn of lyrical phrase. While reveling at times in the solo spotlight singing at the piano, lifted by the soaring strings and horns – most transcendently early on in the set on the heartfelt, tear-inducing opener “Orpheus” and her majestic, otherworldly re-imagining of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” - she also created an impactful sense of community via an array of special guest performers, all longtime friends and collaborators.
Though she started her career as a pop artist with ubiquitous hits like the always engaging, still defiant piano pounding “Love Song” and the soulful, deeply heartfelt ballad “Gravity” – both played early in the set, showcasing her epic emotional range – Bareilles’ multiple turns into the world of stage musicals via her successful Broadway adaptation of Waitress and role as Baker’s Wife in the 2022 revival of Sondheim’s Into the Woods have made her the ultimate team player. As wonderfully as she conveyed her solo pop material early on, these onstage collabs took the show to an electrifying new level.
After sharing the fascinating word play of her spotlight song “Moments in the Woods,” she invited Hamilton alum Renee Elise Goldsberry (Bareille’s co-star on the hit TV comedy “Girls5Eva”) and Waitress arranger and orchestrator Nadia DiGiallonardo to add lush vocal harmonies and extra energy to “Many The Miles” (another gem from Bareille’s breakthrough album Little Voice. Grammy winning Americana artist Madison Cunningham joined the three for another of the evening’s high points, the debut of the very timely and politically charged female empowerment anthem (and warning!) “Hands off My Body” – which also featured old friends from UCLA that are now in the band Raining Jane.
Delighting the packed crowd in the higher sections of the Bowl, Bareilles ventured up towards the center of the venue, facing them and, guitar at the ready, starting an intimate acoustic mini-set with two other pals, viola player Solomon Dorsey and violinist (and one of the night’s orchestrators) Rob Moose. After the spirited, easy swinging mid-tempo ballad “Let the Rain,” the singer invited an excited young fan from the audience (and a pretty good singer herself!) to join her on “Soft Place to Land” (from Waitress).
Bareilles then invited Cunningham and the folk duo Milk Carton Kids (Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan) for a moving, meditative rendition of her introspective classic “Saint Honesty.” Thousands of cell phone lights were all aglow, bathing her in a sea of celestial joy as she started the solemn, hymn-like “Once Upon Another Time” on the mid-Bowl stage and eased herself all the way back to the stage to finish the song in harmony with Cunningham, Dorsey and DiGiallonardo.
Standing alone before the orchestra once again, Bareilles debuted her touching new song “Enough” from a new musical she’s working on, based on the book The Interestings. Sharing that she “wrote this song before I finished the book because I was so moved,” the song is from a scene where the protagonist feels unhappy with her life and her lover is telling her he hopes what she has is enough. It was a beautiful preview that should generate excitement for the eventual full musical.
Though the following tune, the quirky, up-tempo “King of Anything,” is from her pop album Kaleidoscope Heart, the singer’s whimsical, drama filled performance, backed by the percussive excitement of the orchestra’s strings, definitely hinted at the vocally nimble Broadway Bareilles to come. Very much in the spirit of the closing number of a stage musical, she brought out her full ensemble of guests to join her on her enduring anthem “Brave” before closing the set in a quieter mood, sitting back at the piano for “She Used to Be Mine,” a gorgeous, reflective tearjerker from Waitress.
Goldsberry opened for her friend with an exuberant, fast grooving set featuring the always rousing Aretha Franklin arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” a plucky arrangement of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and her showstopping “Hamilton” song “Satisfied.”
Circling back to Bareilles’ version of “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” I truly believe her take on the EJ classic was the most exciting five minutes I have ever experienced at the Hollywood Bowl after at least 100 shows over the years. I was simultaneously moved to tears while wanting to raise my arms in triumph, thinking in my mind, despite all the twists and turns of life, “Now this is why it’s great to be alive!”
