REVIEW: Cynthia Erivo Joins the Boston Pops for a Gravity-Defying Performance
08/21 @ Tanglewood, Lenox MA
Photos by Hilary Scott, courtesy of the Boston Pops
“It was as if she plucked the worries from each audience member, and gave each of us a mantra to hear and hold space for, enveloping each adoring fan like a warm hug.”
“Hello Tanglewood! Tonight, we might laugh, we might cry, but we will do this together. I will be with you. You will be with me. And we’ll have a great night!”
Following a thunderous applause from the 10,000 avid fans awaiting the unforgettable night ahead of them, Cynthia Erivo offered a warm welcome, beaming at the crowd in front of her. After not performing a concert in almost a year, Cynthia seemed (nearly) as excited as we were as she took the stage at the Tanglewood Music Center on a gorgeous summer evening.
After a prelude from the Boston Pops, with Anthony Parthner at the helm, Cynthia dove right in. The first several songs were heavy hitters — beginning with “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from Funny Girl on Broadway, Burt Bacharach’s “Alfie”, and “Ain’t No Way” by Aretha Franklin. The sheer gravity (no pun intended) of each of these audience-grabbing numbers was almost overwhelming. Each song had the grandeur of an encore; I had to stop myself from standing up in outrageous applause after every one.
Between each song, Cynthia’s voice would drop to a near whisper as she introduced the next number or told us a story. I felt myself inching forward in my seat, hanging on every word she spoke. I was not alone — this was one of the most attentive audiences I’ve ever experienced. You could hear a pin drop; when she spoke, we listened.
This intentional connection she created with the audience was remarkable. With every song, she was building a relationship with each individual member. When an “I love you, Cynthia!” would ring out from the depths of the lawn, Cynthia would respond with an “Oh, I love you too!”, as if responding to a friend. Before certain numbers, she’d ask the crowd for permission to do a song, or ask the audience to share in a feeling with her, making the audience an active participant in the show and creating a beautiful exchange of energy. You could tell that she fed off of this energy, building with every song she sang.
“If I let go, will you let go with me? I feel you up here. Let go with me,” Cynthia gently says to the audience as she introduces her next song, “Let Me Go” by Mykal Kilgore. I was transfixed by the raw emotion in the lyrics as she spoke new breath into them, directly at the crowd.
The song then evolved into an improvisation, where Cynthia began singing a message of encouragement and love, as the band backed her up. It was as if she plucked the worries from each audience member, and gave each of us a mantra to hear and hold space for, enveloping each adoring fan like a warm hug.
“I know it’s not been easy. Let go of the weight on your shoulders for a minute. I love you. I’m proud of you.”
She continued for several minutes and I looked around at the tear-stained faces around me simultaneously wearing gratitude, pain, hope, grief, and peace. She then lowered the microphone and began singing to the audience with no amplification. Her words reached a new level of intimacy. As tears rolled down my cheeks, I was filled with the peace and light of this extraordinary collective experience.
“I want you to know I can see you. I feel you. I love you.”
Even if she hadn’t spoken those words, her message to the audience was abundantly clear. Somehow, over the course of the evening, I felt seen and appreciated by a person who’d never known me or the 10,000 people in the crowd. The mantras were then reduced to a whisper and the crowd erupted in applause. Without missing a beat, she launched into Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good”, as if she hadn’t just left the audience in a puddle of tears.
The energy did not stop there. In the second act, Cynthia continued to dazzle the crowd with songs from a wide gambit of genres, from Prince to Etta James to the Beatles. When it felt like there wasn’t more she could possibly do to top the previous number, she pulled out Carole King’s “Natural Woman”, this time with some audience participation. Once she was confident we had our ‘ah-ooh’s down, she made her way into the audience — running through the crowd barefoot, hugging and conducting her adoring chorus of fans.
Immediately after, she switched gears and performed back-to-back Prince hits, “Purple Rain” and “Nothing Compares 2 U”. These songs reimagined by Cynthia and the Boston Pops were unlike anything I had ever heard from her. The musical depth and variety in her set was remarkable.
Even more remarkable was her ability to imbue these songs with an equal emotional depth. The range of emotions she naturally conveyed on stage as she sang, brought these songs to new heights. In one minute she had the crowd laughing at a silly bit she did with her microphone, and the next she gave us soul-bearing improvised lyrics from the heart, or intensely rolled around on the stage giving her all into the ending riff of “Feeling Good”. Her emotional range is an absolute superpower, and an incredible gift she gave to the audience.
Notably absent on the setlist were the many hit songs from her breakthrough roles as Elphaba in Wicked and Celie in The Color Purple. Of course we all wanted to hear the iconic Cynthia-Erivo-Defying-Gravity riff, but I left the performance at Tanglewood more than satisfied. That evening, I came to know Cynthia as so much more than Elphaba. She is Aretha, Prince, Whitney, Fanny Brice — she is everybody and anybody she wants to be. Every song that she takes on, she completely embodies.
The evening ended with a stunning rendition of “Let it Be” by the Beatles. Cynthia bid farewell to the crowd and said, “Thank you for working with me.” What a privilege it was to “work” with such an extraordinary musician, and take part in such a beautiful experience.
