REVIEW: Josh Groban Gives the Crowd Exactly What They Want
08/14 @ SPAC
Photos by Elissa Ebersold
“Groban crooned, belted, falsettoed, and melted the hearts of every mom and grandmother in the packed Broadview amphitheatre.”
Josh Groban’s “Stage, Screen & Symphony” tour pulled into Saratoga Performing Arts Center on Friday night and my god, it was exactly what you’d expect it to be. Performing selections from the Broadway stage and the silver screen, Groban crooned, belted, falsettoed, and melted the hearts of every mom and grandmother in the packed amphitheatre.
Groban, backed by sweeping arrangements from the Philadelphia Orchestra under the baton of Sean O’Laughlin making his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, opened the show with “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, the first lyrics of which were met with gasps and applause from the audience. Groban’s velvety timbre, in combination with his skills as an actor, had the unique quality of delivering the most saccharine lyrics with an earnestness that (much like Augustus Gloop in that chocolate river) coats even the hardest of hearts (mine) in a heavy layer of hope and optimism.
The opening number set the tone for the rest of the two-hour concert, which offered ballad after ballad after ballad to the enthralled audience, each song delighting them more than the last.
Following his performance of “What I Did For Love” from Hamlisch and Kleban’s A Chorus Line (which, again, was performed flawlessly and featured Groban’s music director, Tariqh Akoni, on an electric guitar that was nestled perfectly into the overall audio mix), Groban asked the audience, “Is there anyone out there that’s followed me from year one?” Well, you woulda thought Oprah was on that stage giving away cars again because the screams, arm-waving, and standing ovations from the women in the crowd were just as loud as that episode from 2004.
There were, to be sure, genuinely moving moments throughout the evening. Groban brought out Samia Posadas, winner of the 2026 Jimmy Award (the Tony Awards for high school performances and a receipt of support from Groban’s own nonprofit, the Find Your Light Foundation) for Best Performance by an Actress, to sing “On My Own” from Les Miserables solo before joining her to sing Phantom of the Opera’s “All I Ask Of You.” Posadas will win herself a Tony someday, believe you me. The hometown choir, Saratoga Voices, joined Groban for several numbers, including “Can You Feel The Love Tonight,” from Disney’s The Lion King. And I got caught up again in the power of Groban’s heartfelt and impassioned delivery, the rich orchestral arrangements, and stirring vocal harmonies.
Do I think every song on the program needed to clock in somewhere between 62 and 74 beats-per-minute? Did I need to hear violinist and frequent Groban-collaborator Lucia Micarelli sing a duet in a tone so breathy and unenunciative that I questioned if she was performing in English? And did Groban need to change during intermission into an all-white suit with pants so ill-fitting that the aforementioned moms and grandmothers probably had flashbacks to getting their own children dressed for their first communions? No, no, and no. But! Was this exactly the concert I expected and kind of hoped for? Absolutely. I mean, I signed up to review this show because I like Josh Groban. He has an incredible singing voice. Furthermore, the man is a schmoozer. He knows exactly who is coming to see his shows and delivered songs and banter that just unlocked something in everyone that night — even me, damn it, and I fought it too.
Groban closed the evening with “Skyfall” from the eponymous James Bond movie and finally did the thing I’d been hoping for all night: gave us a groove. It was hands down the best number and arrangement of the evening with wonderfully interesting parts coming from every section of the orchestra: bleating cries from the bass, intense string bowing, rapid scalar runs from the high winds, and percussion so heavy that I made the stank-face (musicians will know what I’m talking about). Groban doesn’t need to take advice from me (okay, I would say that his Spanish diction isn’t the greatest, but he did admit that before the number; god, he’s even perfectly self-depricating) but, come on, imagine how much more vibrant the evening would have been had he sprinkled in one or two more numbers like that throughout the program. Not that any of it was boring. Not that the audience cared otherwise. Not that the entire venue wasn’t practically sold-out. Because based on the chatter I overheard on my way out of the venue, everyone (myself included) left impressed and thoroughly entertained.
