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Performing Arts Center |
4.16.2001
Church radiates youthful giddiness, stunning talent
BY VAUGHN WATSON
Journal Pop Music Writer
Charlotte Church talked with her hands and giggled a lot at her concert on Saturday at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Giddiness assured the audience that -- despite the four gowns she wore over 21/2 hours, and her sterling voice -- she is indeed only 15.
When Church sang, the star emerged. She enunciated her lyrics cleanly. She closed her eyes tightly, in adoration of the music; you know, she let the spirit move her.
Singing what she called her "favorites," Church shared much with the two most supple: "Summertime," written by George Gershwin, and Paul Simon's "Bridge Over Troubled Water." Those songs acknowledged the influence of jazz and blues to transcend the pop of their times. Church, in her New England concert debut, did this, too.
Both "Summertime" and "Bridge Over Troubled Water" reflect more than a hint of the role faith played in forming the blues, then jazz: those songs are the ones that can assure the singer that despite tough times now, redemption is reachable. The theme doesn't need Charlotte Church to emerge, read the lyrics and see the point. But Church made those songs personal.
She performed much of the night with full orchestra, but didn't rely on lavish arrangements. Sparseness in setting held up her voice alone to articulate sincerity. "Summertime," especially, was soaring and accessible -- Church as a populist poetess.
Church acknowledged that her voice is growing, "If you can't hear me, come back in five years," she said before singing a traditional song from her native Wales in an unplugged style, except for a harp accompaniment. She handled it pleasantly.
Sony last year re-released Church's 1998 debut internationally on its Sony Classical subsidiary. The label is marketing Church as an operatic-style singer to broaden the appeal of a classical genre which last year was eclipsed in record sales by jazz. Church's song selection, in albums and in concert, turns on that classical crossover turf.
A bunch of at-ease show tunes front-loaded with drama brought reliable comfort to the lighter, lyric soprano. She had only to stroke the high points of her range to bring bursts of transformative Technicolor to those audience-fave pop songs.
"Bali Ha'i" was a pretty song given a duly sweet rendering. Its midrange and thematic turf -- pensive at first, then persuasive -- reveled in Church's style. When her voice stayed within that range, then got a bit of that spirit in her, she was radiant.
15-year-old Charlotte Church likes sleepovers and Plato,
and plays PPAC Saturday night.
BY CHANNING GRAY
Journal Arts Writer
Things you should know about Charlotte Church, the sensational Welsh teenager with the "voice of an angel":
She doesn't have time for a boyfriend, and bottom line, she's just a "working-class girl," who if the public tires of her warbling might take a job as a "shop clerk."
Those were just some of the topics the perky 15-year-old touched upon in a recent phone interview from her home in Cardiff, Wales.
Char, as her family is fond of calling her, was just back from a day at school, where she's just another "normal" kid who so happens to spend seven or eight months a year on the road serenading the pope and the queen.
"She's back," her friends say when Church returns from a tour. "Then," she says, "it's just kind of normal. I go to sleepovers and parties."
Saturday, Church, who's back on the road, will be making her New England concert debut at the Providence Performing Arts Center with full orchestra.
Although she's blessed with something of an operatic sound -- as opposed to, say, Britney Spears -- actually Church sings very little opera. For her PPAC concert, she said, she's picked a lot of tunes from 1930s musicals and numbers from her three CDs.
But is she not aspiring to be the next Cecilia Bartoli? Not really, said Church. Opera is too elitist for her blood.
"I'm just a working girl," she said, without getting into the kind of change she picks up for a night of singing or for record sales.
She is also not planning to write her own songs. That would mean showing too much of herself to the world, when she's already constantly in the limelight.
"I'd feel stupid. It's like sharing your whole self."
Path of a superstar
Church is interested in acting, though, and can see herself in the movies. No deals have been inked, but "lots of ideas are being discussed," she said.
But all this depends on "how long the public wants me," she said philosophically. If her fans tire of her, she may end up a "shopkeeper."
That seems unlikely, though. Right now Church seems headed for superstardom, if she hasn't yet achieved it.
She has already cut three CDs of a five-record contract with Sony (she has no idea what she will record next), and is the youngest artist ever to have a number-one album on the United Kingdom classical charts.
And it all started with a call to a morning TV show looking for talented kids. Church comes from musical stock of sorts. Her aunt is quite a cabaret singer; her grandfather played in a '60s rock band. Charlotte began belting out tunes at age 3.
After hearing a few bars over the phone, Richard and Judy, the hosts of the TV show invited Church to give an encore on the set, according to that ghostwritten autobiography, Voice of an Angel: My Life (So Far).
That led to more TV appearances and an invitation to take part in a Welsh music festival held in London's famed Royal Albert Hall. Not long after that, Sony came knocking on Church's door.
Church takes a couple of singing lessons a week, but doesn't have time to practice vocal exercises, what with schoolwork and all. Nor does she fret about her voice much, about straining it "by jabbering all day," or about eating chocolate, which "makes your throat all thick."
"You've got to have fun," Church insisted. "You can't keep worrying about your voice."
Right now Church considers herself a lyric soprano, who, if she positions her voice in the right way, can soar up to a high F. But she's gained about five notes on the bottom end of her range, and figures she'll probably end up mezzo. At least that's what famed tenor Placido Domingo told her.
While she doesn't try to emulate any singer, Church is fond of Erykah Badu, Sting and Blink 182.
She also finds Rhode Island's Billy Gilman "really lovely." The two singers teamed up last year to sing on Church's Christmas album Dream a Dream, on Gilman's album Classic Christmas and on his TNN Christmas TV special.
Plato is a favorite
Church travels with her parents and a couple of tutors. Her favorite subjects are philosophy (she's into Plato), ancient history and anthropology.
Even though she's traveled the world over, she said she rarely gets to see more than the concert hall, hotel and airport.
Church, who had three interviews scheduled this particular afternoon, decided after 20 minutes that it was time to wrap things up. You've got one last question, she said.
Are you having fun?
"It's hard work," said Church, "and I don't like leaving my friends behind. But my tutors are cool."
Charlotte Church sings Saturday night at 7 at the Providence Performing Arts Center. Tickets range from $37 to $57. Call 421-2787 or order online at www.ppacri.org
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