Performing Arts

IRVING – If there's a single Broadway composer leading ladies love to sing, it's Jerry Herman. So it was diva heaven at Lyric Stage's Dallas Divas! on Friday.

DARNELLRENEE/Special Contributor

The Irving Symphony Orchestra accompanied the ladies of Dallas Divas!

Normally these annual shows are tailor-made to fit the participants. In this case, however, Mr. Herman had already put together his own retrospective Broadway revue, Jerry's Girls. So for the first time, Lyric Stage offered a pre-existing show in this spot.

Mr. Herman is the most retrograde of Broadway tunesmiths. He even wrote a song called "I Don't Want to Know" that proclaims how strongly he prefers pretty melodies to somber reality. But the musicals featured in Jerry's Girls also reflect social change. The title song, "Hello, Dolly!," became a huge mainstream hit. A quarter-century later, La Cage aux Folles produced the anthem for gays coming out of the closet, "I Am Who I Am."

The existing orchestrations, played lavishly by the Irving Symphony Orchestra under Gary Okeson, didn't always show off the divas at their best. Eleanor Threatt's distinctively smoky vocal sound should have been perfect for her numbers, but they were in keys a note or two too high. The charming Laurie Bulaoro also got in trouble a few times at the top of her range.

Mostly, though, the divas scored big. Jodi Wright caressed "Shalom" from Milk and Honey with her big, mahogany voice. Kristi Rowan, who recently starred in Lyric Stage's world premiere The Winner, sparkled in the lightest numbers.

A special guest appearance by Ada Lynn stopped the second act. As a child star, Ms. Lynn actually appeared with Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the movie Maytime. Here she sang "Nelson," a comic number from Mack and Mabel in which Ms. MacDonald sings of how boring Mr. Eddy was. Her priceless performance became all the more appealing when at one point Ms. Lynn confessed she had forgotten the words.

As usual at these affairs, Julie Johnson and Sally Soldo walked away with the top honors. Ms. Johnson sings, acts and commands the stage better than any New York star of her generation. She was hilarious in the funny songs, poignant in the sad ones and thrilling throughout. Ms. Soldo sells a ballad better than any of her Dallas peers. "If He Walked Into My Life," as she sang it, became an emotional portrait dispelling any notion that Mr. Herman is all glamour and no substance.

We don't get many Herman musicals in these parts. I guess they're just too huge, too glitzy, too big-time, old-time Broadway. But the announcement of Lyric Stage's 2007-08 season on Friday revealed that Ms. Johnson will be starring in its production of Hello, Dolly! next spring. I bet they sold lots of season tickets to audience members on their way out.

• Repeats tonight at 8 at the Irving Arts Center's Carpenter Performance Hall, 3333 N. MacArthur Blvd., Irving. Runs 120 mins. $29. 972-252-2787, www.lyricstage.org.

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