EDGE Providence

At 8:50pm, March 14, 2008, Broadway baby Bernadette Peters became the first performer to christen the newly renovated Hanover Theater for the Performing Arts, the culmination of eight years of fundraising, land swaps, design, and renovation, begun by 2 men, but completed by scores if not hundreds of others. It was a night for the record books.

The Grand Opening Night Gala was right out of Hollywood folklore. In front of the theater, my friend Randy and I found searchlights, a 1949 Packard, two 10’-tall Oscar statuettes carved from ice guarding the door, and yes, a red carpet filled with local celebrities and press. The stretch hummers, the glitter, the jewels, necklines plunging to here, and gowns slit up to there, and that was just us (wishful thinking...actually, I was woefully underdressed, but my friend Randy was stunning in his hand-sewn silk Indian Wedding Suit.). And have I mentioned this was Worcester? The Commonwealth’s second largest city, long in Boston’s shadow, had nothing to apologize for last Friday night, as its highest society turned out in black tie, evening gowns, and full length furs to attend the most spectacular event the city has seen in decades.

The gala marked the opening of the Hanover Theater for the Performing Arts, following a $31 million renovation that returned the former Poli Palace to its original grandeur. Designed by renowned theater architect Thomas Lamb, who also designed the B. F. Keith Memorial Theater (now the Boston Opera House), the Poli Palace opened in 1926, became the Loews Poli Cinema until 1967, and was then unglamorously cut up into a multi-plex by Showcase Cinemas. The renovated theater’s modern fa�ade (a necessity due to insensitive past alterations) belies the lushness of the original interior, remarkably in tact. The interior boasts an upper and lower lobby, connected by a grand staircase, with gilded plasterwork and mirrored end-walls reflecting original crystal chandeliers into infinity. Floral carpets in original patterns, green and red velvet drapes, and 12’-tall Areca Palms harkened back to a long-gone era. But on this gala evening, at the pre-show reception, the era had returned, with a jazz quintet filling the lobbies with sophisticated tunes to raise the buzz factor for the milling glitterati supping on passed hot hors d’oeuvres, as well as champagne, wine and beer at the various open bars.

As the crowd was ushered into the main auditorium, there were audible gasps as people took in the spectacle of the cavernous house, restored to its original soft hues of beiges and creams, crowned with a vast gilded plaster medallion, sporting a crystal chandelier worthy of the Paris Opera House. My friend Randy, a Worcester native, was in awe, recalling that he’d seen the film "The Sound of Music" here as a child, when the place was in rack and ruin.

As eager as we all were to see Ms. Peters, one could hardly blame the organizers for stretching the 20-minute acknowledgements to 45 minutes. After all, they had worked eight long years to make this happen, and a victory lap was in order. The founders of the Hanover Performing Arts Center, Edward P. Madaus and Paul J. Demoga, deserve most of the credit, sinking $50,000 of their own money and countless hours into building the organization and spear-heading the renovation. Director of Fundraising, Mary DeFeudis, waxed emotional from the stage in seeing her efforts come to fruition. But credit for the evening’s success really went to Executive Director, Troy Seibels (formerly Managing Director of Stoneham Theater), who relocated to Worcester to bring structure to the organization. The last organizer to take the stage, 40 minutes into the proceedings, after countless yawn-inducing acknowledgements, Siebels broke the tension by glibly instructing the audience, "Raise your hand if you haven’t been thanked yet." But it is thanks to Siebels’ sharp business acumen that scored Peters on the bill, by forging an alliance with the Providence Performing Arts Center for a Broadway series that would include Peters, as well as national tours of "Hairspray", "Stomp," and "Jesus Christ Superstar" in the upcoming season.

If anything could follow this gala reception, and turn it on its ear, it would be Bernadette Peters. Backed by the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Peters took the stage and instantly commanded the spotlight for the rest of the evening. In a slinky blush sequin gown wrapping her hourglass figure, and revealing enough cleavage and leg to wake up every man (and probably a few women) in the audience, Peters showed that 60 is the new 30. Her trademark auburn ringlets fell to bare porcelain shoulders sporting no jewelry, because the lady simply sparkles without jewels. Peters either has the best genes or the best plastic surgeons alive. Her youthful beauty appears to be all natural, and she used it to full effect in top of the show, opening with a coy "Let Me Entertain You" (from "Gypsy," the 2003 revival of which she starred in as Rose), and continued to stoke the fire with a sexually charged rendition of "There Is Nothing Like a Dame," that had at least a few men in the front row placing their programs in their laps as Peters sang directly to them.

What is wonderful about Peters is her ability to put together a unique and unpredictable program. Eschewing songs she originated on Broadway, she favored songs from shows she never performed in, or songs from her shows that were sung by other characters. In the latter category, she touched hearts with a riveting "No One Is Alone," while in the former, she offered a simply-rendered, sung as written, yet emotionally connected Some Enchanted Evening, that could be a lesson to every American Idol contestant to trust the music. Stretching her repertoire even further, Peters performed for the first time Peggy Lee’s "Fever," lying on top of the grand piano, single-handedly raising body temperatures throughout the audience with such subtle gestures as the arch of an eyebrow, or the raise of a shoulder, and causing cardiac arrest by merely crossing her legs. My friend Randy leaned over to me and whispered, "I’m switching teams." I knew what he meant. If sex sells, Peters could have you buying the Brooklyn Bridge before the night is out. And yet, Peters swiftly turned the tables, beneath a pin spot, not moving a muscle, offering the most wistful, searing version of the folk song, "Shenandoah" you’ve ever heard,where the yearning was palpable.

In an evening of highlights, dominated by Sondheim ballads (things could be worse: neither Sondheim nor a ballad is in better hands). Peters offered three knockouts: a spellbinding "Not A Day Goes By," a commanding "Being Alive" that is equal to Patti LuPone’s definitive rendition, and a deeply moving "Joanna" (from "Sweeney Todd"), so daring in its honesty one might suspect she’d switched teams. Peters voice isn’t as elastic as it once was, but her vocal technique and breath control has improved dramatically, enabling her to mix her chest and head voice better, and offer more dynamic range. Her buttery belt was evident throughout the evening, and put to disarming effect in "Joanna," as she professed her unwavering love. But Peters has never been known so much for her voice as her ability to inhabit a song, as she demonstrated expertly all evening.

So bright was her light, that Peters nearly eclipsed the magnificent musical support provided by her longtime Musical Director, Marvin Laird (composer of the off-Broadway musical "Ruthless!"), and the Rhode Island Philharmonic. The swelling orchestral interlude to "Not A Day Goes By" added measurable emotional impact, and the bump-and-grind backup to "There is Nothing Like A Dame" matched Peters note for note. But Peters remained the true star of the evening, presenting the kind of charismatic mesmerizing entertainment that earned her icon status long ago, which, for the span of an evening, made you forget where you were, and made you thank the stars that you lived long enough to experience that.