Tina Arena with the Sydney Symphony

She wasn’t much for banter or patter, Tina Arena. No doubt the enthusiastics in the audience – those who, at any concert that involves a personality shoved centre-stage, will spontaneously and vertically ovate as if their seats were covered in upturned pins, and any excuse for showing their appreciation of the performer is taken whole-heartedly (though admittedly there was less of this than, say, at Il Divo’s concert earlier in the year, where one assumes that it was only the power of the Sydney Opera House’s cultural prestige that stopped various undergarments being thrown on stage) – no doubt they were enamoured by her attempts, but this critic was, for the most part, unamused, especially when still living in the glow of Bramwell Tovey who conducted and acted as emcee for a recent Sydney Symphony concert entitled A Gershwin Tribute – a consummate showman if ever there was one.

Arena, it must be said, is entirely confident in herself, and is charismatic in her own, somewhat subdued way – so there was no awkwardness involved – but neither was there much genuine mirth, and when, for example, guest singer Anthony Callea took to the stage, cheekily apologising for “gatecrashing her party,” triggering a few back-and-forths that had all the excitement of a tennis match without the balls, the effect was quite cringeworthy. (Especially so as one considered that, this being the third performance, he had ‘gatecrashed’ her party twice before, and if she hadn’t noticed the pattern then she never would.)

Thankfully, her (and his) singing more than made up for any of these defects.

There were 19 songs for our perusal that evening, including her two encores, and there weren’t any disappointments. Which is not to say that every song reached heights of artistic and aesthetic ecstasy, but one was never bored, and one was never pained, with Arena in full command of her vocal powers for the night. Highlights of the first half included ‘Oh Me Oh My’, where Arena managed to achieve a smooth yearning, while her rendition of ‘My Husband Makes Movies’, from the musical Nine (recently released as a movie starring Daniel Day-Lewis playing a Fellini-esque film director), was emotionally deep and entrancing, two stagehands bringing a rather large and empty portrait frame on stage for Arena to sit in the middle of.

‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ came and went, as well as ‘The Prayer’, where Callea sprung up from nowhere to help with the duet, in a song he has become known for. They continued into ‘I Want to Spend my Lifetime Loving You’, which was suitably powerful.

After the interval the highlights included a medley of songs that itself included such hits as ‘Sorrento Moon’. Another peak was Arena’s performance for ‘Ja m’appelle Baghdad’, which, while bringing back memories of primary school French class, also managed to find a power even though the words were in French. (The French classes being long now forgotten by this critic.) A cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Only Women Bleed’ was quite stirring, while ‘Goldeneye’ was a delicious and guilty pleasure for this critic. Renditions of ‘Symphony of Life’, ‘Cry Me a River’, and ‘I’m in Chains’ were all rather enjoyable, ‘Cry Me a River’ especially so.

The encores, after a ridiculously long period of applause (at least three minutes without the star coming back to the stage – she was changing her dress, though why she felt the need to for only two songs is beyond the my scope, and presumably the entire male gender), were ‘Both Sides’, ‘Now’, and ‘Call Me’, both great numbers to end the show on. All in all, a most pleasant evening out.

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Tina Arena and the Sydney Symphony
With Tina Arena, special guest Anthony Callea and the Sydney Symphony
Nicolas Buc: conductor/arranger
Paul Gray: music director/piano and keyboards
Gordon Rytmeister (drums), John Bettison (guitars), Nick Sinclair (bass), Natasha Stuart (backing vocalist)

Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House
June 15