Leslie Odom Jr. @ the Boston Pops: June 6, 2017

Every year the Boston Pops celebrates Broadway by granting the opportunity to an emerging or successful Broadway actor to perform with the Pops. This year they went right to the top, inviting Leslie Odom Jr., star of the TV series "Smash" and winner of the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his explosive performance as Aaron Burr in the stage phenomenon, "Hamilton."

After some initial unease performing in concert, something he admitted in which he had little experience, Odom Jr. eventually grew more comfortable and began to deliver a nicely varied set, rich with power, color, and charisma. In addition to the Pops Orchestra, he was accompanied during his entire set by a jazz combo of piano, bass, drums, conga drums, and guitar, who set up in front of the orchestra, instantly establishing the intimacy of a nightclub.

Knowing that Symphony Hall would be at least partly packed with "Hamilton" fans, he teased the audience with Hamilton references in the first half of his set, while holding back until the end of his set to actually sing anything from the blockbuster musical. Instead, he began softly, singing two jazz standards from his first solo recording "Leslie Odom Jr."

Odom Jr. was smart to get his standards out of the way early, knowing full well that's not what he is known for, nor what the audience came to hear. It also isn't his strong suit. His "Autumn Leaves" (Johnny Mercer, Joseph Kosma) was a little too delicate, sung in a light falsetto. His combo, playing in a somewhat distracting free form rhythm that further obfuscated Odom Jr.'s vocals, summarily drowned him out. He fared only a little better with "Look For the Silver Lining" (Jerome Kern, Clifford Grey). In both, he opted to keep his singing verses short, yielding to the pianist who gave us outstanding dynamic jazz solos, but kept us wondering when we were going to hear Odom Jr. sing next.

Having played the character Nat King Cole in a live one-night-only Encores production of "Bombshell," the musical within the TV show "Smash," Odom Jr. offered a few Nat King Cole numbers that began to show the color and range of his voice. Singing "Mona Lisa" with only piano accompaniment, he drew the house in with a silky mix of chest and head voice that was reminiscent of Johnny Mathis, who had made "Autumn Leaves" one of his signature tunes. The Mathis sound continued into his lovely rendition of "Unforgettable" that he conveyed with clear, genuine heart. The turning point in his set came with a bright swing arrangement of "Straighten Up and Fly Right," a Nat King Cole original composition, that allowed Odom Jr. to show us his skill with rhythm and phrasing.

As nice as some elements of the first half of his set were, Odom Jr. seemed to be a fish out of water. Working with a director might help him polish his somewhat na�ve use of facial expressions, hands, and body movement, as well as careless mike technique that would bring his performance up to the level one expects from someone at this stage in his career. That said, when he moved into his Broadway repertoire, he seemed to be more in his element. He conversed easily with the audience, allowing his charismatic self to emerge.

He had intended to lead off his Broadway set with a song from "Rent," his first Broadway show when he was only 19, but he had mistakenly begun a story that was meant to segue into his first "Hamilton" number. Realizing his mistake, he said, "Oh, I guess we'll just do the "Hamilton" number now. That's OK, Keith, right?" Conductor Keith Lockhart gave a mildly panicked expression to the audience and to his orchestra, then quickly shuffled sheet music to accommodate. Fortunately, all that happened in less than ten seconds, and Odom Jr. proceeded with "Wait For It," much to the audience's delight.

Returning to "Rent," he delivered a carefully modulated and exceedingly poignant version of "Without You" that proved to be a high point of the evening. Starting off with only guitar accompaniment, he plumbed the emotional depth of the piece nicely, which became even deeper as the orchestra's string section joined in for verse two. Layering the pulse of drums and congas onto the final verse brought the piece to a dramatic emotional crescendo.

His "Dear Theodosia," a song his "Hamilton" character Aaron Burr sang to his newborn daughter Theodosia, was made all the more poignant by his mentioning that his wife and he had just welcomed their first child, Lucille Ruby, into the world just seven weeks prior. When he had sung it in the show, he said he had to imagine a hypothetical father-daughter situation; but now it is real, and it showed beautifully in his heartfelt delivery. He packed his final number "The Room Where It Happened," with power and punch, and had everyone moving to the song's seductive beat. By ending with his two big numbers from "Hamilton," he left the stage on a high point. If his ten-song set had been as polished and solid as his last three songs, this would have really been an evening to remember.

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