There ain't nothin' like a dame—especially when that dame is multitalented Bernadette Peters. 

Press Photo/Noel Webley IIThe audience paid tribute to Bernadette Peters with three standing ovations.

The Grand Rapids Symphony's Symphonic Boom series became a Va-va-va-Voom series Tuesday evening as the curly top kewpie doll in a barely there evening dress turned up the heat.
The star of Broadway, films and television walked on stage to a standing ovation, the first of three for the evening. Her 16-song, hour-and-20-minute set opened with a light, syncopated version of "Let Me Entertain You" from the Broadway show "Gypsy."

Although Peters portrayed the pushy Mama Rose in the 2003 revival of that show, Tuesday night she definitely was better suited to the stripper's song. Soon she was sizzling with a vocal-range defying "There is Nothing Like a Dame" from "South Pacific." 

She tripped through the fast patter passages with comic clarity following with steamy vocals that took her down to the first row of the audience to tease with a few extra low notes. 

On every number, Peters sings with her whole body. Not just a few arm gestures for punctuation, as many excellent singers offer, but the music seems to travel from her toes to the tip of her nose as she bends and reaches and throws her head back to let out the final note. 

Press Photo/Noel Webley IIBernadette Peters sings with her entire body.

Nowhere was that more apparent than her 110-degree "Fever." Eat your heart out, Peggy Lee. Accompanied by symphony bass player Paul Keller, and finger snapping from the rest of the symphony, Peters climbed atop a piano platform and belted out the song with lots of dramatic pauses and sexy moves. (Not to mention drum emphasis from her drummer Cubby O'Brien of Mousketeer fame.) 

Sometimes the entire orchestra joined in, such as the mesmerizing "Some Enchanted Evening." Other numbers, such as a slow, lingering "Shenandoah," were almost a capella with a little piano played by her striking white-haired music director, Marvin Laird. 

Peters ended with a six-song tribute to composer Stephen Sondheim whom she called a national treasure. The orchestra accompanied her for "Johanna," a moving piece from "Sweeney Todd," which inspired whistles and hoots from the audience.
Peters kept up a great rapport with the audience telling jokes and even trying to sell her Florida vacation home from the stage. After a standing ovation, she returned for an encore, shamelessly hawking "Broadway Barks," a children's book she has written, which will be released April 28. Then she closed the show with "Kramer's Song," the sweet lullaby she wrote to be included with the book. As she sang, she interrupted herself with comments. 

"It's working. I saw him yawn." 

Before Peters took the stage, the symphony, under the baton of John Varineau, put the audience in the Broadway state of mind with six numbers, each a collage of familiar Broadway tunes. After getting used to hearing Broadway overtures with only a small show orchestra, the bountiful strings of a full orchestra was almost overpowering, and a great warm up for powerhouse Peters.

Bernadette Peters with the Grand Rapids Symphony 

Length: Two hours and 15 minutes with intermission 

High point: Peters' sexy slithering atop the piano for "Fever" was too hot to top, but the audience seemed to get a kick out of the song's comic Romeo and Juliet lyrics. 

Low point: Even at the lowest point, the show was always entertaining. But my least favorite song was "Mister Snow" from "Carrousel," not because of a small flub with the lyrics but, unlike the other numbers, Peters just didn't seem to be into it. 

Source: Grand Rapids Press