A New Dawn For Some Old Songs

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By Marc Peyser

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Why can't opera singers keep their muscular voices off the delicate art of theater music? From the lifeless 1985 recording of "West Side Story" starring Kiri Te Kanawa and Jose Carreras to Marilyn Horne's current misfire, "The Men in My Life," divas have embarrassed themselves -- a la Michael Jordan -- by believing that changing genres is as easy as changing uniforms. Now comes Metropolitan Opera star Dawn Upshaw with a new CD, "I Wish It So," and the situation will probably get worse. Not because she can't do Broadway, but because she's one singer who makes the transition look easy.

Singing mostly obscure works by Bernstein, Sondheim, Weill and the lesser-known Marc Blitzstein, her soprano conveys a freshness that is closer to cabaret than Bizet. But rather than burying her operatic roots, Upshaw uses her classical skills -- impeccable phrasing and controlled vocal power -- to establish character and emotion. She does best with two Kurt Weill songs from "Lady in the Dark" -- the lilting "The Saga of Jenny" and "My Ship," in which her dreamy voice actually begins to sound like the wind in the song's silky sails. Even in Bernstein's potentially mawkish "I Feel Pretty," accompanied by two pianos, Upshaw marries the simple with the lush, the youthful and ageless. Despite acclaim singing music from Mozart to Gorecki, Upshaw talked recently about a career singing commercial jingles. She could probably pull that off, too.

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