Buckley’s students take the spotlight

As graduation ceremonies go, this one was especially tuneful.

Story Songs V, an evening of show tunes presented by legendary Broadway diva and local hero Betty Lynn Buckley and the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, offered performances by singers who had participated in Buckley’s latest Spring Song Interpretation Workshop.

So Thursday’s concert at the museum represented a sort of graduation for the nine singers who had just completed Buckley’s recent master classes at the museum. And, in many cases, diplomas were earned with honors.

The concert was organized into three sections: Faces of Love, Love Stories and Epilogue. Within those segments, a wide range of composers, styles and talents were sampled.

Carly Carroll demonstrated an outstanding sense of character in her delivery of Lamest Place in the World from Jason Robert Brown’s 13. Mia Gillespie brought an excellent voice and just a bit of acting to a pair of numbers that came from two very different shows, The Addams Family and Little Women.

Joshua Cummins did a nice job of negotiating the tricky waters of Stephen Sondheim’s Giants in the Sky from Into the Woods. Terri Lynn Kavanaugh glided through Unexpressed by John Bucchino. And Michael McCalip won the audience over primarily through maintaining a strong emotional connection to his material in three numbers.

But probably the best voice in the bunch belonged to Kristi Dodge, who had no need of the microphones the others had used. She used her near-operatic voice to shape some genuinely golden notes in Almost Real from Brown’s Bridges of Madison County. But on the indelible standard Someone to Watch Over Me, it sounded as if George Gershwin was arm wrestling with Richard Wagner.

There were a few less-than-polished moments (these people are students of a sort, after all), but not too many. And nearly all of the singers had something to bring to the table. Their efforts were greatly helped by pianist Aimee Hurst Bozarth, who played all of the accompaniment in a program where one song segued into the next, almost without pause.

Buckley, who originated the role of Grizabella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats (a role that earned her a Tony), did not perform, but did serve as host and emcee for the 85-minute concert.

The Fort Worth-raised singer and actress was also the focus of one of the evening’s nicest moments. At the conclusion, all of the singers returned to the stage to sing Happy Birthday to Buckley, who is celebrating her 68th birthday today.

This story was originally published July 2, 2015 at 11:25 PM with the headline "Buckley’s students take the spotlight."