The Los Angeles Philharmonic turned to New York of the 1940s and '50s Tuesday night at the Hollywood Bowl, for which Bramwell Tovey drolly apologized to his Angeleno audience. I certainly noticed no objection to Audra McDonald, in magnificent form, holding the Bowl in her sway with Broadway standards.
Can anyone sing Frank Loesser's patter-song "I Can't Stop Talking About Him" faster or funnier? I don't think so. Bringing ravishing sentiment to "Make Someone Happy," she surely did.
The program was framed around Leonard Bernstein, opening with the overture to "West Side Story" and closing with a visit from American Ballet Theatre, which brought considerable élan to the composer's early ballet "Fancy Free.