An Evening with Renée Elise Goldsberry @ The Dallas Symphony Center

—Jan Farrington

There’s a live wire loose onstage at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center this weekend. You might know her as Angelica, the oldest of the Schuyler sisters in Hamilton. But for this gig, she’s traded the swirling skirts for a short velvet number with black boots and leggings—and boy, can Renée Elise Goldsberry sing and swing.

Presented by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra—but backed by her own jumping band and chorus—Goldsberry gives the audience an earful in her tight 90-minute set: blues, gospel, pop, Broadway, Angelica’s two greatest Hamilton numbers—and an encore that might put a cooler, R&B-ish Rodgers and Hammerstein back into graduation ceremonies.

The acoustics of the Meyerson being what they are (fabulous), the terrific quartet of musicians with her onstage might need to adjust—and throttle down a bit. Undeniably, they and Goldsberry come together in a joyful, throbbing wall of sound that raises the roof more than a little. But it’s the headliner we’ve come to see—and hear—after all. It’s a tribute to Goldsberry’s rich, ranging vocal talent that she earns her star status with every song—piercing through the soundscape around her and always, always, making her voice heard.

And what a voice! My companion and I had the same reaction: that we’d heard her high notes before, but were startled and impressed by her ability to head straight to the basement—with some resonant low passages that vibrate in the air around her. She’s backed up by a trio of women whose voices and style add to the riches. They don’t just sing, but act out bits of the songs—and at times leave their music stands to dance and parade with Goldsberry at center stage.

Goldsberry has tremendous control, both of her voice and the quite varied styles of her song picks. In the eclectic mix were Johnny Nash’s reggae-infused “I Can See Clearly Now” (Goldsberry and Nash were both raised in Houston), Bob Dylan’s surprising “Lord Protect My Child,” Rent’s heart-breaker “No Day But Today,” Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” and the “Angelica” showstoppers from Hamilton. (More than one audience member sang along—but keeping up with Goldsberry’s hyperdrive rap? Not happening.)

Waving to friends in the audience—and to perfect strangers, too—Goldsberry is an engaging and natural performer onstage, with a between-the-songs patter full of stories about her career, her big break with Hamilton, parenting, the pandemic, and musings on the things we’re all thinking about these last days.

The audience included plenty of young Hamilton fans, and she offered a bit of advice. “Don’t say ‘no’ to  yourself,” she urged them all, remembering how she nearly talked herself out of even auditioning for the Angelica role.

WHEN: Through Sunday 3/13

WHERE: Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center

WEB:  dallassymphony.org