A few years back, film and theater composer David Shire wrote that Maureen McGovern was a “Stradivarius of a voice.”
Symphonies and reviewers soon picked up on the moniker — including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
“I’m honored and thrilled [and it] beats being called ‘The Disaster Singer‚’ as I was in the ’70s with my hits from the ‘Poseidon Adventure’ and the ‘Towering Inferno,’ ” said McGovern, an Academy Award-winning vocalist.
Tonight, the perfectly tuned “Stradivarius” comes to The Music Center at Strathmore in North Bethesda to celebrate what she calls a “canon of one of our greatest national treasures — the music of Richard Rodgers.”
In her show, titled “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” McGovern teams with the BSO and SuperPops Conductor Jack Everly in a program that opens with orchestral arrangements of Broadway’s biggest hits, including the overtures to “A Chorus Line” and “West Side Story.”
The remainder of the program highlights McGovern’s phenomenal vocal register in songs such as “My Favorite Things” from the “Sound of Music,” “Out of My Dreams” from “Oklahoma!” and the haunting ballad “My Funny Valentine” from “Pal Joey.”
Though these classic songs have been performed and heard countless times, McGovern prides herself on the freshness she has brought to the music, as noted in countless reviews.
A longtime favorite with area concertgoers, McGovern last appeared with the BSO in 1999.
“I have always had a wonderful time in Baltimore, performing many times with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra [and] recently with the Broadway National Tour of ‘Little Women, The Musical,’ ” she said. “Baltimore is a great city with great audiences.”
If you go
“Everything’s Coming Up Roses”
Maureen McGovern and the BSO SuperPops
» Venue: The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda
» Time: 8 p.m.
» Price: $25 to $78
» baltimoresymphony.org
