By Kim Choe
Everything Josh Groban meets seems to want to kiss him.
His Instagram account testifies that on his current tour alone there's been a great white shark in South Africa, a quokka in Australia and, oh, probably a few humans too.
After two decades in the business, he's still the kind of guy people want to bring home to their mums: bearded, top buttons undone, self-deprecating, nerdy. And that’s before he even starts singing.
Groban made his second visit to Auckland to spruik his latest album Stages -- a roll call of iconic musical theatre numbers, 'poperafied'.
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He performed exactly as one would expect from one of the world's most successful artists of that genre: extraordinarily well.
That's the thing with Groban: you know what you're going to get. He's a safe bet, like vanilla ice cream but an ultra-premium brand (definitely one with the little vanilla seeds in it).
That can be hard for a musical theatre lover such as myself. The songs are performed out of context, costume and character, which at times makes them feel like they're missing a bit of spark.
But the warmth and intensity in his voice eventually sweeps you along, particularly during some of the more understated numbers like 'Try To Remember' from The Fantasticks, The Wizard of Oz's 'Somewhere Over the Rainbow' and 'Old Devil Moon' from Finian's Rainbow -- the latter of which featured an alluring trumpet solo by 18-year-old Auckland student Jake Krishnamurti.
You have to put aside the desperation and scrappiness of the Chorus Line you know and love to appreciate Groban's technical mastery and musicality. That's when the goosebumps creep in.
Auckland choir Stellar Singers were brought out to back up one of the night's highlights, a soaring rendition of 'Anthem' from Chess. Groban made sure to school the audience on the background of some of the lesser-known numbers, eager to share his obvious passion for show tunes.
The duets -- 'If I Loved You' from Carousel and Phantom of the Opera's 'All I Ask of You' -- were performed ably with Australian soprano Claire Lyon, though again were missing some of the necessary drama and spark.
In between songs, Groban was relaxed, perhaps too much so as some of his conversations rambled on. But he seemed to be very much enjoying himself as he regaled the audience with tales of his awkward adolescence, impersonated Ralph Wiggum and contemplated throwing himself off the Sky Tower -- in a strictly controlled fashion, of course.
I could have easily done without that long-time earworm 'You Raise Me Up', but the man knows his audience and he knew he couldn't leave Vector without performing it. So there it was in his encore, semi-karaoke style with phone flashlights waving around.
It's fair to say he would've been in line for a few more kisses after that.
Newshub.
