POP MUSIC REVIEW : PIA ZADORA: PROBLEMS AND PROMISE

Pia Zadora’s move to the concert stage a year ago with a program of tried-and-true standard songs evoked surprisingly warm reviews. In retrospect, the response seems more like a positive backlash to the barbs and arrows that had greeted most of Zadora’s movie work than an accurate evaluation of her skills as a singer.

Her program at the Beverly Theatre on Tuesday was a roller- coaster ride through a few exhilarating peaks of creativity offset by far too many headlong dives into wobbly intonation, out-of-focus belting and uncertain rhythms.

Accompanied by a 38-piece orchestra that mercifully filled in the musical gaps, she sang a program that was overly ripe with declamatory-styled inspirational songs (“For Once in My Life” and “I Am What I Am”) and Garland-Minnelli simulations (“The Guy That Got Away” and “Maybe This Time”).

Curiously, Zadora sings with a tense, back-of-the-throat sound that’s completely different from the soft modulations of her speaking voice. On a few pieces--”It Had to Be You” and “How Do You Keep the Music Playing”--she lowered the intensity level and went with the modest but attractive timbre of her unpushed natural sound.

The evening’s highlight was the gentlest moment of all--a brief, low-key rendering of “The Party’s Over,” accompanied only by the cool piano chords of conductor-arranger Vincent Falcone.

The contrast with the balance of the program’s upbeat glitz and glamour suggested that Zadora’s abilities might be better served if she were free of the demands of Vegas-style glitter and celebrity hype.

The talent seems to be there, somewhere beneath the layers of makeup, lights and high-energy sound. But it hasn’t broken through yet.