Pop Music Reviews : After Andy Williams, the Fireworks at Hollywood Bowl

What a great evening! The fireworks were sensational, the company was convivial and the wine was fine. What more could one ask from a Fourth of July celebration at the Hollywood Bowl?

Music? Oh, yes, almost forgot. It was Andy Williams’ “America the Beautiful” show--a pastiche of patriotic songs, pop standards and Williams evergreens that set new standards of blandness for the Bowl’s usual slam-bang firecracker concerts.

Sunday’s performance (scheduled to be repeated on the Fourth) worked very nicely when Williams applied his still-mellow tenor to the love songs of Irving Berlin and Henry Mancini. It was less successful in those moments that attempted to squeeze some interest out of the singer’s career.

A medley of his early and extremely anonymous rock ‘n’ roll songs fell as flat as a dud skyrocket. And a staged recollection of Williams’ encounter with an unsympathetic record producer communicated more self-righteousness than humor.

He hit his stride with the movie songs that clearly marked the pinnacle of his performing career. A medley that included “Dear Heart,” “Days of Wine and Roses,” “Charade” and, of course, his signature “Moon River” represented pop ballad singing at its best.

At the close, a medley of George M. Cohan songs that seemed to be building toward the climactic fireworks simply fizzled to an end with a few tiny skyrockets. Williams did his curtain calls and left, leaving a confused audience wondering what had happened to the Bowl’s fabled celebration.

Fortunately, the orchestra quickly launched into the traditional Sousa marches, and the fireworks--spectacularly colorful and joyously noisy--finally gave the evening the energy and excitement that a concert celebrating the Fourth of July should have.