Hits and Misses From Melissa Manchester

Melissa Manchester’s multifaceted talents were on full display Saturday night in the second of two weekend performances with the Pacific Symphony at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

Manchester’s appearance with a symphonic ensemble is appropriate; her father was a bassoonist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and she is a well-trained singer, pianist and songwriter, a graduate of Manhattan’s High School of Performing Arts. Some of her songs, with their sweeping choruses, blended perfectly with the elegant strings of the orchestra.

Manchester did most of her hits, from the early “Midnight Blue” and “Don’t Cry Out Loud” to more recent works. She was most effective working in her own familiar stylistic arena, touching her vocals with tinges of gospel accents and hitting hard on big, climactic choruses.

Her efforts in other areas were less successful. An attempt at the classic Johnny Mercer ballad “Skylark” never quite jelled, and an excursion through Ella Fitzgerald-styled scat singing lacked the essential element of swing. Her tribute to Edith Piaf, with a French version of “La Vie en Rose,” lacked the intrinsic world-weariness the tune requires.

Manchester offered a well-harmonized rendering of an old Boswell Sisters tune with her two backup vocalists, Sue Holder and Vatrena King. But despite her professionalism, Manchester was a bit edgy in her overall presentation. Perhaps because she filled in on relatively short notice for saxophonist David Sanborn and film composer Michael Kamen, Manchester never appeared quite at ease, telling stories that stretched on a bit too long and occasionally pushing her enthusiastic stage manner into intense overdrive.

The Pacific Symphony, under Richard Kaufman, opened the evening with a set of film music, including excerpts from “Strike Up the Band” and “E.T.,” which was pleasant and, with the exception of some uncertain rhythms in the more rapid passages, generally well-played.