Singer-pianist Sara Bareilles put her solo career on pause for the last five years to dive headfirst into theater, a decision that paid off Tuesday night with a wonderfully dramatic concert at Toyota Music Factory.
Even though Bareilles began her career as a pop singer, some of her tunes always felt like she wrote them with footlights in mind. Her career-launching 2007 hit “Love Song” sounded like a showstopping dance tune from some long-lost ‘60s musical.
Now, after taking a break to compose for the musical Waitress and play Mary Magdalene in Jesus Christ Superstar, she’s intensified the Broadway vibe of her solo records. She devoted much of the concert to Amidst the Chaos, her new T Bone Burnett-produced album, whose lyrics sound like the book to a play about struggling to find sanity in a world gone crazy.
In “Armor,” a song inspired by her participation in the 2017 Women’s March, she told the tale of women banding together to fight abuse and sexism. In her set-closing ballad “Orpheus,” she sang about trying to be resilient as the world crumbles around you: “Though I know it’s blinding, there’s a way out.”
Lesser singers might sound strident tackling such heavy lyrics, but Bareilles sang with understated brilliance. She’s got Broadway pipes, for sure, but mostly she relied on the soft and smoky sides her voice, as well as her expert feel for soul. Singing a duet with opening act Emily King, she turned “If I Can’t Have You” into vintage Stax/Volt.
Bareilles rocked out now and again, like in the galloping “Fire” and on the Waitress tune “Bad Idea.” But for the most part, she and her seven-piece band steered toward ballads and baroque pop, accented by cello, violin and upright bass.
She avoided visual theatrics, using just a single backdrop — a huge paper tapestry that looked at various times like an upside-down Hershey’s Kiss, a heart and a tornado. Yet there was no shortage of drama leading up to the concert.
With showtime temperatures forecast for the low 30s, fans worried they’d freeze in the venue’s outdoor amphitheater setup. On Monday, Bareilles, who grew up in California, urged worried fans to tough it out.
“Come prepared!” she wrote on Twitter. “Bring blankets! Hand warmers!”
But hours before the show started, Bareilles and promoters decided to close the amphitheater walls, turn it into an indoor show and juggle the seating to accommodate fans with lawn tickets.
In retrospect, an outdoor show would have been “[expletive] miserable,” Bareilles said with a laugh Tuesday night. “Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief that we’re all indoors.”