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Prague and Ireland weren't possible for me so how could I miss Anthony's next big show? The idea of driving through the vast desert wastelands of west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and interior California didn't sound too inviting, but what the heck. Charge up the cell phone, grab a cane to beat off rattlesnakes, and hit the road, Jacqueline. It really was an interesting drive after all and the weather was an adventure all it's own, being up to 109 degrees in the daytime and 53 degrees at night. I worried about Anthony trying to sing outdoors in that kind of heat in a hot formal jacket but everything turned out fine. The venue was in a nice park with a cool breeze and the sun was gone by the time the show started. Conductor Frank Paul Fetta was introduced first and he lead the large San Bernardino Symphony into the perfect song to announce a momentous occasion, 2001: A Space Odyssey (Also Sprach Zarathustra), followed by a Star Wars medley.

Then, at last, here comes THE MAN! I had been a little disappointed to see in the program that he was only going to sing nine songs...but what songs!! I LOVE Younger Than Springtime and I've never gotten to hear him sing that. If the program was right, then this was going to be my day! He was wearing the white Christmas tour jacket to coordinate with the orchestra which was all white and black. The first song was With A Song In My Heart. It's a lovely song, of course, and beautifully done, but I couldn't wait until the second song, The Loveliest Night Of The Year. He sang this a couple of years ago and it's one of my very top favorite songs to hear him sing. Anthony then left the stage while the orchestra performed the Feather Theme from Forrest Gump and the old 50's instrumental More from Mondo Cane. Just as More started, out marched Anthony. Too late to turn back, he stood there by his microphone the whole time, watching the conductor and orchestra and looking only a tiny bit disgruntled. Before resuming his program he explained that he's been sent out of "the trap" too early and that sometimes songs just seem to go on forever...but he thought the orchestra had played it beautifully anyway. And then came my big moment....Younger Than Springtime...even more beautiful than I dreamed it would be and worth the long car trip all by itself! When he started singing Bring Him Home I felt very lucky indeed. I had heard people praise to heaven how wonderful was his version long before I'd ever actually experienced it. And now I understand he won't be the one singing it on the Hallelujah Broadway show. Not fair!!...but on with this show. There was a wonderful variety in the songs performed by both Anthony and the symphony. Opera's instantly recognizable La Donna E Mobile is a favorite, especially when it's done by Anthony. Torna A Sorrento (Also aka Return to Sorrento?) was lovely but I was even more impressed by another song Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz. Anthony stepped away for one last break while the symphony showed their mettle with a long number from An American In Paris. Anthony's last two songs were the Serenade from the Student Prince and The Impossible Dream. Serenade was made for a voice like his, just perfect, and at the last song I was lucky again to hear another one that I'd never heard him sing before. There was one more song not listed in the program. He and Maestro Fetta brought down the house with Danny Boy. Yes, I've heard than one before...for sure...but he puts so much into it you can't ever get tired of hearing it. And then, very quickly it seemed, it was all over and everybody was leaving. Halfway to the car I happened to turn back for one last look at the stage and noticed that off to the side was a small crowd of people standing around a small spotlight. Instinct shouted in my ear "go back, stupid!", so I started back to check it out. Sure enough, I soon see a man sitting at a table under the spotlight and even though it's still pretty dark I know a meet and greet when I see one. I can't imagine how exhausted he must have been after days of opera and concert rehearsals and then a long, long flight or series of flights from Ireland to California. Still, there he was, chatting and signing things while people tried to figure out how to take photos in near pitch darkness and looking only a little subdued from tiredness.

He's a tough guy! I wished him a nice vacation and he said he had one more function to do, that baseball game in Anaheim. I would have liked to have been there for that but I had to get my rent car back. I hope he's now enjoying a prolonged period of "r and r" and a decent meal. They brought him a tiny little plate of things to nibble on and I felt sorry for him since I'd earlier ordered a hot dog at the snack stand that turned out to be a bratwurst the size of a half grown dachsund. The next morning all the good stuff was over so I decided to cheer myself up by taking a side trip down memory lane to Lake Havasu in Arizona to drive over the London Bridge. I'd been on the London Bridge before, when I was a kid, but it was in London then, where it belongs. This was a lovely show and I wish that they would put it on dvd for all to share in it.

Susan Roberts