A review of Pink Martini’s 30th anniversary show at The Hollywood Bowl.
Say what you will about Pink Martini but don’t tell me they’re not ambitious. Celebrating their 30th anniversary with dramatic sweep and theatricality last night at The Hollywood Bowl, the “little orchestra” founded in 1994 in Portland, Oregon, demonstrated why this globe-trotting, genre-bending band has made the entire world its home stage.
With triumphant flourishes at the grand piano and frenetic asides to the audience between songs, Thomas Lauderdale remains the hypercharged nucleus of the band, radiating enough energy to power the Bowl’s stage lights—and then some.
Crossing classical, jazz, and old-fashioned pop, his goal, he told the audience, was to pack 30 languages, if not 30 entire songs, into a set that lasted roughly 90 minutes. Assembled on stage was a voluminous and eclectic pool of talents, including regular Pink Martini collaborators Ari Shapiro (yes, you know him as host of All Things Considered), Mexican singer Edna Vazquez, and “America’s Got Talent” finalist Jimmie Herrod.
