star -

• any of the heavenly bodies appearing as bright points in the sky at night.
• a person who is distinguished in some art.
• a celebrated actor, singer, etc., esp. one who plays the lead in a performance: a movie star.

These are the definitions the dictionary gives us for the word "star." Any of them can be applied to Caroline O'Connor. Upon hearing her debut solo recording, I am positive that this woman is destined to join the ranks of Patti LuPone, Betty Buckley, Elaine Paige and Bernadette Peters as one of the great divas of the musical theater world. As evidence of that, she is currently wowing them in Australia as "Velma" in the hit revival of Chicago.

For her debut disc, "What I Did For Love," (JAY records) Miss O'Connor has chosen a program of familiar theater standards, opening and closing the disc with two songs from Chicago, "All That Jazz," and "Nowadays." In between these numbers she becomes Fanny Brice - "Don't Rain on My Parade", Lola - "Whatever Lola Wants", and Betty Rizzo - "There are Worst Things I Could Do." Few musical theater actresses could sound comfortable in all three of those roles. Miss O'Conner has one of the most versatile voices I have heard in along time. In fact, it would be hard to name one single female performer to emerge in the past decade with a range this impressive. She can belt as well as she dances which is a very rare thing nowadays.

Some of the other tracks on this CD include "Who Will Love Me As I Am?" from Side Show (sung as a solo), "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line, and "The Night It Had to End" from Romance, Romance, a show in which she played the lead role in the London premiere. There are a few tracks recycled from previous JAY recordings on which she has appeared: "Life Upon a Wicked Stage" from Show Boat and "America" from West Side Story. In the latter track she gives Chita Rivera a run for her money, even sounding eerily like her.

From Mack & Mabel, the show for which she originated the role of "Mabel" in the West End, she re-recorded "Time Heals Everything." I don't recall being impressed by her considerable talents on the 1995 original London cast recording of Mack & Mabel, but she certainly shines here on each and every number.

Some of the original orchestrations are used, but most are new ones by Larry Moore. They resemble the originals, so almost all of these songs sound as if they are from cast recordings rather than from a solo recital. This CD is certainly the solo recital of the year as far as I'm concerned and I couldn't recommend it more highly. I look forward to her Broadway debut, which shouldn't be too far away.

Joseph Molner (20/12/98)

taken from http://www.talkinbroadway.com/sound

HEAR Caroline O'Conner singing All That Jazz (mp3)