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Mariah Carey: Emancipation elation
Mariah Carey has an unusual body for a modern-day pop goddess - voluptuous and solid
instead of willowy and elastic. It's a singer's body, not a dancer's, built to house
the multi-octave pipes that have allowed the 36-year-old singer to rule the radio dial
for 16 years.
Carey showed off that body at the opening of the North American leg of her tour that
comes to Madison Square Garden on Wednesday. At Miami's American Airlines Arena, she
was swathed in artfully cut out chiffon gowns and sequined hot pants that Ann-Margret
would have enjoyed in her prime and used a burlesque dancer's straight-back chair, a
winding staircase and other props to prove that she could move those long legs and that
curvy torso.
But Carey never let choreography get in the way of what her body was there for: to help
her sing in ways that have, as she said with a modest shrug near the end of the
90-minute-plus concert, "changed people's lives". No one works as hard to balance
inspiration and flash as Carey, who started her career selling the ageless appeal of
pure vocal prowess only to sustain it by turning herself into a trend-savvy hip-hop
home girl.
This new production seeks to meld the uplifting Mariah and the modish one by surrounding
a traditional prima donna's turn with the accouterments of urban music. There were
acrobatic dancers; video clips of rappers with whom Carey has collaborated, such as
Jay-Z and the late ODB, and references to milestones in her transformation from girl
next door to hot mama, including the sailor suits of her 1997 video for "Honey" and
the video catfights of her "Heartbreaker" era.
From the moment she entered in a black bikini with boy-cut bottom and a chiffon cape,
offering up her trademark high notes and striking poses with her masked male dancers,
Carey treated the evening like a qualifying round that she was determined to win.
It's an old showbiz trick to interrupt major production numbers with asides that humanize
the goings-on, and whether that or basic nerves motivated Carey's asides, it worked:
When she did stumble, as on the unusually challenging mix of big dance moves and
rapid-fire vocalizing during the reggae-inflected "Shake It Out", it made the show feel
alive, not unprofessional.
Especially satisfying were the duets Carey shared with backing vocalist Trey Lorenz;
when these longtime singing partners traded high notes on the ballads "I'll Be There"
and "One Sweet Day". Carey was happiest simply singing and, in doing so, allowing her
fans to consider their own perhaps unemancipated potential. It's a function singers
have served at least since the coloratura came into style in opera - the female voice
carries the listener beyond the humdrum of her daily imaginings.
When Carey moved to a small stage mid-arena, she got the crowd climbing on seats to
cheer her holding one last note on the poignant "Don't Forget About Us" until it seemed
like she would break. She never broke. Like the silver-screen queens she admires,
Carey's not just a femme fatale but also a trooper, and her years of delivering hits,
even with a midcareer dip, have resulted in hard-won consistency.
(The Journal News)
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