Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		4.0

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie Review

And on top of everything else, she seems like she's actually a sweet little girl.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 5, 2011

The modern music industry is often a coalition of pre-packaged, pre-fab “artists” who are hired as much for their image as for any ostensible talent they may have. Every so often, though, a truly gifted person comes along to set the music world on fire, and when that person is a child, well, the sky’s the limit, as seems to be the case with the remarkable little girl named Jackie Evancho. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you may indeed have already heard Evancho on the radio or on various broadcasts and simply not realized that the incredible voice you’re hearing is actually emanating from an 11 year old. After taking the internet world by storm with her own YouTube channel, Evancho first burst into the mainstream consciousness with her second place showing in the fifth season of America’s Got Talent, a show which encountered some pseudo-controversy when it was alleged that Evancho had been lip-synching one of her performances (she hadn’t, as has been definitively proven many times since). In a way, it’s easy to understand the disbelief that people would experience hearing Evancho live, as it seems frankly incredible that such a mature, mellifluous voice, one seemingly burnished with years of experience and nuance, should emit from such a tiny package. Evancho also seems preternaturally mature from an emotional standpoint as well, investing her singing with a surprising amount of connection to the lyrics. In other words, Evancho does not simply recite her songs, she actually performs them, and that, too, is part of what has made her such a phenomenon. This Blu-ray, culled from a Great Performances special which is no doubt going to be tied to Public Broadcasting Systems pledge weeks for millennia to come, has Evancho performing live at the Ringling Museum in Sarasota, Florida. It may be an unintentionally ironic setting, as I’m quite sure there are those who might perceive Evancho to be something of a circus freak herself, considering the inordinate amount of vocal talent she possesses at such an early age.

There are many (myself included) who aren’t especially fond of Andrew Lloyd Webber or his phenomenal Phantom of the Opera, but it was seeing the film version of the long-running musical that evidently first inspired Jackie to flex her vocal chops, and soon her parents realized that they had something very, very special on their hands. Jackie was soon captivating friends and extended family with her amazing voice, but strangely America’s Got Talent passed on her—more than once—in personal auditions. It was Jackie’s sensational YouTube outing that finally convinced the television show to give her a chance, and the rest, as they say, is history. Along the way she also won a regional talent contest that got her some one on one time with legendary producer David Foster, and Foster signed on to produce her first full length album, Dream With Me. (She released an independently produced album Prelude to a Dream in 2009 which her family has withdrawn from circulation and which is now fetching astounding sums on various auction sites. She also released the EP including her chart topping rendition of “O Holy Night” in time for Christmas last year).

Evancho’s voice is unbelievably golden and about the only way I can describe it is for those opera fans reading this review to imagine the dulcet tones of, say, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf. Evancho has obviously had some recent training, and her diction is at times over-enunciated, making some of her vowel sounds, while well placed, are odd sounding, especially with regard to her short “o”’s and “a”’s. Evancho, perhaps because of the excitement of the evening, also has a few breath control problems, and makes errors in her phrasing as a result, splitting lines and even syllables at times with intakes of air. But these issues are incredibly minor compared to the glory of her voice, which truly seems to be a gift from heaven.

As depressing at it may sound for us ordinary mortals, Evancho seems to be a very well adjusted child, one completely unassuming and with both feet on the ground, at least as evidenced by a couple of interstitials where she walks around the palatial grounds of the Ringling Museum with Foster providing tour guide commentary. Evancho’s family is evidently intent on providing her with a more or less normal childhood, though of course one wonders how normal having an entire museum set aside for a concert taped for television might seem to eleven year old eyes.

Evancho moves through an incredibly wide repertoire, including straight out operatic fare like “Nessun Dorma” (which Foster admits will probably gain them nothing but brickbats, considering Evancho’s age and gender) to Ennio Morricone’s “Nella Fantasia” to the Disney classic “When You Wish Upon a Star.” A coterie of ethnic Japanese instruments is on hand, including Zheng, Erhu and Dizi (as well as a lot of Taiko drums) for once piece. But the most dramatically effective performance is a “duet” of sorts, with an interpolated taped Barbra Streisand, of the Bernstein-Sondheim classic “Somewhere.” There simply aren’t enough goosebumps available to fully provide adequate skin reaction to this incredible melding of two stellar voices.

For the disbelievers out there (and there are evidently at least a few “Evancho deniers”), there are two niggling credits which roll by at the end of the special which may give slight pause. One is for a ProTools editor, and one has to wonder why ProTools would be needed for a live concert recording. The other is several people listed as Remixers, which also may bring up some questions as to whether all of this concert is indeed the live performance audio.

Jackie’s set list includes:

• When You Wish Upon a Star
• Nella Fantasia
• O Mio Babbino Caro
• To Believe
• Imaginer
• Lovers
• Dark Waltz
• Angel
• Somewhere
• Mi Mancherai
• Ombra Mai Fu
• All I Ask Of You
• The Lord’s Prayer
• Dream With Me
• Nessun Dorma

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me In Concert arrives on Blu-ray with an AVC encoded 1080i transfer in 1.78:1. Filmed for PBS' Great Performance series, this boasts impressive production values, with no dearth of crane shots, close-ups and excellent coverage, and it all looks very nicely sharp and well detailed in this Blu-ray presentation. The main concert takes place at dusk turning into evening, and black levels are consistent, with decent if not fantastic shadow detail. Jackie's occasional fly-away hair and the embroidery on various dresses she wears are completely visible and are indicative of the fine detail on display on this disc. Colors are nicely robust and very well saturated. There are some issues with upstage lighting creating brief flares as the cameras pan across the stage, something which might bother the visually sensitive, and some of the widest shots are a tad soft, but otherwise this is a really spectacular looking presentation.

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me In Concert is presented with two lossless audio options, LPCM 5.1 and LPCM 2.0, as well as a lossy Dolby Digital surround mix in 5.1. The two LPCM offerings are extremely robust and present Evancho's breathtaking voice in all its glory. The balance between Evancho, who certainly has no problem with projection, and the full symphony orchestra is excellent throughout the concert. The ethnic Japanese instruments also sound fantastic in their segment, and the Taiko drums provide some boisterous LFE. The surround channels nicely capture the courtyard ambience in the Ringling Museum grounds where the bulk of the concert was filmed, and the interior sequences also sound nice, with some noticeable and very lifelike hall reverb. Fidelity is brilliant throughout the concert with all frequency ranges reproduced beautifully.

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• A Conversation with Jackie Evancho and David Foster (HD; 7:33) is a sweet little sit down with Foster and Evancho, who discuss the recording of Dream With Me.
• Photo Gallery (1080i; 2:05)

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jackie Evancho: Dream With Me in Concert is glitzy and shiny, that can't be denied. But there is real—actually mind boggling—talent on display here, and only a curmudgeon would doubt that this little girl is hugely gifted. There's something almost comical about such an incredible voice emanating from such a petite package, but if you can get past that disparity, there's a lot to enjoy here. Evancho could do with a vocal coach who might help her relax her vowel sounds slightly, which are off-putting at times, but otherwise this is a largely flawless evening of prodigious vocalizing. Recommended.