Bringing his Mildred Snitzer Orchestra side hustle into a full orchestral setting for the first time, actor-turned-bandleader Jeff Goldblum brings what is essentially an affable, loosely structured, slightly spoofy lounge act to a major stage. On this evidence, the level-up reveals more limitations than strengths.
The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – more a combo really, born of club and hotel residencies more than a decade ago – has gradually built a following alongside a string of albums (we’re up to five now; the latest, Night Blooms, is out in June). The project is largely anchored by Goldblum’s affection for the Great American Songbook, which this Concert Hall program largely sidesteps in favour of film-adjacent material, including numbers linked to his own screen career.
Jeff Goldblum, Khaila Johnson and The Metropolitan Orchestra. Photo © Bevan Rigato
Goldblum ambles on while the house lights are still up, essentially acting as his own warm-up guy before restarting the show “proper”, which kicks off with Wonderful (from Stephen Schwartz’s Wicked) and Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley’s Pure Imagination (from Willy Wonka) in characterful if vocally uneven readings. Goldblum’s dry bass-baritone is effective enough; his upper notes prove rather less reliable.
At the piano, his style – jabs and jagged phrases, nodding to Basie and Monk – lacks top-shelf fluency and he looks anything but relaxed. Amplified against the orchestral backdrop, the piano sounds strident at times. His Mildred Snitzer compadres feel submerged in The Metropolitan Orchestra’s sound at first, though they come into better focus later in the set.
A measure of sure-footedness arrives when Goldblum calls guest vocalist and Broadway star Khaila Johnson to the stage. She has a voice that can ride with a full orchestra and her Misty (Errol Garner) immediately soars. Later, she brings some welcome emotional focus to the evening with Billie Eilish’s Bond movie torcher No Time to Die. Goldblum sensibly recedes here, limiting himself to sparse interjections on keyboard. Their duet on Harold Arlen’s If I Only Had a Brain develops some goofy charm; the chemistry is less convincing in their take on in Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ’Bout a Thing, however.
Jeff Goldblum, The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Khaila Johnson and The Metropolitan Orchestra. Photo © Bevan Rigato
Just as things are warming up, Goldblum announces an interval – unnecessary for a show of this span – and it takes a while to regain momentum, though the ensemble finally locks into gear for a crisp Soul Bossa Nova, with the Metropolitan Orchestra’s biting brass and winds relishing a moment to blaze. Snitzer saxophonist Scott Gilman contributes a tasteful solo in a show that otherwise lacks a feature spot for Goldblum’s core band. A Jimmy Smith-style Walk on the Wild Side for big band brass and Mildred Snitzer’s organist Joe Bagg, anyone?
The second act drifts along with a gently burnished bossa nova-styled take on the Carpenters’ Close to You, and a samba-tinged Somewhere Over the Rainbow. The set closes abruptly with an enthusiastic if not convincingly rousing What’d I Say and while the audience is left clearly wanting (and expecting more) it seems that no encore has been organised. The orchestra plays as Goldblum wanders off, waving, tossing air-kisses to an adoring crowd.
If you’re here for Goldblum the quirky Hollywood icon, the evening delivers more than its share of idiosyncratic pleasures. As a jazz-orchestral proposition, though, it feels under-considered and undercooked – a novelty stretched beyond its natural scale.
Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer Orchestra – The Night Blooms Tour plays the Concert Hall, Sydney Opera House on 5 May.
