Olivia delivered what was wanted, Holmdel concert review - Central New Jersey Home

Olivia delivered what was wanted

HOLMDEL Wow!

In a flash of glitter and light, Olivia Newton-John brought her act to the Garden State Arts Center Friday night, and dazzled her fans with a production that included film clips, a slide presentation, and a wide range of singing and dancing.

The performance started with a slide montage of Newton-John's life. The audience saw nostalgic shots of her early childhood days and followed with pictures of her during the teen-age years and concluded with highlights of her two movies, Grease and Xanadu.

Olivia ran on stage wearing a black and silver mini-skirt and the audience roared its approval. It was one of four costumes that the Australian beauty would wear during the evening. Her musical show was a collection of her biggest hits from albums, movies and television appearances.

Last week, the New York Times panned Olivia's performance in Forest Hills because of ...a nearly colorless voice, distinguished by the break between a perky chest register and a fragile head voice.

If Newton-John's voice was colorless, don't tell the Arts Center audience.

She showed her range and versatility throughout the 90-minute performance and the audience reaction was one of constant approval. If a colorless voice can bring about standing ovations and applause as reactions, then that may be an attractive characteristic to own.

The performance was lively from start to finish. Tom Scott led Olivia's seven piece band in three instrumental pieces before Olivia made her initial appearance. The concert emphasized the diversity in her music as it moved from country and pop to disco and hard rock.

The audience was most receptive to her biggest hits which included If Not For You, Have You Never Been Mellow, You're the One That I Want (done with Dennis Tufano, who sang the part that John Travolta made famous in Grease) and Physical, which was in the number one spot on the the pop charts for 10 consecutive weeks this year.

Olivia jumping-jacked, ran and jump-roped her way through the song, and she wore a Property of New York Giants T-shirt that endeared her to the crowd.

The Australian star also told the audience about her feeling for animals in a filmed version of The Promise, a song where she is seen swimming with a pair of dolphins.

Newton-John is very supportive of Greenpeace, an environmental group, and Save The Animals and she sounded like a potential candidate for Congress when she urged the audience to get behind both groups.

Olivia's show, a slick production that's been neatly packaged together by Roger Davies Management of Los Angeles, is in the early stages of a 32-city North American tour that will conclude at the Los Angeles Amphitheatre Oct. 13.

On the original concert tour, Olivia was scheduled to be in Providence, R.I. on Friday night, but the Providence Civic Center show was canceled. The concert at the Arts Center was a sell-out even though it had only been announced three weeks ago.

By Steve Silverman, Home News correspondent