Joaquina Kalukango
May 24, 2025 | 246 words | Song
Have you ever been moved to tears by a vocalist? If you’re lucky, it happens on a regular basis. Which would make the question: when was the last time?
The modern miracle of recorded music makes it possible to hear a favorite singer on demand. Or bump into a favorite song on an arbitrary basis via the radio or a streaming service. But nothing beats encountering a performer live. A televised concert can do the trick. But in-person is even better.
Best of all is an up-close, in-person experience in a small, intimate venue. I was able to catch a Tony Award winner by the name of Joaquina Kalukango is just such a cabaret setting last night, and for a little over an hour she sung my life with her words.
She opened with rousing version of Gershwin’s “Get Happy,” followed that with a beautiful take on Paul McCartney’s “Black Bird,” and went on to cover the likes of Joni Mitchell, Michael Jackson, Roberta Flack, Whitney Huston, and Gloria Gayner.
It’s not fair to pick out a single moment for special comment, because the entire show was filled with such moments. But when Ms. Kalukango broke out into her solo rendition of “No One Is Alone” from Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods – a score I was completely unfamiliar with before last night – and emoted the lines “sometimes fathers make mistakes, sometimes mothers make mistakes,” I was shuddering and shaking and crying full out.
Robert J. Cavanaugh, Jr.
bobcavjr@gmail.com