Cynthia Erivo Soars Over San Diego Bay In A Night of Pure Transcendence At The Rady Shell At Jacobs Park

On Sunday evening, as the August sun melted into rose-colored clouds above the San Diego skyline, the city's crown jewel of live performance - The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park - became the vessel for pure magic. Cynthia Erivo, radiant and resolute, walked onto the stage with the San Diego Symphony, music director Mark G. Meadows at her side, and conductor Anthony Parnther leading the orchestra. What followed was not simply a concert, but a revelation.

Erivo’s voice is not just powerful - it is elemental and defies gravity. From the opening bars of “Don’t Rain on My Parade,” her tone carried the conviction of a thousand stories, filling the open-air amphitheater with an electricity that had the crowd erupting in applause. By the time she delivered renditions of Nina Simone's "I Put a Spell on You" and "Feeling Good," the spell was cast - Erivo’s voice lifted like a tide, swelling, receding, then crashing with impossible force, leaving the audience breathless in its wake.

Much credit belongs to Mark G. Meadows, her pianist and music director. Meadows played not merely as accompaniment but as a partner, weaving Erivo's soaring vocals with piano lines so rich they seemed to extend her heartbeat into melody. Together, with Parnther’s dynamic direction of the San Diego Symphony, they blurred the lines between Broadway storytelling, soul, and orchestral grandeur.

If Erivo’s star power is undeniable, her humanity is what made the evening unforgettable. Before Aretha Franklin’s "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," she stepped down barefoot into the crowd, greeting fans as though they were old friends. She sang among them, her voice rising like a prayer, coaxing the audience to join her chorus under the open night sky. It was intimacy on a grand scale - proof that the most luminous stars still shine brightest when they draw near.

From the aching tenderness of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" to the thunderous ache of "I (Who Have Nothing)," every note was a masterclass in emotional honesty. Her rendition of "Purple Rain" turned the Shell into a cathedral, a thousand voices echoing Prince’s anthem back to her in reverent unison. The encores - Prince’s "Nothing Compares 2 U" and a hauntingly seamless blend of John Lennon's "Imagine" and the Wicked hit "Defying Gravity" - left the audience in stunned silence before erupting into a standing ovation that seemed it might never end.

At just 5'1", Cynthia Erivo may be small in stature, but on this night she stood taller than the skyscrapers framing the bay. She sang with the gravity of an artist who has nothing to prove yet everything to give. Under the twilight sky, she reminded us that music can still stop time, lift hearts, and make strangers into a single voice.

In a city blessed with one of the most beautiful concert venues in the world, Erivo created a night that will linger in memory like the last note of a song too precious to end.

Originally published on August 18, 2025.