Singer-songwriter Maureen McGovern’s musical memoir is a wonderful trip down memory lane for Baby Boomers and those with an appreciation for the standards of her generation. The 90-minute solo performance boasts a setlist that includes (among others) the songs of McCartney & Lennon, Carole King, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Pete Seeger, James Taylor and Stephen Sondheim.
The self-proclaimed “disaster-theme queen” Maureen McGovern was inspired by a recent trip to the emergency room to take a look back at the first six decades of her life. The rollercoaster ride of the singer-songwriter includes her first professional gig at the Brown Derby in Warren, Ohio, and a stint as an executive secretary despite two Academy Award-winning gold records to her credit.
McGovern talks and sings of the struggles of her “free-love” generation, offering personal anecdotes and well-chosen anthems that capture the frenetic essence of the Vietnam era. The folk singer recounts civil rights marches, a classmate who was one of the Kent State four and her logical progression to musical theater where, in the 1980s, she joined the war on AIDS.
Though hardly a raconteur, the voice behind “The Morning After” more than compensates for her mediocre delivery with heart, affability and a voice that not only belies her age, but would give any current 20-something chart-topper a reason to quiver her lip-synching lips.
And if you’re wondering, yes she does sing that song, but not before she reminds the audience that she was indeed the singing nun in the movie “Airplane.”
‘A Long and Winding Road’
Through Nov. 15
BCA Wimberly Theatre
$20-$60, 617-266-0800
Orange line to Back Bay
www.huntingtontheatre.org