By Lawrence Toppman
“So who IS Cody Fry?” asked a Knight Theater patron, as a handful of us descended the elevator into the parking garage. “I still don’t know.” (I assume he didn’t use a QR code to read the online program.)
I wouldn’t presume to say, just on the strength of two hours at “Cody Fry Christmas: A Holiday Pops Special.” But I’ll give you my impressions.
He’s self-deprecatingly funny, appreciative of fellow musicians, a talented arranger, a gently engaging and sometimes silly master of ceremonies, a canny singer who knows how to use his high tenor to best effect and slip into an easy falsetto for top notes.
He appears casual onstage, dressed in a rust-colored suit, no socks and black patent leather shoes, but he paces his show smoothly and carefully. He’s proud of his family in both directions, from daughter Ruby (whose image showed up behind him) to father Gary, who came onstage at Knight Theater to conduct a Christmas song – a good one – Gary wrote for Charlotte.
I have been away from Charlotte Symphony Orchestra holiday concerts for so long that I have only vague memories of faux snowflakes, acrobats, dancers, vocal soloists and a mixed program of music sacred and secular, often done by a massive chorus. I liked Fry’s concert better. He played some of his own tunes – including, aptly, an encore of “I Hear a Symphony” – rendered old favorites and gave us only two songs that referred specifically to Christ.
Gary Fry’s slow, weighty arrangement of “O Holy Night,” sung attractively by a scaled-down version of Charlotte Master Chorale, was one. The other, my favorite moment in the show, came when acoustic bassist Scott Mulvahill coaxed spooky sounds from his instrument and sang his own “The Lord is Coming.” Cody Fry’s subtle, shimmering string writing underscored the message that, as we stare into the jaws of death, God extends a redeeming hand.
Cody Fry seldom leavened the show with that kind of seriousness. He was more likely to read snarky notes from an imaginary young “admirer” named Ricky or a horse complaining about the crack of a whip in “Sleigh Ride,” which prompted Fry to try a number of odd sound effects in its place. (Props for the use of a rubber chicken.)
His sentimentality, both in song choices and programming ideas, never seemed forced. Sharing notes written by audience members to people they loved might have sounded like a corny idea. But when those notes were projected on a screen, accompanied by Fry singing “What a Wonderful World” at the piano, that worked.
He brought just three band members: Mulvahill, steady drummer Steve Goold, and guitarist Nathan Dugger, who interjected quiet George Benson-style licks now and again. You couldn’t call Fry a jazz singer, but some of his phrasing and orchestrations (his or others) had a jazzy feel.
The program would have told my friend from the elevator that Fry has a huge TikTok following, that he earned a Grammy nomination for an arrangement of “Eleanor Rigby,” and that he released his debut album “The End” for Decca last year. (Oddly, it does not mention his 2015 success on “American Idol;” perhaps, at 34, he feels that’s too far in the past.)
Fry appeared in October 2023 with the CSO and resident conductor Christopher James Lees, who returned to the podium this weekend with aplomb. Coming here, where two of his sisters live and his mom sat beaming in the audience Friday, must seem like Old Home Week to Fry, and he makes the audience feel like members of his extended family.
Picture by Laura James.