NYE Hats and a Borrowed Baton: For the 20th annual New Year’s Eve gala, the Santa Barbara Symphony went to the movies
Mr. Kaufman’s gifted daughter, Whitney Claire Kaufman, was the evening’s guest vocalist, in this theater where she previously performed as part of the national touring production of “Mama Mia.” She fared beautifully, in tone and phrasing, on songs ranging from the first Oscar-winning song, “The Continental,” (from “the Gay Divorcee”) to “The Trolley Song” (“Meet Me in St. Louis”), “When You Wish Upon a Star” (“Pinocchio”) and the more modern “Colors of the Wind” (“Pocahontas”), with “Que Sera. Sera” and “Over the Rainbow”, for good classic measure.