Remember Summer Hathaway?
She was the adorable little fifth-grader who sang so atrociously, they made her the band manager in "School of Rock."
It was the screen debut for Miranda Cosgrove, which makes it ironic that she packed the Carnegie Music Hall Library of Homestead Wednesday night on her maiden "Dancing Crazy Tour."
Like Miley Cyrus or the Monkees, she has a TV theme song to play live, so sure enough, she came bounding out with "Leave it all to Me," from her hit Nick show "iCarly."
The crowded stayed seated, oddly enough, which was a good thing given that it was made up of big moms and dads and little grade-schools who would have had little chance of seeing her in her white jacket and dazzling mirrored silver skirt.
Miranda sings better than Summer, thankfully, but she won't be confused with Christina Aguilera or Beyonce any time soon. She has a small, cute, peppy voice that got a lift from a second singer on stage, especially on the bright choruses.
There's no question she was a lively performer, bounding around the stage, with wavy black hair flying, and flirting with her two male dancers. Backed by a six-piece band unafraid to rock out a little, she mixed bubblegum pop from her debut album, like "Kissin' U," "BAM" and "Disgusting" (all unrelated), with a few covers: No Doubt's "Just a Girl," "About You Now" (a Sugababes song she did on the "iCarly" soundtrack) and a breezy medley from her iPod of "Dynamite"/"Bulletproof"/"I Gotta Feeling."
It was a short-and-sweet hour set that saved the best for last ??? a new single, "Sayonara," that had the electropop feel of a Britney hit and the catchy "Dancing Crazy," which had the kiddies rushing the stage.
For the 17-year-old Cosgrove, it's all a low-stakes gamble. She has a hit TV show that was just renewed and charisma to spare on screen. She doesn't need to be the next big teen-pop star, and the odds are, she won't.
