OTTAWA -- Jann Arden hurts so good.

On paper, Arden's two-night 'Symphony Tour' stand with the National Arts Centre Orchestra looked to be a lush Burt Bacharach-esque evening of bittersweet ballads and romantic strings.

But in the end, it proved to be much more than just a "Greatest Hurts" package.

No. More Broadway musical than easygoing songspiel, Arden spent as much time kibbutzing with the 60-piece orchestra.

Like Lucy in the chocolate factory, like Carol Burnett wearing curtains in a Gone With The Wind spoof, Arden used the scenario of singing a few songs at the NAC and turned it into an irrepressible musical comedy.

It was a tour-de-force performance that made all 6,000 fans wonder when Arden would go up against Vicki, Oprah and Rosie with her own televised gabfest.

Who else could break your heart with a yearning version of Could I Be Your Girl? and then assuage that bit of grief by making bedroom eyes at a guitar toting Lothario. "Thank you," she purred in a hushed bedroom whisper to the indifferent stagehand.

And she looked the role too. Dressed in black leather, the pouty beauty wandered the laser-lit stage casually, grooving on the music while searching for a chance for mischief. "Tonight the NACO is 'the Jann Arden Orchestra,' " she joked and then persuaded the usually reserved NACO to play Jaws. She then asked the timpani player to give her a sample of the 2001: A Space Odyssey score.

To top it off, upon meeting Caroline the French-Canadian harp player, Arden answered in mechanical French, "Bonjour, je m'appelle Celine Dion."

She then accused the laughing audience of drinking too much cough medicine.

With the orchestra and her touring band, Arden opened with Thing For You, then put a Palm Court arrangement on You Don't Know Me, a George Martin violin chart on Time For Mercy, then treated us to some subtle improvisations on I Would Die For You worthy of jazz fusionists Pat Metheny and Lyle Mayes.

But a sense of humour goes hand in hand with some melancholy, and Arden did not hesitate to share stories of personal tragedy on Saved, the song "about my total lack of self-esteem," Sorry For Myself and Hanging By A Thread, a song dedicated to her eldest brother serving a life sentence for murder one.

She closed with her best-loved and most popular tunes that best sum up what Arden's identity is all about: Insensitive, Good Mother and Unloved, which proved that Arden is, indeed, greater than the sum of her parts.

Newfoundland trio The Ennis Sisters skirted the opening act ignomy with a short but mesmerizing set of bittersweet folk tunes and gorgeous three-part harmonies.

JAM! Rating: 5 out of 5 (More on Jann Arden)