Lauryn Hill may be one of the biggest stars in popular music at the moment, but there's something decidedly small-scale about the live show she brought to Washington on Tuesday.

Instead of opting for one night at a more arena-sized venue, Hill decided to play three shows at the more intimate DAR Constitution Hall (the final, sold-out performance is this evening). Rather than dazzle her audience with a splashy stage design, she took a low-key approach to the visuals, decorating the stage with just some prop school lockers (it was the "Miseducation" tour, after all).

Even the performance itself was somewhat sparing. Hill's 90-minute set covered slightly more than half the songs on her Grammy-winning album, "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," omitting the likes of "Nothing Even Matters" and "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You." She did, however, include a smattering of songs from her time with the Fugees.

About the only thing oversized about her show was the band. With three keyboardists, two guitarists, a horn section, three back-up singers and a DJ, this well-rehearsed ensemble was almost a show in itself -- and Hill made no bones about letting her sidemen share the spotlight.

Don't take that to mean Hill came on like a guest at her own concert. Whether singing or rapping, her command of the stage was unquestioned, and she had no trouble whipping the capacity crowd into a frenzy.

In fact, Hill didn't even have to be onstage to hold the audience's attention. When the lights went down at the beginning of her set, the P.A. focused the audience's attention by playing a recording of Bob Marley's somber, Dylanesque "Redemption Song."

Then, with the lights still down, Hill -- still backstage -- thrilled the darkened hall with a respectful and impassioned reading of the spiritual "His Eye Is On the Sparrow."

Hill's ability to work the crowd clearly owes much to her rap roots. As she quipped at one point, "Once an MC, always an MC." But the show as a whole had more to do with her singing than her rapping. Many songs, such as "Zion" and "Killing Me Softly," had no rap component whatsoever, while others used her rhyming skills mainly to add rhythmic variety to the overall arrangement.

That's not to say Hill entirely played down the hip-hop side of her music. Midway through her set, she gave the stage over to DJ Leo, who showed off his mixing and scratching before turning the turntables over to a guest, Washington's DJ Supreme, who juggled discs while he scratched and spun.

Later in the show, Hill and her band "battled" against the DJs in a delightful display of musical one-upmanship. Hill started things off by improvising new lyrics to the Jackson Five oldie "I Want You Back," to which DJ Leo responded by spinning Michael Jackson's "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."

The two sides took off from there, with Hill and company trotting out such '70s soul chestnuts as Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" and the Blackbyrds' "Rock Creek Park" (a big favorite with the D.C. crowd), while DJs Leo and Supreme fired back with a string of hip-hop hits. It seemed totally impromptu and had nothing to do with what the fans expected of Hill, but the spirit and precision of her band made it one of the evening's highlights.

Of course, Hill could hardly be blamed for wanting to show these guys off. With many giant, economy-sized touring bands, the players either seem hamstrung by the arrangements or end up getting in each other's way. Not this crew. Hill's band played and thought as one, and that meant that the grooves were deep and supple, from the soulful pulse of "Doo Wop (That Thing)" to the reggae skank of "Ex Factor."

Even better, they played with a stop-on-a-dime precision unheard in R&B; since the days of James Brown's great bands. It was impressive enough to hear how easily they handled Hill's pre-solo-career medley, moving from "Fu-Gee-La" to "If I Ruled the World" to "Ready Or Not" with ease. But where they really shone was on "Lost Ones," which found them switching into a new groove every time Hill shouted "Mix it up, mix it up!"

It wasn't a big thing, but it was deeply satisfying to hear. And that, more than anything, may explain why Hill has become such a star.

Pub Date: 3/18/99