Review: ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE at The Green Room 42 Places Becca Brunelle Right Where She Belongs

Something widespread is happening right now in New York City. It's everywhere and it's growing, daily. No, it's not that - no pandemic talk, here. It's the overwhelming number of debut solo shows happening in the cabaret and concert scene these days. In recent weeks we've seen Ben Bogen, Mariah Lyttle, Linda Kahn, and Sean Stephens take the leap into the world of solo club acts, and, just three days ago Sam Gravitte played his first cabaret show to a full house at Birdland. It seems like every club in the city is showcasing the talents of new cabaret performers, ready to claim their place in the industry.

And, as of last night, Becca Brunelle is one of those newcomers to the scene. With her cabaret debut ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE, Ms. Brunelle has demonstrated a clear knack for the art form and a resounding reason for her continuing further into the industry: she's good. She's really, really good. In the seventy-minute program, Brunelle presented an honest-to-goodness cabaret show possessing of script, story arc, and unquestionably qualified vocals (and some serious dance skills), to say nothing of a charming demeanor and amiable personal presence. Indeed, Ms. Brunelle's comfort on stage belied her newcomer status, something that one suspects is equal parts Becca Brunelle and her director, Ari Axelrod, who has served the artist well on this maiden voyage onto the nightclub stages of the world.

The premise of Accidentally On Purpose is simple enough - it is the true story of Becca's journey from little girl enjoying her dreams and her daddy's company to working actress battling the inner demons that threaten every day of an artist's existence. Filled with experiences and lessons that happen along the way, Becca Brunelle's story is not a remarkable one - but it is a relatable one. There are many who use their cabaret shows to talk about their lives; some people have life stories that are interesting enough to be the basis of a musical play, on either the theatrical or cabaret stage, while others do not. Other people have slice-of-life experiences and soul-growth moments that can make a good cabaret if constructed in just the right way. Becca Brunelle is the latter. It is difficult to not think of one's own paternal pride when listening to the touching tales of Papa Brunelle and his little 'un, Becca; it resonates deeply, hearing Becca describe the monster of self-doubt with which she has battled, and it rings true when Becca declares herself free of that creature that held her down, especially if the individual sitting out in the seats has had a similar journey (and, really, who hasn't?). The stories are accessible (as they should be) but particularly so because Becca is accessible. She is likable, she is believable, she is genuine, she is authentic. All that's left to ask is: can she sing?

Yes, she can.

Filling her program with fourteen compositions from the history of musical theater (including movie musicals by Disney), a couple of songs by a beloved man from a beautiful neighborhood, and one Sara Bareilles pop song, Brunelle shows off skilled vocal abilities that can service pop music as well as Broadway belting, and she has the clear cabaret intent of diving deep into her lyrics, as evidenced by all of the acting choices made in her effort to be a good and proper storyteller. Director Axelrod's stamp is all over the piece - that's a good thing because the young man who has (in relatively short time) become one of the industry's best teachers, directors and mentors has two goals in mind when engaged in the act of helping an artist create a show: connection to the material and connection to the audience. Brunelle's trust in him and his faith in her have started the singing actress down the cabaret road with strength and intention; this is a very promising first outing and this reporter hopes (adamantly) that there will be future performances of Accidentally On Purpose. Before those performances happen, perhaps a few suggestions might be made.

Last night's show was an obvious friends-and-family presentation. Everyone in the theater at The Green Room 42 had a personal connection to Becca (and on the live stream, too), which is lovely. How nice to be so well supported by your loved ones. That did, though, inform a fair amount of Brunelle's audience interaction and verbiage, which will need to change when the audiences become stranger-based. As a cabaret artist, the goal is to have an audience that is made up of word-of-mouth patrons, and not the best friends, siblings, and mentors. Your friends are not your customers - the strangers are. To that end, Becca Brunelle will need to jettison large chunks of her script (a good script) that deal in what one might label "inside talk" - including an excessively verbose (albeit lovely) speech of 'thank yous' which will need to be cut down from four minutes to thirty seconds. And, on the subject of brevity, Brunelle will need to work on her pacing. The show is filled with pathos and heart-talk and ballads - the dialogue with the audience needs to play like a theater script in which one character is saying their line as they enter the room and another is saying theirs as they leave the room. The show can also tighten up if Brunelle and Musical Director Drew Wutke can limit the amount of off-script chit-chat in which they engage. The ongoing conversation between the two was charming on one level but, more importantly, distracting to the story being told. Were this The Becca and Drew show, it would be another matter, but since this is the Becca Brunelle show, it might serve the Accidentally On Purpose team to have an informal chat about keeping Becca the focus of the programming.

There were other little things that bubbled up last night that can be chalked up to "rookie blues" and they aren't actually worth mentioning because Axelrod and Wutke being the professionals that they are, will work with their Leading Lady to finesse the outing and smooth out the rough edges, of which there aren't many. Presenting a cabaret show that features unlikely tap dancing to an Avenue Q song and a spectacularly dialed-back Miss Adelaide number from Guys and Dolls has the trio way ahead of the curve, especially considering highlights like Jason Robert Brown's "I'm Not Afraid of Anything" and a "Meadowlark" that has been changed just enough to make it NOT BE ABOUT A MAN (!!!!), which was absolutely heavenly. In fact, there is so much to admire about Accidentally On Purpose that this writer wishes there was another performance, immediately, to encourage audiences of strangers to go see - but there isn't. The production was a testing of the waters for Becca Brunelle.

Hopefully, the waters were fine for Becca. They sure were for the rest of us.

The Accidentally On Purpose choreographer was April Cook.

Becca Brunelle ACCIDENTALLY ON PURPOSE was a one-off but other great shows can be found on the Green Room 42 website HERE.

Becca Brunelle has a website HERE.

Becca Brunelle gets a five out of five microphones rating for performing her entire show without the use of a lyric sheet, tablet, or music stand.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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