Review: Bianca Marroquín shows WHERE YOU ARE Is A Constant State Of Dance & A Constant State Of Joy At The Green Room 42

Painting The Town Never Looked So Good

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you all the T!

OK, my lambkins... Wednesday night TGR42 lit a fuse at 7 PM that fizzed and sparked and exploded in the loudest, most exciting way. That explosion hit the stage like several forces of nature (all of them, in fact) in the joyous singing, dancing dynamo that is Bianca Marroquín. You can already tell, my dearlings, that this review is going to be a rave, I am sure, so strap in and let Bobby put you in the picture... Let's start at the end. What just happened? What did we just see? WHAT IS GOING ON? ... were all the questions in the audience's little heads when this bonafide triple threat took her final bow after wowing the crowd with a Roxie/Velma mashup that was as stunning as it was schizophrenic and Fosse-style sexy. Having only ever experienced the lady on television (where she played a fierce rendition of the goddess, Chita Rivera, in FOSSE/VERDON) Bobby was not prepared for the joy she would conjure, live on stage, and sustain without respite for that full 55 minutes. Now, let's skip back to the beginning... Taking the stage in an elegant pink off-the-shoulder number with her hair in a classic ballet bun and harkening back to La Lady Rivera by singing her show's titular song, WHERE YOU ARE from KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN, this little rainbow writer was all ready to cast her in the much-awaited (and NEEDED) revival of that Kander & Ebb hit. Marroquín IS the power of perpetual motion under control. Her discipline as a dancer meant that her abundant movement throughout the performance was essential, nay, even needed, as her body told the story she wove just as much as her voice in spoken word and song - each element a piece of the puzzle without which that tale could not be told.

Now let's jump to the middle, using songs from THE SOUND OF MUSIC to relate the portion of her life where she went from Gypsy to stepmom to 4 young girls, her glow grew even brighter. She met a man, you see, and his home situation with his 4 daughters needed Maria's CONFIDENCE to get her through, especially when the PANdicament sent them all into lockdown in the middle of the woods in Upstate New York. Having to become chief, cook, and bottle washer (Chita reference intended) as well as nanny, school teacher, referee, hairstylist (you get the idea) thrust the lady into a family life baptism by fire where WWMD - What Would Mary {Poppins} Do - became her motto and a great set up for the song ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN IF YOU LET IT. Each number on her setlist told a specific part of her story of life on the road, on the Broadway, and in the home, and each song selected told a story in and of itself, and what does a storyteller like Bianca NEED more than anything when telling a story... an audience. This was one of the most palpable elements of Marroquín's work - her need to connect to each and every person listening to her sing, and watching her dance through her life. The joy the lady has in the performing truly surpasses anyone of her generation and her skillful director, the equally talented triple threat+choreographer+director Shannon Lewis, has guided her beautifully, harnessing all of that ebullient Marroquín energy in perfect partnership with her star and Music Director Sean Forte at the pianoforte - see what we did there?

One of the constants of Marroquín's life in the theatre has been Roxie Hart. Having started with the show playing Roxie in 2002, she has moved in and out of the Broadway production consistently since then, heading 3 full CHICAGO national tours, and taking periodic vacations to IN THE HEIGHTS, followed by CHICAGO, THE PAJAMA GAME, followed by CHICAGO, MARY POPPINS, followed by CHICAGO... when you get a job in this business you keep it my darlings. This was her life in the show business up to 2020's PAINdemic when Broadway and the world took a pause. Thankfully live performing didn't move permanently to Zoomville and Bianca got the call to return home to 219 W 49th Street. But this time the producers wanted her to cheat on Roxie and step sideways into the role of that mistress of double murder, Velma Kelly... And now we have returned to the beginning, where we started, at the end of her show. After giving the room that Latin beat with I LIKE IT LIKE THAT, the lady left the stage for a costume change, returned in a sparkling black sequined cocktail frock befitting BOTH roles, and proceed to sing back and forth between ALL THAT JAZZ and ROXIE, leaving the audience satisfied, while still wanting more.

Cabaret as therapy sometimes lands heavily on the self-indulgent side of performance art, but in the hands, voice, and body of Bianca Marroquín, it was lifted up so expertly that it embodied the properties of light - it didn't weigh a thing, but it sure filled the room. Even her acknowledging that her show WAS therapy for her didn't drag it down, as that light we speak of came shining out of her 100% of the time. To see a performer who is not only superb at the 3 threats of acting, singing, and dancing but that has that extra something that makes your guts tingle and your heart flutter is more than a treat, it is a moment. One that everyone in attendance will remember for years to come with the phrase, "I was there that night when... " and for that, more than anything else Bobby has raved about here, we MUST give Bianca Marroquín's WHERE YOU ARE our full...

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Keep up with her and find out when and where she will repeat this performance on her socials...

Her InstaPictograms are: HERE

Tweet Her Twitters: HERE

Ande Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick

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