Review: Broadway Princess Takes A Journey To The Past As CHRISTY ALTOMARE Makes Her Solo Cabaret Debut at Feinstein's/54Below

A Disney Princess, A Disney Princess, Our kingdom for A Disney Prin... Huh? But isn't Anastasia a Dis... No? Mmmmmmmok...

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

So my lovelies, Thursday night's outing to Feinstein's/54 Below brought us the solo debut of Broadway's ANASTASIA, Christy Altomare, who, with the help of her Fairygodfairy; musical director par excellence - Benjamin Rauhala, brought us one of the brightest and bubbliest shows to ever grace the basement. Entering positively resplendent in a dusty rose ball gown with a sparkly ball encrusted bodice and chiffon for days, doffing her face mask, and singing a mashup of tunes from TANGLED and FROZEN, is it any wonder we couldn't get the name Disney out of our head? No, no, no, Bobby knows ANASTASIA is NOT a Disney property. For that matter neither is MAMA MIA, SPRING AWAKENING, or CARRIE for goodness sakes! (Though, wouldn't a Disney CARRIE be a trip?!) However, all of these Broadway and Off-Broadway creations have this tiny lyric belter in common... And tiny she indeed appeared, all 5'1" of her all alone on stage save her safety net of Rauhala way off stage right at the piano and her personal guitar that she used once midway through her set to regale the crowd with her own composition, FREEDOM INSIDE. One of the most salient (what? Bobby knows words!) aspects of the personality that flowed forth from Altomare is that she would seem to be living in a perpetual state of giggles and gratitude. Humbly and sweetly accepting her audience's enormous thunderclaps, hoots, and hollers she seemed to live for belting (or beautifully lilting) her way through each and every one of her 14 numbers as a way to tickle herself and to please all and sundry... And please us she did with a FAB career medley from the aforementioned big-3 shows on her resume and music from other favorites; THE LITTLE MERMAID, YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, BIG - a tribute to her late junior high drama teacher - FLORA THE RED MENACE and, natch, ANASTASIA. Singing the Haunting IN MY DREAMS brought up emotions and tears for her and a standing O from her audience. Don't worry my dearlings, of course, she wrapped her performance with the big act one finale of that show and her life since her entire act consisted of her personal JOURNEY TO THE PAST with stories that generated everything from Awwws to guffaws.

Make no mistake DAHLINGS, this gifted actress/singer is also funny and she delivered each anecdote about her life on a spectrum from amusing to hilarious with straightforward talk and timing that never seemed timed. Enjoying the telling of her mishaps as much as the response from her crowd all while leaning on Rauhala's effortless second banana-ism, Altomare was this party's princess... And Speaking of ... Her performance of her self-penned poppy-pop number, WE KNOW HOW TO PARTY elicited big laughs and chair dancing in the hall. It's interesting to note that no mean triller of Stratos-High notes is Christy Altomare for all her blonde princess tiny-ness. Her big range belt perfectly mixed with her bell-like head voice is, in fact, more reminiscent of her animated ANASTASIA predecessor, the amazing Liz Callaway. Both ladies have clear, commanding pipes backed up by chops that act out each phrase, each nuance with emotions that touch their audience in ways that are felt more than they are heard. In short, Bobby gets what Christy is handing out.

As we followed Christy through the track of her life from the little girl in water wings belting out PART OF YOUR WORLD in a swimming pool to her moment standing backstage, suitcases in hand ready to run on for her biggest triumph to date, the story we got was one of a happy life where the ups were WAY up and what downs there were... well actually there were no downs but in this time of desperately trying to keep this year from becoming 2020 junior, this was the show we all needed. Was it perfect? No. She had some goofs and gaffs here and there as well as Rauhala periodically reminding her to drink water. Did she fluff lyrics or have to look at her setlist to figure out what was next - sure she did, but she was always having so much fun she was able to make a bit out of all of it and share the experience with her peeps. One hopes that F/54B will re-program this show on their calendar ASAP.

Finally, a word must be said about her next to last song by Dion DiMucci (yes THAT Dion!) YOU I KNOW comes from a new musical with broadway hopes. THE WANDERER will tell the story of Dion's rise from troubled Bronx kid to his rock and roll defining career. Christy will play Susan, the love of Dion's life to this day. Altomare's heart-rending performance of this new love song was not only beautiful and powerful but also boded real possibilities for the show. The most important being that it will contain some other new works from Dion as well as his hits and rise above the "juke-box musical" category... Sorry, Dion! Did I hit you with that gauntlet? THE WANDERER will have its world premiere at Paper Mill Playhouse • March 24 - April 24, 2022.

So my lambkins, Christy Altomare showed us all that as a singing actress - whether she has amnesia, or gets her legs whipped as Wendela, or she whips sweet little Carrie's a$$ in the locker room, she is up for any challenge of the musical theatre. So, for this show and for the lovely soul she put on display, Bobby gives this one his full...

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows.

Christy Has Her WebbySite: HERE
She Hangs Her Twitters: HERE
Stalk Her Insta: HERE
And Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

Find Out All About the ADORABLE Music Director/Fairy Godfairy, Benjamin Rauhala: HERE

Follow The Developments Of The New Musical THE WANDERER: HERE

And Check Out F/54B's Calendar: HERE

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