Review: CONFESSIONS OF A BUBBLY BROADWAY BABY at Feinstein's/54 Below Changes Brynn Williams' Life

Brynn Williams stood absolutely stock still on the stage of the supper club. The band was playing, the audience was watching, the clock was ticking, but the Broadway veteran had stopped singing. Her mouth agape and her eyes wider than they had ever before been, in her life, she watched as a surprise guest strode through the audience to the stage, singing beautifully and perfectly into the microphone that he had been holding at his table. Brynn Williams' hands were shaking. This was not the show finale she had rehearsed.

One hour earlier, Brynn Williams bounded up onto the stage at 54 Below, glittering and gleaming in a custom-made royal blue ball gown and looking every inch like Glinda in Cinderella's prom dress, the energetic, effervescent and ebullient musical theater actress was taking a bold and long-time-coming step into her future by finally premiering her first-ever solo show. Appropriately titled CONFESSIONS OF A BUBBLY BROADWAY BABY, Brynn's Jen Sandler-produced club act rode a fine line between cabaret and concert that was more like the crest of a wave. With her at-times unbelievable vocal abilities, it was obvious that Williams could be one of the biggest concert stars in the music industry, but Brynn's insistence on reaching each and every member of the audience lends itself more to the intimacy of a small venue like the cabaret room at 54 Below. There is also the matter of the kind of storytelling Ms. Williams seems to favor - the personally informed. Sharing stories about her life as a black woman growing up in a world where she couldn't dress up for Halloween as a Disney Princess because school mates wouldn't accept her as Cinderella or Snow White, a world where there were no Disney Princess who resembled her, Brynn managed to avoid all bitterness and cynicism. The same held true for her stories about the difficult transition from child actor to adult actor, especially a female actor - no anger or recrimination entered the narrative, only fact and facing it. There is no denying that Brynn Williams is not a girl anymore, she's a woman, but she is still too young and too optimistic to be anything but authentic - it would never occur to her to present anything false or negative. It would not appear to be a part of her character makeup or trajectory to give in to the darkness, which is why she is the Bubbly Broadway Baby of the title, and of the community.

Observe the ferocity with which she attacked Musical Director Ben Caplan's epic medley of Disney songs, and yet the introspective but equally powerful "Being Good Isn't Good Enough" which, she informed, is evocative of the life of every black human. Though Williams appears to come with one speed - GO - she actually was able to dial it down for the benefit of the storytelling, which is her clear mission as an actor. And whenever she was on her own at the microphone, she and (her seeming big brother) Caplan placed all the emphasis on the storytelling, whether musical or conversational; when, however, she invited her friends to join her on the stage, the story was all about love - love for her first Disney Prince crush, Paolo Montalban, love for her Bye Bye Birdie BFF, Daniel Quadrino, love for her 13 galpal, Allie Trimm. Those moments of the evening were a chance for Brynn Williams to show everyone that acting and singing is great, but making lifelong friends along the way is everything. One suspects that, in every aspect of her life, Brynn Williams leads with love.

And one week ago, she certainly ended with love.

Having made it through the sprint that was her mostly mile-a-minute hour-long show, Ms. Williams made the obligatory "thank yous" speech and launched into her big solo number from the Jason Robert Brown show 13, unaware of the interruption that would come when that unexpected voice would stop her in her tracks, leaving her trembling in a spotlight so bright that every person in the room could see those shaking hands and the expression of ultimate surprise as boyfriend Gerald Jordan strode calmly and deliberately through the tables of the club, tables engulfed by friends and family, fans and followers, all of whom had to decide whether to keep their eyes on him, or on her. On him, on her. On him, on her. Like fans at Wimbledon, eyes traveled left to right and back to left, then back to the right, as The Proposal took place, until, finally, a ring was slipped gently and lovingly onto a shaking hand, and a tiny woman with a titanic voice melted into the arms of her brand-new fiance. It was a night that not one of the screaming people in the room would ever forget. It was the theater of life.

And THAT is how you make your New York City nightclub debut.

The Bubbly Broadway Baby band was Lloyd Kikoler on bass, Jakob Reinhardt on guitar, Scott Still on drums, and Musical Director, arranger, composer Ben Caplan on piano.

Follow Brynn Williams on Instagram HERE and on Twitter HERE and THIS is the Brynn Williams website.

Find great shows to see at the 54 Below website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher - The video by FAMOUS IN NY VIDEO

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