Review: Eric Michael Gillett Rises To The Occasion With WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE On MetropolitanZoom

There are those who like for their birthdays to pass without notice, unobserved, ignored, quietly tiptoeing in the door and back out again, until the next time, the next year, the next quiet, unobserved birthday. Eric Michael Gillett is not one of those people. At least, he wasn't this year, when he turned seventy by throwing himself a huge party to which sixty-seven guests came, and at that party, Eric Michael Gillett gave those sixty-seven people the best birthday present: himself.

Last Thursday, Eric Michael Gillett may have turned seventy, but you wouldn't know it to look at him in action, which is what all the smart people were doing, courtesy of MetropolitanZoom. The virtual cabaret experience created by Bernie Furshpan remains a blessing to all members of the cabaret community, both those at the microphone and those in the seats, and Eric Michael Gillett (EMG) is the artist who has mastered the art form the best. Since the advent of the streaming cabaret platform many artists have tested the waters of MetropolitanZoom, with success ranging from fair to fabulous, but Mr. Gillett took to the medium as though he were a fish being put back into water, and if anyone were a living, breathing, advertisement for the continuation of virtual cabarets, it would be Eric Michael Gillett - and this latest offering is proof positive, in every way.

WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE was more than a celebration of a life well-lived, and more than a gift for EMG's throng of devotees: this was a blueprint for how to create a cabaret show. To be specific: this writer believes (and has seen evidence) that the small venue performance art form is made up of everything from burlesque to concerts, from ventriloquism to comedy, and though "cabaret" is defined as any show performed in a place where food and drink are served, "cabaret" is, factually, a particular type of show that happens under the small venue umbrella. Cabaret is what Eric Michael creates, and cabaret is what he presented on August 26th. With his more than generous ninety-minute act, EMG took his viewers into a look back at the life that has brought him to this moment in time, with every example of that life immaculately brought to life by his song choices and performances, and by his seemingly extemporaneous chatter. There is no way the monologuing wasn't scripted and rehearsed because it seemed so natural and off-the-cuff, an effect only achieved through hours of rehearsal - but at no time did any of Gillett's rhetoric ring out as anything other than spur-of-the-moment and absolutely authentic. Sharing candid and humorous reminiscences about show business, the circus, personal relationships, and those all-important formative years, EMG moved emotions as though he were moving mountains, effectively causing all who were watching to relive their own school days with his "Kid Inside" Suite, paired with "It Goes Like It Goes" in a manner designed to draw sighs of satisfaction. Although every single musical number, indeed every single moment of Water Under The Bridge, was worth the investment of time and dollar, for this writer that juvenile journey back in time that Gillett so seamlessly created was reason enough for the crafting of this show.

Although Eric Michael Gillett readily shares his age - and proudly, too, as he should - there is a common misconception that being seventy is the equivalent to some form of diminishment. No such diminishment exists in the person of Eric Michael Gillett. Well... if he is anything like me, maybe in the knees... but nowhere else. Looking more handsome than this writer has ever seen him, Gillett's laissez-faire confidence is evident at every juncture in the Water Under The Bridge trajectory, and even more so in every note sung. If you close your eyes while EMG is singing, you would swear it is the voice of a twenty-five-year-old playing on the Top 40 program from the radio. He's in remarkable voice, singing everything from Yeston to Minchin, from Herman to Menken, with a healthy dose of the music that gives life meaning, Stephen Sondheim, and each new musical monologue serves as a reminder that lyrics have subtext, that there is a story being told, that standing before an audience is more than mouthing words as pretty notes come out of your mouth. This is musical storytelling at its richest and most rewarding. One home run after another, Eric Michael compelled his sixty-plus zoom guests to stay and see what moving story (like the wedding that tied to his circus career) or hilarious memory (like the Las Vegas audition from hell) would come next in a show that was less like a birthday party and more like Christmas morning, as one musical gift after another was unveiled to sighs and cries of, "It's just what I wanted."

Eric Michael Gillett is just what any cabaret show, small venue, or audience member should want, and that is on any day of the year, not just August 26th.

The Water Under the Bridge band was Mike Pettry serving as Musical Director and pianist and Matt Scharfglass on Bass.

Eric Michael Gillett WATER UNDER THE BRIDGE was a MetropolitanZoom virtual cabaret. Find more great shows at MetropolitanZoom HERE

Visit the Eric Michael Gillett website HERE.

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