Review: Holly Ann Butler Is A Marvel In COVER ME at Feinstein's/54 Below

"The next time you open your Playbill and see one of those little white pieces of paper, GET EXCITED!"

So sayeth Holly Ann Butler on Sunday night when an ecstatic live and live stream audience got to experience UNCOVERED. And it was an experience.

Holly Ann Butler is one of the heroes of the live theater community, both here in New York and out on the road. Holly Ann has been covering musical theater lead characters and ensemble tracks as a swing, an understudy, and a standby in plays like How To Succeed In Business..., Evita, Shrek, The Honeymooners, Diana The Musical, and Come From Away (and many others). Beginning her program with a breakdown of what precise distinctions differ between swing, standby, and understudy, Ms. Butler remarked more than once throughout the evening that these special actors are the Superheroes of the industry. Butler is not wrong, for every word she speaks is true; however, one distinction must be made. If the swings, understudies, and standbys are the Superheroes, then Holly Ann Butler is Wonder Woman.

Ms. Butler does not stand particularly tall of stature, but Ms. Butler is not diminutive. Holly Ann may be petite of height but she is anything but small. This woman is a Tiny Titan when it comes to talent and presence, coming out at the audience like a tidal wave, a tsunami, a hurricane, a tornado or any other force of nature one might care to nominate or, more to the point, all of the forces of nature rolled into one performing pinup. In Eighty minutes of nightclub Nirvana, Butler is every inch a technicolor MGM goddess like Hedy Lamar or Ava Gardner, Gene Tierney or Jane Russell, and creates sounds harkening to every Broadway diva from Patti LuPone to Barbara Cook, demonstrating all of the talent which has made her a commodity as a musical theater cover. What she also displays in her act is immeasurable storytelling skills capable of broad comedy, absolute honesty, and tenderness. Regaling her audience with the stories of the life of a cover, Butler is open and vulnerable one moment and vivaciously hilarious the next, and moving so fast that one can't help but question whether or not the lady is working from a script or, solely, from memory; whichever may be the case, Holly Ann knows what she is saying and where she is going. The storytelling is exemplary - detailed without droning, economic without excess, with every human emotion possible, and always sprouting forth from the solid foundation of being one hundred percent interesting and fascinating. It also doesn't hurt that Ms. Butler is actively and visibly proud of her work. Indeed, back at home after the night out, this reporter was excitedly describing the evening to family and someone remarked, "If she's this amazing, she should be a big star," to which came the answer "Holly Ann Butler has everything one needs to be a big star... but I think she really and truly loves what she is doing. I see a great deal of pride and satisfaction in her, when she talks about her work."

And the work... let's talk about the work.

Holly Ann Butler ran the gamut from brassy and belty (opening number "Ya Got Me" from On the Town, but with special lyrics for the occasion) to delicate and dreamy ("I Miss You Most on Sundays" from Diana) and it was genuinely difficult not to be surprised by the breadth of her abilities. In a world and a business where people want to put others in a box and define them, Holly Ann Butler is impossible to pigeonhole. With this kind of versatility at her disposal, it's no wonder she is so in-demand. There were moments of heartbreaking acting ("Gstaad" from Happiness, performed with Pearl Sun) and others of over-the-top hilarity("Carried Away" from On The Town, performed with Alysha Umphress), and always presented through take-no-prisoner vocals desitined to boggle the mind. Highlights for this writer were two epic medleys, one from How To Succeed and one from Evita (complete with various little props/costume pieces to signify the variety of characters Butler covered), and a showstopper from The Honeymooners, which Butler performed when star Leslie Kritzer needed a night off to rest. Even though every minute of COVER ME was sensational, these three numbers went a long way to showcasing, for the audience, Butler's range.

Also a highlight in the evening's programming was the presence of the guest artists. It didn't just highlight the innate value of the Broadway Understudy, and it didn't just highlight the talents of Holly Ann's friends, it highlighted her generosity. It isn't every day that a person takes the big step onto the solo show stage, and with all her own fabulous stories and unfathomable talents, Holly Ann could have kept it all in-house, but, instead, she chose to invite four friends, colleagues, and fellow covers to join her in her exploration of the Superheroes of Broadway and, probably without knowing it, Ms. Butler cast her show with a much-appreciated diversity that is, too often, missing from the group shows of the cabaret and concert industry. Each and every actor who joined Holly Ann on the stage was a credit to their profession, a delight (indeed a thrill) to observe, a supportive colleague to Holly Ann, and a representative from a different demographic.

Aside from their duet from Happiness, Pearl Sun performed one of Diana's numbers from Next To Normal to such accomplishment as to cause the entire room to quiet down (an impossible feat in a cabaret room). Beautiful Brian Gonzales has made his Broadway career as a cover and he and Butler actually performed together as Shrek and Fiona, so the only choice for the dear friends was the hilarious (and gassy) "I Think I Got You Beat" from the whimsical show. Statuesque and stalwart L. Steven Tyler joined HAB for a silly and sexy number from Flashdance: The Musical titled "Dealbreaker" and Alysha Umphress covered the role of Ozzie in a number from On The Town. All of the duets from the guest artists went a long way toward elevating the entertainment factor of the evening but there was special quality in the work of the ladies, particularly Sun's Next to Normal number, Umphress's unbelievable "Little Jazz Bird" and a most appropriate and appropriately moving "Me and The Sky" shared by Holly Ann and Pearl, who have both covered the role of Beverly Bass. It was a remarkable way to end the evening... except that, in cabaret, there is always an encore. And (in what would appear to be true Holly Ann Butler fashion) the encore was designed to top everything else.

Allowing the audience to choose her final number from three options ("Officer's Wife" from Diana The Musical, "Little People" from Les Miserables, or a parody of "Glitter and Be Gay" that proved, at one time, to be both important and helpful to the actress), Holly Ann found herself shocked to actually have to sing the adjusted "Glitter And Be Gay." Of course, she nailed it. Indeed, for those Eighty minutes, Holly Ann Butler nailed every moment, every note, every nuance, which may have been a surprise to those of us having our first-ever Holly Ann Butler experience, but it wasn't a surprise to the people who already know her and who already know the truth:

Holly Ann Butler is Wonder Woman. And when that little white piece of paper has her name on it, audiences should, most certainly, be excited.

The exceptional creative team for UNCOVERED is Lauren Heirigs (Director), Dylan Glatthorn (Musical Director), Jeff Halpern (Additional Arrangements) and the Uncovered Band, Jessie Linden (drums) and Daniel Bailen (guitar).

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

Holly Ann Butler has a website HERE.

HERE is the Pearl Sun website.

Brian Gonzales can be found online HERE.

L. Steven Taylor has an online presence HERE.

THIS is the Alysha Umphress Instagram page.

Pearl Sun

Brian Gonzales

L. Steven Taylor

Alysha Umphress

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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