Review: KYLE DEAN MASSEY Comes of Age at Feinstein's / 54 Below

"Are you in town?"

For thirteen years running, a phone call that starts with that simple query has pulled Kyle Dean Massey out of airport gangways, from family reunions and vacation hot tubs, and unexpectedly back into an actor's best (and perhaps sometimes worst) friend: the long running musical.

And hey, Massey's not complaining; around and in between there have been television roles, other projects for the stage in New York and beyond, lovers and apartments that have come and gone: in a way you might say the actor has grown up with the musical WICKED.

The last time Kyle Dean Massey took the stage at Feinstein's / 54 Below, he was starring on Broadway in WICKED. Two years later, Massey is back at 54 Below - and back on Broadway - starring in, what else, the musical WICKED. After all, it's hard to say no when that simple query comes. But come October 6, that tenure will finally end as the self-proclaimed 'world's longest running Fiyero' closes the Emerald City door for the last time (well, perhaps until that next phone call comes).

Maybe sensing the end of a chapter, Massey's latest show is fueled by a healthy dose of nostalgia. The Arkansas native who came to Broadway prominence playing the juvenile male leads in NEXT TO NORMAL and PIPPIN has always had talent to spare. From his first production on a high school stage in SHENANDOAH (the accent was authentic) to snagging the young male lead in the touring production of 42ND STREET just weeks after graduating college, Massey, from the beginning, was blessed with a striking profile, agile dance moves and a powerful reedy pop tenor that on the Feinstein's /54 Below stage effortlessly revisits standards from the first years of his career: "Corner of the Sky," "The Only Home I Know" and "Young and Healthy" (complete with tap break) making for a welcome introduction.

A winning presence and an engaging story teller, Massey projects a laid back likable charm. "Something About You" from the Off-Broadway hit, ALTAR BOYZ and "Suddenly" (in a XANADU duet with lovely Lauren Nicole Chapman) give Massey the chance to playfully revisit (with some audience involvement) his camp New York roots, while the Burt Bacharach / Hal David staple, "There's Always Something There to Remind Me" takes on new comic meaning when applied to Massey's I-can't-quit-you revolving door at the Gershwin Theatre.

But it is in between those wistful moments of looking back that a different side of Massey seems to emerge. Older. Wiser. Perhaps more sure. Definitely more accomplished. Now in his 30s, and having starred as Kevin Bicks for two seasons on the network series, Nashville, Massey's baby face youth has started to give way to something more ruggedly handsome and mature, and maybe it shouldn't surprise that it is in searching, plaintive adult ballads like "Postcard" and "Broken Song" (from the series Nashville) that he seems to find the greatest emotional resonance and audience connection.

Finding that sure footing in the entertainment industry is never easy. Openly gay, Massey speaks frankly (and refreshingly) about the struggles of - not being an out actor - but in finding roles, especially in musical theatre, in which gay characters aren't resorted to secondary cliches. And as if to show by example what could be, in the evening's most satisfying moment, Massey gender swaps for the song "When He Sees Me" from the musical WAITRESS, deftly weaving the tune's complex emotion and musical phrasing into something new and personal: and graduating to a new level of musical theatre performance in the process.

Expertly supported throughout by the mischievous Benjamin Rahula as collaborator and musical director and a terrific trio of musicians (Alexandra Eckhardt on bass, Aaron Drescher on drums and Eric Davis on guitar) with his return to Feinstein's / 54 Below, Kyle Dean Massey indeed seems to have completed a full circle moment.

By the evening's finale, a roof raising "I'm Alive" from NEXT TO NORMAL performed less as an anthem of teenage defiance and more as a claim of grown up self realization, Massey looks poised at last to fully emerge: the triumphant victor, primed to leave boyhood (and perhaps Fiyero) behind once and for all and eager to claim the next chapter in his adult musical career.

Broadway, your newest leading man is in town. Are you poised to take the call?

Follow Kyle Dean Massey on his website and @kyledeanmassey

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