Review: Molly Pope Meets Classic Hollywood in the Energetic and Captivating A STAR IS BORN at Feinstein's/54 Below

"I'm grateful you liked me / And I'm sure to you the tribute seemed quite right..."

Starting in the back of the packed Feinstein's/54 Below house with "It's a New World" (Harold Arlen/Ira Gershwin), Molly Pope has your attention. The band has played the overture; now it is her turn, crooning in silence.

As suddenly as the first number ends, you're launched into the energetic "Gotta Have Me Go with You," Pope working her way through the crowd to the stage to join Brian Beach and Danny Bevins, her pair of enthusiastic backup dancers for the evening and the final pieces of her very complete transformation into Vicki Lester.

If there was ever any doubt a Molly Pope show is some of the best fun you can have in New York, look no further than the cabaret powerhouse's A STAR IS BORN, a marathon small stage interpretation of the Oscar-nominated film, at the Broadway supper club.

Originally a 1937 Technicolor film starring Janet Gaynor, the 1954 movie musical rewrite (penned by the great Moss Hart) with Judy Garland as Hollywood hopeful Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester is the stuff of dreams and grandeur, and is a whirlwind of a role for any triple threat of a leading lady.

And who better than Pope to do the honors this time around, a performer whose name has become synonymous with "triple threat" in her own one-woman shows?

A STAR IS BORN, staged by Pope and choreographed by Ben Cameron, is less of a Molly Pope cabaret show and more of a full-blown spectacle, a performance in the finest sense of the word. She isn't playing Garland (or Gaynor, or even Streisand, who starred in a 1976 remake, for that matter). It is A STAR IS BORN, starring Molly Pope, who packs the three-hour heartbreak drama into a third of the time slot and 150 percent of the energy.

Without a set, cast, or the backing of Warner Bros. to hide behind, what she does have is Beach and Bevins at her side, a tremendous film-ready band lead by musical director Brian Nash on piano (rounded out by Adam Neely on bass, Rob Mosher on tenor saxophone/clarinet/flute, and Jeremy Yaddaw on drums), and unmatched showmanship.

The film's most famous number, "The Man That Got Away," is Pope's early moment to shine. A defiant "Good riddance, goodbye!" as she tosses her music at the audience is quite right.

A condensed "Born in a Trunk Medley" starts with a vibrato-rich "Original Material" (Roger Edens/Leonard Gersh) and ends on the famous "Swanee" (George Gershwin/Irving Caesar), popularized by Al Jolson and as infectious as Pope herself. The meat in the middle is "I'll Get By" (Roy Turk/Fred E. Ahlert) and "You Took Advantage of Me" (Richard Rodgers/Lorenz Hart)- with Pope pushing through the crowd, then to running, then to dancing- a "Black Bottom" (Ray Henderson, B.G. DeSylva/Lew Brown) doused in the fabulous jazz clarinet of Mosher, "The Peanut Vendor" (Moises Simons/L. Wolfe Gilbert), and "My Melancholy Baby" (Ernie Burnett/George A. Norton). It's been shortened enough where it borders on a highlight reel feel, especially with its unwavering intensity. By the end, you need a cigarette.

But as the medley wraps, back are the dancers to remind you this is a show, singing "Here's What I'm Here For" as Pope fixes her hair in a hand mirror before taking back the mic. She never loses hold of the attention.

Pope, Beach, and Bevins are ever-engaging, charming, and funny throughout, using the whole stage (and room) to their advantage and breathing life back into rarely played and/or shown bits like "Trinidad Coconut Oil Shampoo Commercial" (which made it onto a restored version of the soundtrack later on thanks to Michael Feinstein).

With the energy the trio jam into the first half (pre-"Medley"--- there is no intermission) of the show, despite Pope's more-than-serviceable acting abilities, the back end loses some of its staying power with so little room to breathe (probably why the film is so damn long).

Still, a number like "Someone at Last" (Arlen/I. Gershwin) is worth the price of admission alone. Her voice---sometimes Garland, sometimes Merman---is at its finest, full of soul and captivating as always.

A Molly Pope show is an enticing experience, and never more so than with A STAR IS BORN, leaving you breathless, for better or for best. As Garland wasn't a replication of Gaynor and Streisand was not a replication of Garland, Pope is not a replication of any of her predecessors, stage or screen. Always bold, brash, and inventive, she is undoubtedly a star in her own right.

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Molly Pope returns to Feinstein's/54 Below in A STAR IS BORN on January 18. For tickets and information, visit www.54below.com.

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