Review: NORM LEWIS: NAUGHTY AND NICE Defines Christmas Spirit at 54 Below
By: Stephen Mosher Dec. 19, 2019
It's the biggest party of the year. Everyone who has been, waits for it. People plan for it for eleven months. Nobody has any intention of missing it. It is the celebration of the season.
The Norm Lewis Christmas show at 54 Below.
"I'm going to be here for all six shows!" exclaimed Claire, a 54 Below regular with whom this writer has become friends during our many mutual visits to the club. Claire and her husband were seated at the table adjacent to ours and throughout the evening could be seen clutching her heart and swooning.
"My friend double booked herself but swore she would get here before Norm starts," declared Jodi, one of the two women sharing our table who NEVER miss this show. Their smiles illuminated the room for the entire show.
The attitude of these three women was echoed by each and every person at last night's sold out performance of Norm Lewis: NAUGHTY AND NICE. When people talk about holiday spirit, when folks sing Joy to the World, when you hear about Christmas cheer, these yearly performances by Norm Lewis embody, to perfection, that mood and mindset. For ninety minutes, the guests at Mr. Lewis' show are the happiest people in New York City and, one suspects, for hours, even days, thereafter. Norm Lewis is Santa Claus, The Ghost of Christmas Present and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer all rolled into one unspeakably handsome powerhouse performer, and he is bringing the spirit of the season and spreading it across the land.
Norm Lewis: Naughty and Nice is in its fifth year and if there is any justice at all, the show will continue to play every holiday season until Norm Lewis is ready to hang up his Santa hat. There is a reason for the popularity of the show and it begins with the epicenter of the happening. There is no way to look at Norm Lewis, to listen to him talk or sing, and not be drawn in by his inimitable magic. The unbridled jubilation he exudes during his time with his fans is infectious. To be fair, many of the guests at his show are people he knows in real life, but a performers' friends and family should be their biggest fans anyway, and looking into a crowded room while singing everything from "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" to "Who Would Imagine a King" and seeing your families biological and logical would have to create a spark of joy. Not a spark of joy does one see from Mr. Lewis, but an eruption, as he playfully chats from the stage with friends and strangers, discussing their birthdays, their place of residence, movies they love, holiday habits, and the universal syndrome of the Youtube Watch Hole. There is clearly a script from which Lewis is working because Naughty and Nice has a definite path, a structure created to take the audience on a journey throughout the evening, into their night and possibly into their lives. Where Mr. Lewis is fortunate is in his innate instinct as a host - that way he is not tied to his script and can roll with the energy of the evening, the reaction of the audience, and the journey that fate wants everyone to be on in the moment. Many times during last night's performance Mr. Lewis took that script and threw it out the window because something more important was happening - a human connection between he and one of his guests. Speaking extemporaneously from the stage, Lewis exhibits a razor-sharp wit, an ability to think on his feet, and a genuine interest in making a connection with each and every person into whose eyes he looked. Those spontaneous moments with the crowd go a long way toward making an extraordinary night of entertainment extra special. From start to finish, the whole thing feels like one of those old Christmas specials where the star welcomes you into their home, like The Judy Garland Christmas Show - only here, you really ARE in his home! Because Norm truly believes that home is where the heart is, and when he is on that stage sharing his love of the holiday season with the people who adore him, he is home.
Everybody has a Norm Lewis moment, that first time they saw him, the indelible memory of when they fell. Maybe it was Side Show, perchance it was Les Mis, possibly Porgy and Bess; whatever the individual juncture at which a person has taken Norm Lewis into their heart, that moment travels with them into the room, informing their reaction to his every whim. Few stars are as universally beloved as Norm Lewis and he has earned that devotion through masterfully studied craftsmanship and performances as an artist and benevolent generosity of spirit as a man. Naughty and Nice is the intersection where those two qualities meet and meld, completely. Whether playfully pouting during a Christmas Blues song or delving into the deepest place of his soul for "I Wonder As I Wander" Mr. Lewis accomplishes the impossible: he brings a bona fide story to the Christmas songs he sings, songs that have been sung so many times, in so many choirs, on so many cds, that they have lost their teeth, their meaning, and their story. No such thing is possible when these songs are in Norm's hands, for this is one true gentle giant, and one who feels everything, unabashedly, then expresses it all for the benefit of his Christmas guests, left spent from all the emotion, and they aren't even the ones doing the singing!
Lewis is doing all the heavy lifting at Naughty and Nice, but it is easy to do legs at the gym when you have a great team of trainers working with you. With George Farmer on bass and Parry Cavari on percussion, Norm Lewis can relax and focus on form while his musical director and arranger Joseph Joubert spots him at every turn, making sure he gets back on track when distracted, and seeing to it he feels safe in the music so as to lose himself in the emotions of a Hal Prince-dedicated "Music of the Night" that left a room full of cynical New Yorkers in tears, or a little Marvin Gaye to get some grown up booties swaying in their seats. The show has a set list and a mission statement designed to melt even the iciest Grinch heart, and it cannot be denied that Mr. Lewis' artistic pairing with diva and divO director of the ages, Richard Jay-Alexander, is an essential element to the longevity and quality of the hallowed holiday tradition. Richard Jay-Alexander (RJA for economy of space, with respect to the gentleman) steers Mr. Lewis into only the most honest and accessible areas of the human heart, and nothing but the most showy styles of entertainment flair. RJA has helped Lewis to chose a list of songs that goes beyond just Christmas music into an all-encompassing emotional experience for the viewer. Not a Christmas song, but one fit for the occasion, is "Home" from The Wiz, possibly the heartbeat of the evening. Not a Christmas song, but a Christmas gift to the audience, is "Trouble (Right Here in River City)" from The Music Man, a show many would move the earth to see Norm in, but few have. Like little gifts hidden around the house on Christmas morning, Lewis and RJA have created a musical maze through which to lead the audience at a sometimes leisurely, sometimes breakneck pace, in the thrill-a-minute show that really should be seen by everyone, whatever their religious or holiday affiliation.
Like stocking stuffers or holiday SWAG, Norm Lewis has invited his friends to join him on stage, because what's a party without friends? Opening night guests Sierra Boggess, Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick excited the patrons, and on the second night Santa Lewis gave the crowd Spin Doctors lead singer Chris Barron, who gave out a little humor with his brand new traditional Christmas Carol called "Kringle Times." Future shows will find Jessica Vosk, Joshua Henry, Kevin McIntyre, Bobby Lewis, Alexis Hightower, Ryan Vona and Richard Jay-Alexander himself sharing the stage with Norm, making for a seriously festive holiday season for those lucky enough to have scored tickets to the festival of glad tidings.
All the holiday trappings, all the guest artists, all the giving away of gifts to random audience members, all the decorations, - they could be stripped off the stage and the throng of fans would still be there for this show, because when sweet, kind, urbane Norm Lewis opens, rather like his arms, his heart and voice box of gold and sings a song, any song at all, emotional eyes to the heavens, brilliant smile beaming, eloquent hands caressing the air, the gift that is exchanged is a gift of love: love for the music, love for the meaning, love for the multitudes.
And that, as Norm Lewis clearly knows, is the greatest gift (Christmas or otherwise) of all.
Norm Lewis: Naughty and Nice plays Feinstein's/54 Below on December 19, 20, 21, 22 at 7 pm. For information and tickets please visit the 54 Below Website
Find Norm Lewis online at his Website
Photos by Stephen Mosher
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