Review: Natalie Walker Celebrates Life, Artistic Expression, and Originality in MAD SCENES At 54 Below

The world of words has become rote. Superlatives flow within general conversation as rainwater off of leaves until compliments are converted to casual and praise passes for prattle. Television talent show judges assure contestants that the audience sees no more than once that they are stars, and talk show hosts bestow every guest with descriptives like 'genius' and 'brilliant' and 'legend.' We have become the society of participation trophies, toothless, spineless, banal and benign, thus rendering recognition of true excellence difficult to acknowledge, for, with these words like genius, brilliant, legend and star misused in the act of describing the normal, the everyday, and the mediocre, those magnificent, spectacular and special people of every profession have less validation when these words are applied to them and to their work.

Natalie Walker is just such a woman - an artist whose gifts may go unrecognized by some, overshadowed by the overuse of one little word: genius.

In her premiere solo show, MAD SCENES, Natalie Walker showed last night's completely sold-out and completely enraptured crowd that, no matter how extreme her rapport with the friends with whom she usually appears, she need ride nobody's coattails. Natalie Walker and her talent stand on their own, in every possible way. For one hour and eight minutes (due to COVID timing restrictions, an encore had to be, heartbreakingly, jettisoned) Ms. Walker put on a show that she, repeatedly, referred to as her "cabaret" and she wasn't just whistling Dixie when she said it. Some artists call their show an "act" or a "concert" or a "club act" or a "show" - all valid and valuable monikers for what takes place on the stages of small venues - but Mad Scenes is a cabaret show, in every sense of the word. Like an amalgam of Gilda Radner, Lily Tomlin, Madeline Kahn, and Liza Minnelli, Natalie Walker burst into the basement like a tropical storm of talent, energy, and absolute originality, running through the audience in her manic and fully-Kate-Bush-informed "Wuthering Heights" in an act of defiance, decrying all that is commonplace, and though the program had highs and lows in its arc, that energy with which she started the evening never waned. Natalie Walker has one speed - go - and like the Ruby Slippers, there she was and there she stayed.

Rooted in originality, both Mad Scenes and Ms. Walker pay homage to the exceptional things in life: great performing art created by great performing artists, open expression of emotions felt in the past and felt in this moment, the permission to be oneself, if one dares to do so, and the foundation that comes with training. Melding her voice to match, perfectly, each woman being created before the very eyes of an adoring throng, Walker presented a series of musical one-acts that required no commentary, making the moments in which Natalie provided frame of reference all the more meaningful, and this was meaningful communication at its most vulnerable. Like an open, raw nerve, Natalie divulged intimate details about herself and her life that enriched a musical journey that included the likes of Little Edie, Helen Lawson, Sally Bowles, and the Real Housewives of New York. Yet, with each of these characters, Natalie Walker was never less present than when, at the show's start, she said, "Can I talk to you?" Heavens, yes, Natalie Walker, please talk to us. Please - underlined, bolded, and italicized - talk to us.

Throughout this most thrilling and (here it comes) genius night of revelry, a night filled with magnificent, magical moments, it cannot go unsaid that the most shockingly gutsy moves were Natalie's three-aria operatic representation of The Housewives, and an inhabitation of Judy Garland's "By Myself" that made Judy and Natalie into one unfathomable, unbeatable, and unshakable singing actress whose performance bested every other person ever to attempt it. With the Garland number near the start of the show and the mini-opera near the end, the bookends created by control and excess provided perfected theatrical arc, considered and considerate, and created with the audience experience firmly at the forefront of an artistic mind. Though touted as Natalie Walker's debut show, Mad Scenes belies her status as a solo artist; all these years Miss Natalie was just biding her time and waiting for le moment juste to unleash the full power of her artistry onto the world, allowing all that lives within her to mellow to the right vintage.

Well, Natalie Walker is ready. Every single person in the room at Feinstein's last night had visible and audible proof. And today, every one of those people is using the word 'genius' in a conversation with somebody... only this time the word is being used in the right context.

The marvelous Mad Scenes band was Musical Director Dan Garmon, Michelle Osbourne, Tom Jorgensen, Matt SanGiovanni.

Natalie Walker MAD SCENES was a one-off that deserves a full of shows. Please follow the schedule at Feinstein's/54 Below HERE for updates on future performances and to find other great shows.

Natalie Walker's social media can be found at these links:

Twitter HERE

Instagram HERE

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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