Review: Stephen DeAngelis Presents A BROADWAY FRIGHT NIGHT With Magic & Whimsy & 1 Or 2 Frights At The Green Room 42

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you all the T!

Monday night's BROADWAY FRIGHT NIGHT at The Green Room 42 presented a collection of Twighlight Zone meets Wizard Of Oz numbers performed by a fine group of young actor/singers and one FAB veteran. Curated and presented by Stephen DeAngelis, the evening was his Halloween treat to us denizens of the dark audience spaces of nightclubs, theatres, and more than a few bars. With his characteristic casual style, the snowy-haired and adorable Mr. D came to the stage between each number to give his players a proper build-up and intro and then just turned them loose with the gifted Eugene Gwozdz acting as their trapeze catcher on the keys. Gwozdz, in fact, kicked off the whole evening with his solo piano performance of the OVERTURE FROM PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. With his hands hovering low and close to the keyboard, they seemed to be on ice skates, gliding up and down the scales and arpeggios showing why DeAngelis has trusted him to music direct his celebrated AT THIS PERFORMANCE series since 2003. The hit list for the night went from Queens, New York to The Land Of OZ (A couple of times) and back to New York's Skid Row, bringing more heartfelt magic than frights or chills, but the thrills were there in the voices of the cast. One of those soaring highlights came in the voice of Justin Matthew Sargent, the SPIDERMAN/ROCK OF AGES cutie who showed he was born for the genre by rock screaming the title song from BAT OUT OF HELL as well as THE BOY FALLS FROM THE SKY, the SPIDERMAN: TURN OFF THE DARK opus that, while thrillingly performed by JMS, still convinces little Bobby that Spiderman should just turn the dark back on.

A beautiful surprise happened late in the program, when Attractive Amazonian American Idol Alum, Alyssa Wray, bewitched all in attendance with her volcanic NO GOOD DEED from WICKED. Eschewing the post IDOL pop life for her first love, The Theatre, it was gratifying to learn that Wray is putting down roots in NYC and intends to bring us her star power to be part of our community of players. After hearing the Elphaba anthem flow out of her like lava, scorching and thrilling everyone in the house, we wholeheartedly hope for the glowing future that her talents deserve. The best actress award for the night goes to Gina Milo, whose LITTLE SHOP's Audrey felt familiar while still being all her own, giving a performance so nuanced, layered, and affecting that one could palpably feel that she lived and breathed this role from her youth to the present day. With her SOMEWHERE THAT's GREEN and SUDDENLY SEYMORE - joined in the duet by the SKIVVIES adorable and talented Nick Cearley - sighs and sniffles could be heard throughout the house, even at the lone table of a certain rainbow obsessed cabaret reviewer (snif). Adding shades of light to the night with love songs were former TGR42 server Mia Pinero, whose lovely & lyrical soprano rendition of HOW COULD I EVER KNOW? From THE SECRET GARDEN made everyone certain that her waitress days are in the rearview mirror, and the lovely, youthful Pace University student, Zoe Constantinides, singing the heartfelt WITH YOU from GHOST in a voice filled with emotions (REAL ones!) demonstrated that a wonderful career could be ahead of her. She is already nicely mixing her belt and head voice giving both power and softness as her music demands and, as more and more audiences give her the approbation (what? Bobby knows words!) she deserves, she'll find all the goods to make it happen if she really wants it. Truth be told, everyone from the setlist gave pretty terrific performances in a very plain, straightforward talent showcase. The dimensions of the evening came out of these INDIVIDUALS giving their multidimensional performances singing their individual (or duet in 1 case) songs. On the whole, though, the evening itself never gained enough momentum to sweep the room up into a fully realized evening of theatre. While each performer ignited sparks and connected to the crowd - thankfully there was not a music stand, iPad, or cell phone with lyrics to be seen - the format and presentation did not catch fire or allow any palpable chemistry to develop singer to singer or cast to audience... UNTIL...

The end of the night brought a special treat in the form of Almira Gulch's biggest fan, Fred Barton. This alumnus of so many cabaret/theatre productions brought snippets of his legendary nightclub act MISS GULCH RETURNS, adding to the OZ of the evening and showing us that his brand of cabaret clownery will always give any program a lift. Barton, a real OZball (see what we did there?) accompanied himself with eccentric virtuosity on the keys, giving the repressed Wicked Witch alter-ego a chance to let her hair down with I'M A BITCH and POUR ME A MAN giving everyone the giggles and capping the show off so nicely that Bobby must give BROADWAY FRIGHT NIGHT a solid...

3 ½ Out Of 5 Rainbows

Stephen DeAngelis Keeps His Twitters: HERE

Ande Followe On Ye Olde FaceBooke: HERE

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick

To post a comment, you must register and login.