Review: TORI SCOTT Leaves It All on the Stage in JETLAGGED at Joe's Pub

There is a phenomenon that occurs at Joe's pub sometimes. Once in a while, you feel a little tremor underneath the seats while you're watching a show like you're experiencing a small earthquake. It's attributable to the 6 train that runs directly below The Public Theater on Lafayette Street. However last night, the tremor that was felt was completely due to the act onstage. Tori Scott was in complete command of the room, a room packed with fans there to celebrate her return to Joe's Pub after a 2-year absence. For ten years she has been making appearances at the downtown cabaret and has developed a sizeable following. If her show, Tori Scott: JETLAGGED is any indication, it's no wonder she has such devoted followers.

Ms. Scott recently made the move to London where she is one of the stars of the UK tour of The Cher Show. Her appearance at Joe's Pub comes in the middle of rehearsal for that tour. She was only in NYC for 46 hours, so the title of her show couldn't be more accurate. It was designed to catch everyone up on what's been going on with her while the world was locked down. Turns out, a lot. While Tori Scott is a powerhouse singer, it is her stories that are the main attraction of the evening. And does she have stories, most of them hysterical! Whether she's talking about witnessing the beauty in very public sex on a gay cruise, pondering the possibility of a paranormal connection at Greenlawn Cemetery, or discussing the details of moving to London with a cat who hates her singing voice, Ms. Scott knows how to spin a yarn.

The songs are woven into the tapestry of these life rants. She opened with a medley of tunes about survival including "I Drove All Night to Get to You," "I'm a Survivor,' "I Will Survive," I'm Still Standing," and "What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger." She dedicated "As If We Never Said Goodbye" to the aforementioned music-hating cat. Like a lot of performers, she said she didn't realize how much she missed singing (and the attention) until she was invited to sing for an audience of seven at a gay rooftop wedding. Gay men feature prominently and lovingly in most of Ms. Scott's stories. She describes the drug-like effect of the applause of those seven nuptial gays in "All Coming Back to Me."

She went on an extended story about the bane of all cabaret performers, self-promotion. Talking about having to distribute flyers all over Provincetown and Puerto Vallarta and Edinburgh, Scotland, and eventually on shipboard where she was performing aboard a gay cruise. This story was punctuated with wonderful performances of "Private Dancer," " I'm Crazy For You," and " I Am Dancing on My Own." The highlight of the evening was a sequence in which her lack of amorous attention during the pandemic led to a platonic but sensual experience with a gravedigger in Greenlawn Cemetery who may or may not have been one of the undead. Threaded into this story were hilarious takes on "Unchained Melody" and " Just One Look." The cap on the story was a truly rocked-out performance of Janis Joplin's "Stay With Me Baby."

The last section of the show dealt with the uncertainty of being at the beginning of a new and exciting chapter. She summed up the world-weary jetlag we all have coming out of this period of lockdown self-reflection with "Everybody's Changing and I Don't Feel the Same" which she combined with a bravura performance of Kander & Ebb's "And the World Goes Round" that brought the house down. We should all have fans like Tori Scott's. In a "leave-it-all-on-the-stage" encore, she encouraged those fans to follow their hearts more and question their choices less with the Queen Mother of power ballads, Aerosmith's "Dream On." There wasn't a person still seated by the end of the number.

Tori Scott was supported by some amazing musicians. Jesse Kissel provided nearly wall-to-wall arrangements and underscore. Ray Cetta on bass and Mike Luno on drums seemed to enjoy the show as much as the audience. All three were monstrously good. Tori Scott is a masterful storyteller and an accomplished and heartfelt singer. Although she now lives in London, I can't help but hope that her jetlag is frequently exacerbated by many trips home to perform in New York and Joe's Pub.

To learn more about Tori Scott, visit toriscott.com or follow her @ItsToriScott on Twitter or @itstoriscott on Instagram. For more great artists at Joe's Pub and The Public Theater, go to publictheater.org.

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