BWW Reviews: TOMMY FEMIA and RICK SKYE Are Still Magically Campy as Judy and Liza at Don't Tell Mama

Any seasoned entertainment pro will tell you that the key to success on a stage is keeping your audience happy. It also helps to throw in a bevy of show-stopping songs, parodies, and raucous tongue-in-cheek laughter along the way. Those make up only a few of the ingredients offered in the ongoing Judy and Liza: Together Again show at Don't Tell Mama (now in its fourth year) starring Tommy Femia and Rick Skye.

These total cabaret pros, who are gleefully portraying the iconic mother and daughter legends, are artists who have each received acclaim from the press, peers and, above all, their audiences. And not many performers can boast over two decades of sold out runs. With Femia as "Judy" and Skye as "Liza," the audience travels on a campy, irreverent journey in time that fuses the late (slightly off-kilter) Garland, who is magically here today, and a befuddled Minnelli with both bouncing off the walls. It's all done with a wink of the eye and good-natured humor in this carnival of camp. Yes, it's campy. Yes, it's ridiculous. But the laughs are bountiful and it's never buffoonery. Femia and Skye take teasing jabs at their idols and can turn an eye roll into explosive laughter on a dime. When that laughter meter reaches a fever pitch, the walls practically explode. Add some wistful moments, sing a happy tune, and happy days are here again. (Read BWW's December 2014 interview with the two performers here.)

A recent visit to Don't Tell Mama on a Saturday night was like visiting some MGM set from the past or a disjointed Follies reunion (without the requisite pastiche.) But this duo is anything but fossils. Above all, their set echoes some jubilant variety show, the kind from the early days of television. Comparisons don't matter. What matters most with these cabaret mainstays is that they do their job. Their priority is to entertain (something often missing in some lauded cabaret acts today). They leave the audience wanting more. And isn't that what real entertainment is all about?

Femia and Skye are multi-MAC and Bistro Award winners for a plethora of solo and duo shows over the years. Femia, who has appeared in other acclaimed theatrical productions, recently hit his 20th year performing as Garland and even earned a major front-page feature in the New York Times. Skye, among his accolades, took the Edinburgh and Dublin Festivals and London by storm with his Minnelli shows (and earned raves for a hysterical run in Madame With An E and other showcases.) Today, in this fast paced whirlwind that takes more liberties than Monica Lewinsky, each performer give his all with a cyclopean force that pulls out all the stops. They and they show definitely over the top and that's just fine. One might be hard pressed to find two cabaret performers whose originality and savvy can reimagine an intimate boite into some colossal arena. But then, Garland and Minnelli have always been known for making magic. Welcome Tommy and Rick.

Throughout the spunky 75-minute funfest, they belt thunderous renditions of Garland and Minnelli staples from famous concerts, theater and television appearances. Multi award-winning cabaret performer/pianist Ricky Ritzel brilliantly accompanies the singers, easily tackling some demanding arrangements. Not enough can be said about Ritzel's extraordinary, hard working piano magic and occasional quips as Mort Lindsay/Pappy, who follows every innuendo and grand modulation with panache.

Femia opens the set as Garland belting a spirited "Hey, Look Me Over" in medley with "The Trolley Song." Looking remarkably like his muse, he clowns about Toto, the memorable dog from The Wizard Of Oz ("HE was really a girl! She slept with everyone--including Lassie and Rin Tin Tin," Femia cracks.) A tale about Judy on Fire Island stumbling into the notorious meat-rack is a laugh riot ("Funny, I didn't find any meat there!") Switching gears, he then sings the spitfire, sophisticated name-dropper, "Home Sweet Heaven" (from 1964's High Spirits based on Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit that starred Tammy Grimes.) Sung with gusto, this tongue twister as the song says . . . was a gas. Then, with a lot of fanfare (and volume), Liza/Rick enters from the rear greeting audience members along the way singing "Willkommen" (from Cabaret) and eventually landing on stage "gasping" for breath and gulping water. After some silly banter, Judy exits leaving Liza to even more silliness, replete with wild gestures. Skye offers a somewhat twisted Minnelli who is heavy on sass and camp (he even does some risky gyrating mounting a chair backwards on wheels singing "Mein Chair"). While Femia is (appropriately) more reserved, Skye, who has a strong voice, doesn't look exactly like Minnelli but mixes it all up with clever Fosse-esque choreography and a mad dose of flippancy. He does a terrific turn on Sondheim's Hey, Old Friend leading into a spirited "Don't Tell Mama." The latter was a serious highlight. At times, both feigned confusion but always remained respectful. Anything goes in this act. It's all in fun. Their chemistry simply works--even when they outshout each other.

And so it went. From songs, parodies and a lot of sidesplitting laughs along the way. The crowd loved it. Other high spots included Femia on a soaring "Old Man River," which Garland sang on her television show, and Skye's strong reading on "Maybe This Time." Both performers know how to connect with their audience even if they work a bit harder than necessary (occasionally slowing the pace might be nice in such a high energy show) and they know their territory well. Much of the humor and inside jokes is not so subtly directed at the mostly gay audience (who gets it all), and neither has a problem when the joke's on them. Their formula is simple; pull out all the stops and entertain like their alter egos. They season it all with the jokes and nostalgia. It's not always pristine and it isn't always polished to a high gloss. Bottom line: It was (and still is) a vaudevillian, song and dance act that recalls an era we'll never see again. Today, Minnelli, who has had health issues, is touted as the last of the vaudevillians and Garland, among other legendary milestones, played The Palace--once the home of vaudeville--three times.

Perhaps closing the show with the duet that Garland sang with a young Barbra Streisand in on her TV show in 1963, Happy Days Are Here Again/Get Happy, sums up what it's all about. With Tommy Femia and Rick Skye doing their thing, life is good and, for over an hour, the air is filled with hope and a sense of yes, we're gonna make it. You can't bottle that. Cabaret has a unique act that lingers when the curtain comes down on this fun-laden tribute mélange to two of the greatest. That's entertainment.

Judy and Liza: Together Again returns to Don't Tell Mama (343 West 46th Street) on Saturdays, May 9 and 16 at 8:00 pm. Reservations: (212) 757 0788

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