CABARET LIFE NYC: Better Late Than Never Reviews - 10 Shows of a Cabaret Summer

Cabaret Reviews and Commentary By Stephen Hanks

So many cabaret shows, so little time . . . to write reviews that is. During my almost two years as a cabaret reviewer, I've managed to do a pretty good job of writing critiques during a show's run or soon after the run ended. But this summer I just couldn't keep up. So what is a responsible cabaret reviewer to do? What else? Have someone lock him up in an office with a computer and no cocktails and with the proviso that he not be allowed to come up for air until all the cabaret show reviews are written and accounted for. So a few days and fewer pounds later, here are observations on 10 performances that were seen since right after the Republicans finally decided on a Presidential candidate. I promise I will write another review before the election, especially if Barack Obama gets booked in 54 Below.

Lennie Watts, Metropolitan Room, June 6:
Bleeding Talent During High-Voltage Run

So it's only mid-August and I haven't seen every cabaret show by a male performer this year, but if you vodka-boarded me and forced me to reveal my MAC vote for Best Male Artist of 2012, I'd mumble the name of Lennie Watts.

The MAC Board President's four-show run of Bloody Bloody Lennie Watts this past June was positively charged, electric, high-voltage, and any other word-plays you can make on his last name. With the help of his musical director/pianist/ co-arranger Steven Ray Watkins, this reincarnation of Stubby Kaye but who sounds like a Motown-soul or Nashville-country singer, and possesses a stand-up comic's sense of humor, put on a clinic in the art of interpreting songs of every genre. His superb arrangements with Watkins made you hear some classics tunes in a new light.

Janet Jackson's pop/dance hit "Control" was re-imagined as R&B, Sting's "Brand New Day" sounded like it was from a Stevie Wonder album, the Beatles' "Help" (in a mash up with Queen's "Somebody to Love') became a gospel hymn, "Tomorrow" from the musical Annie and "Circle of Life" from The Lion King were delivered as soulful, minimalist ballads, and even Rodgers & Hammerstein's "My Favorite Things" was transformed into a hard rocker about addictions.

Early in the show, Watts broke up the room with his rendition of the Avenue Q song, "Schadenfruede." Sorry you other male cabaret singers-when they give out the MAC awards next March, that's one emotion you won't be feeling toward Lennie Watts.

Elaine St. George, Metropolitan Room, June 7:
Take on Joni Mitchell is Solid Yet Flawed

You have to give Elaine St. George credit for being fearless. Three months after Lauren Fox won a 2012 MAC Award for Best Female Debut for her show featuring the songs of Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, the veteran cabaret performer staged her own Joni Mitchell show for four nights in June. St. George's Take Me As I Am was billed as a witty and opinionated look at Mitchell on relationships (some songs were written by Mitchell's lovers Graham Nash and James Taylor), and St. George wasted no time displaying her own sense of humor. "I think a cabaret show is like a cocktail party," St. George said after opening the show with a bluegrassy vibe on "Big Yellow Taxi." "Actually, it's the best kind of cocktail party because all the attention is on me." (Please click Page 2 to continue this review and to read eight more reviews.)

St. George's stage presence and the show's structure were strong enough to keep your attention, but her interpretations of classic Mitchell songs came across as a tad one note. She displayed her lovely soprano on the ballads "Cactus Tree" and "The Hissing of Summer Lawns," but on "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight," "Both Sides Now," and "Help Me," there was a disconnect between the solid band arrangements (Ross Patterson on piano, Adam Armstrong on bass, and especially Karen Waltuch on viola, were excellent throughout) and the vocals, which lacked edges or colors. St. George is a cabaret pro who may be fearless, but this show wasn't the best fit for her voice and style.  

Terese Genecco with Sean Harkness, Arts Project of Cherry Grove, June 16:
Deftly Deconstructing "The King"

If you love Terese Genecco when she's channeling the members of the Rat Pack, Mel Torme, Francis Faye and Marilyn Maye, you haven't lived until you've seen her deconstruct Elvis.

A few years ago, as part of cabaret director/performer Lennie Watts' Under The Covers series, Genecco and guitarist Sean Harkness built a show around new interpretations of tracks (in the order they appear on the album) from Elvis '56, the King's first studio disc. This year, on LGBT Pride Day and Father's Day eve, Genecco and Harkness brought the show to The Arts of Project of Cherry Grove on Fire Island, and dazzled an audience of locals, tourists, and Homecoming Queen Robin Kradles.

Genecco took the stage wrapped in a white jeweled Elvis-like jacket, and then it was off to the interpretive races. Within a show peppered with Elvis factoids, she delivered "Blue Suede Shoes" as a smoky ballad, "Tutti Frutti" as a slow jazz duet with Harkness, and did a terrific mash up of the country ballad, "I Love You Because" with the country rocker "Just Because." Harkness really excelled on "Blue Moon" (which Genecco striped down to a tone poem), a jazzy guitar solo on "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You," and on "Heartbreak Hotel," which the duo turned into a emotional dirge. They may have cheated by doing a "Viva Las Vegas" finale-it wasn't part of the album-but by that point the audience was having so much fun nobody cared. Hey, it's Fire Island!

Lori Lieberman, Joe's Pub, July 15:
Killing Us Softly With Her Songs

In 1971, young singer/songwriter Lori Lieberman was at the Troubadour in Los Angeles and heard Don McLean sing his haunting ballad "Empty Chairs." Lieberman was inspired and with the help of composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, she recorded "Killing Me Softly with His Song," which ultimately became a hit for Roberta Flack. As a Don McLean fan since he burst onto the scene with "American Pie" in 1971, I had long wanted to hear Lieberman in concert and more than 40 years after her psychic connection with McLean, I finally got the chance. It was well worth the wait.

Combining touches of McLean, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez to deliver original songs with introspective and heartfelt lyrics, Lieberman's intimate and folksy style charmed the Joe's Pub audience. She opened with her latest single "Rise," a call-to-action, 1960s-like folk number that could be the theme song for the Occupy Wall Street movement. "I refuse to write anything these days that doesn't impart wisdom," she announced with a smile. Other highlights included "Bend Like Steel," the title of her latest CD, "Cup of Girl," a cautionary tale for young singers, and a wonderful cover of Paul Simon's "Cecilia," where she put down her guitar to play the piano and transformed the bouncy Simon and Garfunkel version into a beautifully plaintive ballad. By the time she strummed the first few chords of "Empty Chairs" as a lead-in to "Killing Me Softly," I had already been slayed . . . and happily so.

Karen Oberlin, Feinstein's, July 25:
This Dame Not Quite Daring Enough

For the start of her latest five-show Feinstein's run, I'll Be Hard to Handle: Songs of Daring Dames, the adorable Doris Day-clone Karen Oberlin went against type, entering the room looking saucy and acting sassy, with her blonde hair flowing under a black fedora, and wearing a black tuxedo jacket and black hot pants that showed off her lovely legs. As she ambled though the audience, she sang Bacharach and David's "Wives and Lovers" like a female thug out of Guys and Dolls. The number screamed dangerous fun, but unfortunately it promised much more than her show ultimately delivered.

In what was an uneven performance there were some fine individual moments. Known for her "Great American Songbook" chops, Oberlin proved surprisingly strong on a mash-up of "Stupid Girls" and "18 Wheeler," both co-written and sung by Alecia Beth Moore, better known as the rocker "Pink." Oberlin later turned the 1963 Leslie Gore hit "You Don't Own Me" into a jazzy, smoky declaration of independence, and she seductively mounted the piano before taking on Blossom Dearie's "Blossom Blues." But there were a number of lyric hiccups throughout the show, a 13-song "Blues Mama's" medley was a meandering mess, there was a disconnect in her curiously evoking Mae West quotes before launching into a Loretta Lynn medley (although the Lynn songs about childbirth, "One's On the Way," and avoiding childbirth, "The Pill," were very well-delivered), and halfway through the show Oberlin decided to do an on-stage handstand. Too bad she wasn't wearing a skirt instead of the hot pants. Now that would have been daring.

Colleen McHugh, The Duplex, July 26: The Strings of MY Heart Went "Zing!"

Somewhere in cabaret land,
At Du-plex,
There's some-one I heard singing,
Won't make you ask for checks.
Somewhere in cabaret land,
There's Mc-Hugh,
She's a dream girl performer,
Judy would love her, too.

As a reviewer relatively new to the cabaret scene, I sometimes find myself wishing upon a star that a performer I haven't yet heard will melt my troubles like lemon drops and send me over the rainbow. When I saw Colleen McHugh and her show Songs of Judy Garland, I knew my wish had been granted. McHugh's no Garland impressionist ("I don't have the right equipment to be a Judy impersonator," she jokes), possessing an endearing vocal quality reminiscent of a 1940s big band singer. When you add a confident stage presence and her fabulous sense of humor, McHugh equals the total cabaret package.

The strings of my heart went "Zing!" right from her opener, and with pianist Jody Shelton's terrific arrangements, McHugh conquered 14 Garland classics. She effectively speeded up the usually torchy "You Go to My Head," and her sultry take on Harold Arlen's "Paris Is a Lovely Town," could have made it a song in a recent Woody Allen film. She also nailed Arlen's challenging ballad "The Man That Got Away," and the Barbra Streisand role when she and Shelton re-created the famous "Happy Days Are Hear Again"/"Get Happy" duet from Garland's 1963 TV show. By the time she finished her lovely acapella version of "Over the Rainbow," I was flying like a happy little bluebird.

Darren Williams, Iridium Jazz Club, July 26:
Bringing Peter Allen Back to Life

In 1964 in Hong Kong, Judy Garland was totally charmed by an Australian performing duo, one of whom was named Peter Allen. The superstar took the young Aussie so much under her wing that he ultimately married her daughter Liza Minnelli. So what are the odds that on the same New York night in July this reviewer would see cabaret tribute shows to Garland (Colleen McHugh) and Allen (Darren Williams)? Only in New York.

As a huge Peter Allen fan for almost 40 years, I never miss a chance to catch Australian native Williams perform "Not the Boy Next Door," his wonderful homage to the late, great singer/songwriter. After doing the show at various New York venues over the past few years, Williams recently staged two solid sets at the Iridium. Looking positively Peter-like in a white tuxedo jacket with black lapels, the handsome, personable Williams aced more than 20 numbers in the Allen songbook, including the achingly tender "I'd Rather Leave While I'm in Love," the buoyant  "Everything Old is New Again," and the raucous, samba-infused "I Go to Rio."

Williams revealed both his sense of humor and cut upper body when he made his man breasts jump on "Knockers," from Allen's failed Broadway musical Legs Diamond. Another highlight was a "covers" section, featuring Allen songs that were hits for other singers, including "Don't Cry Out Loud" (Melissa Manchester), "You and Me" (Frank Sinatra), and "I Honestly Love You" (Olivia Newton-John). And I honestly love Peter Allen-and Darren Williams.

Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, Sofia's, July 31:
Richard Halpern Shines as Mr. Tin Pan Alley

Anyone who wants to bathe in nostalgia and experience the jazzy and swinging big band sound of the 1920s and '30s should spend a Monday or Tuesday evening at Sofia's at the Edison Hotel with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. On Tuesday the 31^st, the 'Hawks were in especially fine form, seducing the audience to get up and boogie to numbers written by swing icons such as Duke Ellington, Red Nichols, Bix Beiderbecke, even Irving Berlin, and songs made famous by Sophie Tucker, Al Jolson, and Betty Boop.

For each set of the three-set show, Giordano and his superb 11-piece retro band shared the stage with guest vocalist Richard Halpern (photo), a Los Angeles entertainer who bills himself as "Mr. Tin Pan Alley" and regularly performs at events sponsored by the International Al Jolson Society. But while Halpern can sing almost everything in the Jolson songbook (especially the novelty songs from Jolson's early Broadway days in the 1920s), he's more like an Eddie Cantor clone, rolling both his eyes and song syllables, and bouncing around the stage staccato-style like a vintage Cantor. In set one, Halpern was charming on two early 1930s songs popularized by Baby Rose Marie (later in the cast of the Dick Van Dyke TV show), and with the Nighthawks providing a full band arrangement, Halpern nailed George Gershwin's "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise." To experience a big band musical paradise, take the stairway down to Sofia's and it'll put a spring in your step every day.

The Concerts for City Greens, August 2:
Neil Sedaka Guest Stars in Touching Career Tribute

Neil Sedaka was beaming and who could blame him. With more than 300 people packing an intimate outdoor space at Manhattan's Tudor City, some of cabaret's most talented singers and musicians honored the pop songwriting legend, performing some of his timeless hits at the most recent Concerts for City Greens hosted by MAC Award-winner Raissa Katona Bennett.

Carole Demas, the original Sandy in Grease, launched the tribute with the 1960 Connie Francis hit "Where the Boys Are." The superb vocal group Marquee 5 rocked on a medley of "Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen"/"Oh, Carol"/"Calendar Girl," and later harmonized beautifully on a stirring "Solitaire." Bennett offered a lovely rendition of "The Hungry Years," and later returned with Marquee 5 for a joyous "Love Will Keep Us Together." Guitarist Sean Harkness brought the audience in as backup singers on "Bad Blood," before Jim Van Slyke, who has performed a critically-acclaimed Neil Sedaka tribute show, delivered spot-on versions of his idol's songs "The Immigrant" and a medley of "Pray for Rain"/"Laughter in the Rain." Van Slyke then played piano for Terese Genecco on "Brighton," Sedaka's tribute to his Brooklyn neighborhood roots.

But the 73-year-old honoree was the show's highlight, sounding ageless on his solid new ballad "Beginning to Breathe Again." After hearing his poignant duet with niece Holly Grossman (soon making her Broadway debut in Rebecca) on "I Should Have Never Let You Go," and his youthful vigor on the up-tempo "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do," seeing this show end was definitely hard to do.  

Sean Harkness, Met Room, August 2:
Karen Akers and Len Cariou Wonderfully Unplugged

No sooner had the latest Concert for City Greens ended than the ubiquitous guitarist Sean Harkness-who plays more shows than you can shake a pick at- was on stage at the Metropolitan Room for the fourth installment of his new first-Thursday-of-the-month cabaret series, Duos, during which two of Sean's musical compatriots join him on stage separately for some dynamic duosity.

This was the first show where both guests were strictly singers and Sean scrounged a couple of doozies-Broadway musical stars Karen Akers and Len Cariou. The lean and lovely Akers began with the languid ballad "Stars Fell on Alabama." When she then dropped a lyric on "Windmills of Your Mind," the silver-haired Harkness playEd White knight, admitting he had earlier muffed some lines on Neil Sedaka's "Bad Blood" at the Tudor City show. Akers recovered nicely, offering the rest of "Windmills" in French, before a beautiful rendition of Stephen Sondheim's "Water Under the Bridge" from the unproduced 1992 film musical Singing Out Loud. "This is my first duet with a guitar player," Akers admitted, "and Sean plays like Sondheim on guitar." Indeed.

Len Cariou then revealed being booked for three November concerts at the new 54 Below nightclub and tried out some of his potential set list. With Harkness' support, the spry septuagenarian was stirring on Cy Coleman's "The Best is Yet to Come" and "It Amazes Me." Akers then joined Cariou and Harkness for a sensual "Summertime" finale that made you feel you didn't want this show-or the summer-to end.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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