Cabaret Roundup: The World Isn't Fair and Woman Exposed

THE WORLD ISN'T FAIR

There's just something about Randy Newman songs. True, the music isn't as challenging as Sondheim, and the lyrics don't have the wit or panache of Porter, but the songs on the whole are just so... accessible. Comforting. Recognizable. Listener-friendly.

And fun. Let's not forget about fun. After all, a man who wrote a song satirically advocating discrimination against short people clearly has a sharp sense of humor, but as Page Sampson displays in her revue of Newman's work The World Isn't Fair, his repertoire extends far beyond animated Disney themes and wry commentaries on the quirks of human nature. With Ed Alstrom accompanying both on piano and in singing, Ms. Sampson explores a wide variety of subjects and emotions in Newman's songbook.

Combining such standards as the sassy "You Can Leave Your Hat On" and the unabashedly romantic "Feels Like Home" with some lesser-known studies in irony like "Political Science," "The Great Nations of Europe," "Naked Man," the titular song and, of course, the classic "Short People", the evening is a study in many emotions, from angst to love to friendship and, frequently, back to angst. Ms. Sampson clearly has great respect for Newman's work, and brings out many nuances beyond the obvious cynicism and optimism in his songs. Performing with sass, flair and a sweet, smoky voice, Ms. Sampson gives us a new way to hear these songs, putting the emotion front and center.

Presented at The Encore, a lovely new piano bar/cabaret space in the heart of the theatre district on 47^th Street, the evening can be musical comfort food for many kinds of people: movie fans will recognize his scores for films, theatre fans can appreciate his narrative songs and the excerpts from Mr. Newman's musical Faust, and the stressed-out businesspeople can relax and get a kick out of the charming music performed by this most charming singer.

 

WOMAN EXPOSED

As we left Woman Exposed, a collection of "musical photographs" of women that recently ended its run at the Duplex, my friend commented that the show's biggest problem might be the two drink minimum. "If it were an eight drink minimum," he said, "the show could be much more enjoyable." He's probably on to something, but this cabaret's problems are a bit deeper than that.

Consisting of original "musical photographs" (don't call them mere songs!) by Kathy King Wouk, Woman Exposed is really a display of pretentiousness. The lyrics are weak and badly rhymed, and the subject matter of nine of the twelve songs musical photographs is romance. Granted, the subtitle of the show is "Musical Photographs of Love and Desire," and while love is an important part of anyone's life, and while love songs musical photographs are nice to hear, it would be nice to have a bit more variety. When truly exposed, there is much more to a woman's life than just romance and desire. In fact, perhaps the term "musical photograph" is particularly apt for this cabaret: songs can have many dimensions, but photographs have only two.

The worst offender is a song (forgive me, but one should really call a spade a bloody shovel!) based on the true story Chabannes, a small French town that hid more than 400 Jewish children from 1939 to 1942. This could be, in theory, good, emotional material for a good, emotional song. In theory, anyway. Apparently, Ms. Wouk speaks French. She works it into other songs, but never so intrusively as in this little ditty. After a whole verse in French that does nothing to further the point of the story or to intensify the emotion, and only helps the song sound more pretentious than it already is, one woman smiles a beatific smile, looks heavenward, and says, "Merci, Chabannes!" For an encore, Ms. Wouk joins her singers, and repeats the line herself. The bright, upbeat, and optimistic song does not exactly gel with the story of children being taken away to their deaths despite the best efforts of the people who tried to save them, and the little coda at the end just made it all the more pretentious and offensive.

There are some good aspects of Woman Exposed, and their names are Lisa Asher, Allison Briner, and Barbara Brussell. These three singers, blessed with gorgeous voices and powerful stage presence, find emotion where it doesn't exist in the lyrics, and make the banal songs much more effective than they would be otherwise. If they can accomplish that much with such mediocre material, I am only too eager to see what they can do with good songs.

While it is wonderful (and necessary) to have cabarets that present original music by women, about women, and sung by women, it is equally necessary to have complete pictures of the people represented. These "photographs" are, ultimately, just flat.

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