BWW Reviews: Gregory Nalbone Charms with Uneven THE SOUNDS OF MY HEART

Having appeared on many of New York City's cabaret stages, Gregory Nalbone returned to the Metropolitan Room with The Sounds of My Heart. Directed by Lennie Watts and music direction by Kenneth Gartman, this cabaret showcases Nalbone's baritone register and Pop-Broadway instrument and allows him to bare his soul as he sings some of his and our favorite tunes.

The Metropolitan Room's extremely intimate layout is a little unforgiving, which only highlighted the issues with Nalbone's performance on Wednesday evening. While often charming and devilishly good-looking, Nalbone appears to be overacting when sharing anecdotes from his life and as he sings. Also, as he sings he rarely makes eye contact with the audience. Instead, he looks straight forward or even tilts his sparkling gaze upwards, which gives him the appearance of signing to an invisible mezzanine or to the room's newly installed camera system. Lastly, he often goes sharp when singing the "long e" ( /i?/), and by the end of his show his voice sounds fatigued from not pushing from his diaphragm as much as he probably should. Despite these quirks, he performs with a tangible pizzazz that truly lets the audience ruminate in his sultry tones and get lost in the sensuality of his instrument.

Singing a mix of pop and theatre songs, his set list is a whimsical assortment of crowd pleasers. Playing on the stereotypes of the narcissistic gay male, he blows the audience away with a hilarious rendition of "My Fortune is My Face" (Jule Styne; Betty Comden and Adolph Green). With a coy smile, effective wit, and sexy vocals, he made "I Never Do Anything Twice" (Stephen Sondheim) a delight. Taking on "Goody Goody" (Johnny Mercer and Matt Malneck), he put a lot of bite and sass in the 30s era pop classic and crafted a captivating character number. His subdued rendition of "Beautiful Goodbye" (Christopher Ward and David Tyson) was sung with nice subtlety and heart from the crook of the piano. Breaking into a country accent, he made "Every Time a Friend Succeeds" (Amanda Green) a wonderfully comedic moment in his show. His sweetly crooned "I'll Imagine You a Song" (Steven Lutvak; Carol Hall), dedicated to the memory of his mother, was sung with undeniable heart.

The band does an excellent job breathing life into the music. Leading the band from the piano, Kenneth Gartman plays the keys with passion and excellence. He even adds in his own vocals for support on a few numbers. Dan Fabricatore keeps the music rhythmically interesting on the bass. Donna Kelly adds flourish and panache on the drums.

With such evocative and well known songs making up the set list, I found myself wondering why Watts didn't direct the show to have a tighter book. Unfortunately, it is not always clear how certain songs fit the narrative that Nalbone is crafting, allowing the concert to sound as if it should be called "Songs from My Audition Book." Likewise, it is not always clear if the show is trying to simply stand as a way for Nalbone to sing his favorite tunes or if he is aiming at doing something more profound and deep with the performance. Is he wanting to have fun skewering gay stereotypes that he is guilty of playing into or is he wanting to explore how music kept him grounded through struggling to accept his sexuality as an adolescent and the loss of his mother? Either could make for a particularly interesting or even powerful showcase if the direction allowed the show to be more focused.

As it stands, Nalbone's The Sounds of my Heart is pure entertainment and makes for a fun evening in the city. Personally, I'd like to challenge both Watts and Nalbone to take it to the next level and make it a radiant cabaret that will light a fire in the hearts and souls of each audience member. You can catch the encore performance of the show on Saturday, July 18, 2015 at 9:30 PM at Manhattan's Metropolitan Room (34 West 22nd Street, 10010). For tickets and more information, please visit http://metropolitanroom.com or call (212) 206-0440.

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