Review: 54 Below Audience Says Yes to NO... MAYBE... WHY NOT by John-Andrew Morrison

It is appropriate that John-Andrew Morrison's rhinestone-studded Corey Tut flight suit was designed with a hand-painted human heart covering one half of the garment because if there is anything that the Tony Award-nominated actor represented for the entirety of NO... MAYBE... WHY NOT: AN EVENING WITH John-Andrew Morrison, it is definitely heart. The evening, billed as Mr. Morrison's 54 Below solo show debut, did not feel like a first outing; indeed, it seemed like John-Andrew had been doing this work his entire life. Well, he has started, now, and needs to never stop. Ever.

No... Maybe... (abbreviated) played Broadway's Living Room for two nights (including a live stream) on February 3rd and 4th, and even though it can be easy, sometimes preferable, sometimes more comfortable for artists working in cabaret and concert to make a set list and go out on the stage and simply sing the songs they like to sing, that was not what JAM (as John-Andrew is known around town and the biz) had in mind. To that end, after his rousing opening number "Live Until I Die" JAM had a brief little chat with the audience, an audience he would spend the next seventy-five minutes connecting to completely, something that can be difficult when there is seating on three sides of a club - but he did it, with a vengeance. In that chat with the adoring crowd, JAM invited them to "Take my hand and take this journey with me" and a journey, it was.

Using music from Broadway (a little), Hollywood (a little less) and the radio (a lot) John-Andrew explored love and relationships... love and relationships with others, love and relationships with art, and love and relationships with oneself. There were regular recitations of poetry, throughout, to serve as connective tissue in the storytelling, and John-Andrew Morrison did not hold back in any way, at any moment in the proceedings. Poetry can be difficult but John-Andrew Morrison took his time, he told the tale, and he used all the parts of himself to do so, from his voice to his eloquent hands to his expressive face and to the acting and storytelling skills that he has developed and deserved throughout his years in the spotlight. JAM punctuates every phrase spoken or sung with the point of a finger, the widening of the eyes, the cocking of a hip, and the tilt of an eyebrow. He chooses, carefully, the faces in the crowd to which he will direct certain words and phrases, words and phrases dripping with emotional content from derision to adoration, from empathy to sensuality. This man is a man of style, this entertainer is an entertainer of audacity, this storyteller is a storyteller of receptiveness.

Observe the theatrical way that John-Andrew distributes portions of Alice Walker's "Never Offer Your Heart to Someone Who Eats Hearts" to introduce songs by Taylor Swift and Stephen Sondheim, providing context for the next chapter in his story before diving into yet another custom-built arrangement by Musical Director Drew Wutke (who rose to new heights, both as MD and onstage scene partner, in this musical cabaret). Yet, in spite of all of his natural theatricality, John-Andrew never appears false. Whether pounding out Queenie's almost tantrum-like "Welcome to My Party" or sighing every syllable of "I Only Have Eyes For You" while caressing his hand with his chin, cheekbone, or neck in ways intimate and accessible, John-Andrew Morrison traverses the corridors of his storytelling hour with an insistence upon being real with his audience. There were discussions about the end of a long-distance relationship with a boy and the fortitude of his long-term relationship with sobriety, and (on February 4th) there was a heartfelt, genuine, impromptu speech of appreciation directed from the stage to the table where sat the iconic, the legendary, the otherworldly André De Shields, who John-Andrew praised as a beacon of light, as a guiding force who made it possible for a young, queer, black actor to pursue his own dreams of Broadway. It was a most precious moment in the annals of cabaret and concert, one which the lucky patrons of 54 Below will, long, remember, and one that could only, really and truly, come about during a John-Andrew Morrison show.

Musically speaking, the program was without blemish. Although a Broadway actor, Mr. Morrison spent more time throughout the evening focused on pop tunes like "Unholy" by Sam Smith and Kim Petras, and "Soulmate" by Lizzo, and even though the show tunes were impressive (especially a fascinating Drew Wutke arranged "Losing My Mind"), it was in these radio hit moments that JAM's abilities shone most brightly. John-Andrew seems to have a particular affinity for Taylor Swift, whose songs "Style" and "Snow on the Beach" rose to the top of the evening's highlights, at least for this writer who does not know one Taylor Swift song except for "Shake It Off." John-Andrew knows them, and he interprets them to the highest quality for which a songwriter could wish. The other highlight of the night was another cut-to-fit arrangement for JAM, this one of Doris Day's greatest musical achievement "Que Sera, Sera," made all the more resonant by JAM's personally-informed rhetoric leading into the number. The gentleman clearly knows what he is doing, for he, himself, carries the concept and writing credits for the show. No director is listed other than Musical Director Wutke, and even though this writer is insistent that a director is de rigueur for one's show, it would appear John-Andrew Morrison has proven me wrong. That's ok. I don't mind being wrong now and then - especially when it comes to an artist, a person who, so immaculately, and with so much heart, embodies that which is great and that which is good about the art form of cabaret.

That would be John-Andrew Morrison.

The NO... MAYBE... WHY NOT personnel were as follows:

Conceived and performed by John-Andrew Morrison

Musical Direction by Drew Wutke

Band

Drew Wutke (Keys)

Shu Odamura (Guitar)

Jonathan Michael (Bass)

Ariel Skeiguchi (Drums)

Outfit designed and created by Corey Tut

Additional Material:

Poem

"Never Offer Your Heart to Someone Who Eats Hearts" by Alice Walker

from Anything We Love Can Be Saved

Book Excerpts from

Less (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize)

By Andrew Sean Greer

Acceptance

From the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous

Find other shows to see at 54 Below on their website HERE.

THIS is the John-Andrew Morrison website.

Photos by Stephen Mosher; Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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