Review: ALEXIS MICHELLE Aces Joe's Pub Debut

During her opening night at Joe’s Pub, Alexis Michelle mentioned, once or twice, that “This is my fantasy.”  Indeed, the topic came up more than just once or twice - it was very clear that this was a dream come true for the singing actress and reality television star, and it is worth stating that a dream like playing Joe’s Pub is a good and proper dream for a performer on the cabaret and concert circuit.  Artists working on the small venue stages all have a preferred venue, a venue that has caught their eye and captured their heart - maybe it’s 54 Below, perhaps it’s Café Carlyle, possibly it’s Dizzy’s Club.  Every artist working the club circuit has an idea about where they belong.  For a downtown type of artist like Alexis Michelle, Joe’s Pub is the brass ring, the pot of gold, the North Star.  It’s good to know where you want to be because then you know what you want to work toward.  And on the occasion of her Joe’s Pub debut, Alexis Michelle proved that the booking agent for the renowned club was right and that she, producer James Will McBride, director Robbie Rozelle, and musical director Brandon James Gwinn had done their work, prior to opening night.  On June 27th, Alexis Michelle took a big step onto the Joe's Pub stage, and a big step into a broader reality of where she belongs and where she is going.

For her Joe’s Pub bow, Alexis Michelle created a program of musical material designed to put a spotlight on strong women who paved the way, women who inspired her in her youth, and women to whom we all look (or, at least, should look) for inspiration, even today.  On a more detailed level, Michelle and Rozelle planned a kind of musical feast, a three-course meal that would introduce the real-life Alexis Michelle experience to her sold-out crowd.  This isn’t the Alexis Michelle seen in the edits on the TV screen or at conventions; here is a club act centered around an artist who went to school and trained for the musical theater stage.  Alexis Michelle has bonafide singing and acting skills, which she showcased through an appetizer course during which she respectfully sang traditional (even original) arrangements from recordings by Barbra Streisand and Dionne Warwick, a main course where she broke free of the chains of the past with Gwinn’s original material, and a dessert course in which stormed the gates with showstoppers from Shirley Bassey and Della Reese.  It was a most effective manner in which to bring a slow burn effect to the proceedings, allowing Michelle to go from reservedly aloof to welcome abandon in seventy minutes, and it was executed very well, thanks to the professionalism and detailed focus of everyone involved.

Musically speaking, Alexis Michelle is quite the proficient.  Her vocal AND acting skills are considerable, something especially apparent during performances of ballads like “A House Is Not A Home” (stunning) and “I’ve Grown Accustomed To His Face” (just lovely), although some of the bigger numbers in her repertoire could benefit from a staff meeting during which the entire team might create a better balance between the Michelle belt and the mic mix - this is a big voice designed for the musical theater stage, and where there is amplification, modifications must be made.  That belt does come in handy during numbers designed to thrill (“Diamonds Are Forever”) or bring down the house, which Alexis Michelle did particularly well with her final number of the evening, “You Came A Long Way From St. Louis,” and with her original material.  Indeed, it is in the original material that Alexis Michelle’s gifts were shown to their greatest advantage, leading this writer to the conclusion that Mr. Gwinn must continue creating new songs for the diva, please, pretty please.  Ms. Michelle has a very clear respect for her idols, which may be why she likes to sing their original arrangements (like Midler’s “Do You Wanna Dance?” and Streisand’s “Much More” - both of which are beautiful in Michelle’s hands, as she honors her divas) but with the introduction of “Lulu’s Shoes” and “If You Want My Apples,” there were no chains holding Alexis back, there were no pre-paved roads.  These two numbers belonged, at this moment, to her and to her alone - so Alexis Michelle could unleash all of her originality, all of her personal interpretations, and all of her powers of creation upon the compositions, making them highlights in an evening that included one of Liza Minnelli’s signature tunes as another highlight.  Gwinn and Michelle are good together and have been for a while - having them collaborate on more original tunes together could, well, build for them the same kind of legacy as that made by Minnelli and Kander & Ebb.  

As for the structure of the show, the script, the dialogue, the delivery, Michelle and Rozelle worked nicely to keep the patter in line with the musical programming.  Alexis was more reserved during the first course (maybe a little too concerned with some notes she kept on the piano top) but once she got to the main course and Brandon’s songs, she threw all caution to the wind and dove into her Joe’s Pub experience with a little (or a lot) more of the innuendo and salty language for which she is known, until, by the close of show, she was in full-on rockstar mode, an amalgam of the women she was honoring, including her own self, embracing the freedom of being a star, a performer, an entertainer who is totally fearless, absolutely confident, and forever living in her fantasy.

The Joe’s Pub dream may have been Alexis Michelle’s fantasy, but it is, quite obviously, also the fantasy of her fans.  With every seat at the club taken and a healthy amount of cheers, shouts, screams, and applause all night long, there can be no other conclusion than that the Alexis Michelle fans want this for her.  So now that she’s got it, here’s hoping the glamorous girl singer continues her rise to the top stages of the industry, perhaps even those of Broadway, where gender-fluid casting is opening doors for performers of her stature, status, and style.  

And the fantasy continues…

Find other shows to see on the Joe’s Pub website HERE.

Visit the Alexis Michelle Instagram page HERE.

The Alexis Michelle creative team is:

Brandon James Gwinn - Musical Director/Piano 

Josh Samuels - Drums 

Skyler Volpe - Bass 

Nadje Noordhuis- Trumpet 

Robbie Rozelle - Director

James Will McBride - Producer

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

(Apologies To Josh Samuels, who does not appear in these photos because he could not be captured from my vantage point.  -- SM.)

 

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