Review: AN EVENING WITH BROADWAY LEGEND LACHANZE Pure Magic at 54 Below

A while back there was a special series of shows at 54 Below called The Diamond Series.  The Diamond Series provided audiences with a unique evening, a glittering night, a one-of-a-kind intimate experience with a genuine star, including a special menu created for the event.  The Diamond Series had two seasons and then, for reasons best understood by the management, the programming was discontinued.  But for one spectacular night on September 15th, it was as though The Diamond Series was back in business.

Thrice-Tony-blessed actress and producer and bona fide Broadway star LaChanze played a one-night-only concert appropriately titled AN EVENING WITH BROADWAY LEGEND LaChanze BENEFITTING 54 BELOW.  Now, if you are good at doing math, you will notice that the concert in question happened ten days ago.  In my heyday at BroadwayWorld Cabaret, I was known to crank out reviews overnight, sometimes multiple reviews overnight.  So why has it taken me ten days to sit down to write this review?  Because I still have not come down to the ground from the magical occurance that I witnessed on that September Sunday night.  To say that it was a magical evening seems almost insultingly simple.  But magical it was.  And it made me wish that LaChanze did more of this work on a regular basis.  I know that it must be difficult to be an actress in demand and a producer of Broadway shows, that time must be a precious commodity - and anyone who has ever put together a nightclub act knows the kind of time it takes.  That’s what makes it even more important to note that LaChanze took time out of her busy schedule to do this, and she did remark, during the proceedings, that she had created this evening of cabaret especially for this occasion.

And it was, really and truly, an occasion.

If you’ve only ever seen LaChanze playing a character in a Broadway play, an Off-Broadway play, or on a screen large or small, you know that The Lady is an accomplished actress, a Thespianic storyteller of skill, one could even say of great skill, if one were prone to gilding a Lily.  There is and never will be any dispute about LaChanze’s ability to embody a character while acting in someone else’s play.  But what those audience members are missing that we all got to see on September 15th is the character that is LaChanze.  A wise woman once wrote “This girl is on fire” and she might, well, have been singing about LaChanze.  For one hour and fifteen minutes she was a true blue ball of fire giving a performance the like of which one would expect from the great concert performers in the history of show business, women like Shirley Bassey, Ann-Margret, and Tina Turner.  That’s why I wish that LaChanze did more work like this.  She IS one of those great concert performers.  She belongs on every list of great concert performers.  Except this wasn’t a concert - it was a cabaret.  This special night took place in an intimate setting where she could look into the eyes of the audience members, get sassy with certain people in the crowd, and even see so well throughout the room that she could call out “I love you Brenda!” upon spying fellow Broadway diva Brenda Braxton sitting against the back wall in one of the Premium Booths.  That intimacy is the main benefit of cabaret performing and the reason why the art form must be nurtured and maintained.  It is the reason why a star of LaChanze’s caliber would want to do a benefit for the (relatively) newly-minted non-profit that is 54 Below.  She believes in this club and in what they do, as does this writer, as do many club-goers who have made 54 Below their home away from home.  LaChanze was the right person for this benefit because she recognizes why cabaret is so valuable and she  represents the magic that 54 Below strives to create.

Now, let’s talk about that magic…

Looking like a cross between a fashion week supermodel and a case of dynamite, LaChanze stormed the stage in the highest, sparkliest, champagne platform heels in existence and a stunning black pantsuit employing more beads and sequins than a Bob Mackie original, singing the song she, herself, introduced in Once On This Island, “Waiting For Life To Begin.”  Well, life had begun… and everyone knew it.  It was clear, from the onset, that this was to be a night to remember.  When not making use of her considerable vocal training and the natural beauty of her voice, LaChanze had a lot of stories to tell, always with sensitivity, humor, honesty, and personality.  The rhetoric for the evening was personal, allowing her audience to enjoy her and to get to know her, although it was pretty apparent that many of the people at the tables already know her, how else could some of the beautiful people in the house of 54 Below have felt the audacious impulse to act as her impromptu back-up chorus?  One of the immense thrills of the night was having people who are clearly not only fans of the LaChanze canon but professional actors, join in from their tables to provide harmonies, additional vocals, and musical dialogues.  It turned the LaChanze show into an immersive experience, particularly when noticing the brighter-than-the-sun smiles that splayed across the lady’s face, each time it happened.  Magic.

Aside from singing songs from her own shows, LaChanze treated the audience to the shows that could’ve been, that maybe should have been, if casting for the stage had been a little more creative during the years gone by.  Among those highlights were a stunning jazz-arranged “Another Life” from The Bridges of Madison County and a hypnotic “Losing My Mind” from Follies, both of which gave audiences a chance to really see and note the difference between singing a song and acting it, especially through new arrangements that effectively erase our preconceived notions of the numbers based on cast recordings played over and over.  LaChanze has an uncanny ability to reinvent any song she sings, if she so pleases, and she is fortunate to have Marco Paguia musical directing and creating astounding new arrangements for her (and he can really play the piano, too) because those new treatments of old songs give LaChanze her own playground, her own story hour, her own voice, and that is what being an artist and being a star is all about, to say nothing of the art form of cabaret.

Among the other highlights in an evening that was one WOW moment after another, what stood out was the stories.  The story about the audition for Company that sparked a strong reaction from Stephen Sondheim… the story about the phone call from Hal Prince that sparked an incredulous reaction from LaChanze… the story about which Donna would take the high notes in “On The Radio”... they were all glimpses into what has been a blessed career for LaChanze, and not just blessed for her, blessed for us.  The audience got to hear what it would have been like, had she sung “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” in The Prince Of Broadway, which she didn’t because of Summer: The Donna Summer Musical.  We got to hear a sensational Diana Ross tune titled “The Last Time I Saw Him” that is rarely performed, sung in that inimitable LaChanze style.  And in a genuinely special experience, a tear-inducing, heart-stopping experience, we were given the gift of LaChanze singing “Be A Lion” from The Wiz.  But nothing, and I mean nothing, will ever erase, for this writer and, I suspect, everyone present, the memory of being in that intimate setting to witness LaChanze sing her song, the song she introduced in the play for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress In A Musical, “I’m Here.”  An entire room of 54 Below patrons could be seen, collectively, weeping into their napkins, before, during, and after this emotionally charged performance from The Color Purple.  This was no ordinary moment in cabaret.  This was storytelling, singing, acting, performing being presented at its highest vibration.  It was an unforgettable moment in time for everyone present.  That is the magic of LaChanze and it is the magic of 54 Below.

The incredible LaChanze band was Brian Holtz on Bass, Steve Jackson Jr. on Drums and Musical Director Marco Puguia on Piano.

Visit the LaChanze website HERE.

Find great shows on the 54 Below website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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