Review: Alexandra Silber & Friends Have Another Night Of Wishful Thinking In I WISH: THE ROLES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN at 54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Grabbing that silent T in cabareT to bring you all the Tea!

So, my DAHLINGS, this month's installment of that fab series birthed from a tweet by Alexandra Silber - I WISH: THE ROLES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN - brought Al and her pals back to 54 Below to dream and wish for roles in this, the dawn of a new age of theatre, where all roles are open to all people with the power to wish it so... even in their showers.

So goes the opening expository of Alexandra Silber’s first number, which is a take on our lord and savior Stephen Sondheim’s INTO THE WOODS opening number … hence the title for the evening. This once-every-12-weeks chapter cabaret (or Chabaret, if you will) had its latest installment on Monday last, and a great time was had by all. The players were excellent entertainment, Al and her musical sidepiece, Drew Wutke, were “on” as they say in “the biz” and the energy of their chemistry flowed from stage to audience and to each soloist, in abundance. Oh, the evening was grand, Grand, GRAND, my dear ones, the cast playful, fun, and they all totally delivered when it was their turn to perform… Part of the novelty of I WISH is stated in Silber’s opening number about how she wanted to do work outside her “casting bracket” of tall, gorgeous, raven-haired, belter with legit soprano chops, and explore roles like Tevye, Glinda, Sancho, and Gooch, and, in almost all of her I WISH outings, she and the crew for the night were “singers gone wild.” On occasion, owing to circumstances of ready material, there have been some who came to the stage with perfectly acceptable songs for them, from roles and shows they WISH to do because they know they are right for it… Well, thank you for your audition, you’re right, you are perfect for this role, and we suppose that qualifies as a wish as well. We experienced this on Monday when Talia Suskauer knocked the Bareilles belter WHAT BAKING CAN DO out of the park (and was A-MAZE-ING). Talia demonstrated she should absolutely play WAITRESS Jenna for the next couple of decades, minimum. Ditto to there being no real reason why the FAB Nora Schell could not inherit Amber Gray’s role of Helene in NATASHA, PIERRE… and sing her face off, as she did Monday night with CHARMING. Cabaret luminary Robbie Rozelle’s Seymour days “may” be behind him but he brought the funny and charming on GROW FOR ME, as well as some truly lovely vocals. Jared Goldsmith is all grown up, now and, so, like Rozelle, his SEUSSICAL Jojo days are in the rearview mirror, but his fresh face and fab voice matched to belting out IT'S POSSIBLE (IN MCELLIGOT'S POOL), resulting in Ooos Ahhs & Sighs. Kelly Lester's wide, bright vocals, terrific phrasing, and superb grasp of Diana’s bipolar plight gave some new life to I MISS THE MOUNTAINS From NEXT TO NORMAL. Kyle Taylor Parker told of his wish to build a show based on the life of lyricist Billy Strayhorn, then took LUSH LIFE out for a walk that he dubbed a rehearsal. If what he delivered was a rehearsal, my doves, may he never stop practicing because every layer of that song was served up beautifully. Al saluted her pal, the late Sheldon Harnick, by uncorking her soprano for a wonderfully hilarious VANILLA ICE CREAM that was everything she could have wished for (see what we did there?). But the honorable mention of the night goes to former Alexandra Silber student, Cassidy Stoner, who did a wicked send-up of WICKED and her own zealous admiration for the fab Broadway talent of Leslie Kritzer with a whacky-as-hell THE KRITZER AND I, using every note her voice box has stored in it, and wowing the crowd with the number, and comic prowess reminiscent of her former teacher, La Silber.

The full cast of Monday’s I WISH was:

Kelly Lester (Cabaret)
Jared Goldsmith (Dear Evan Hansen)
Kyle Taylor Parker (Kinky Boots, Pretty Woman)
Robbie Rozelle (Songs From Inside My Locker)
Nora Schell (Jagged Little Pill)
Cassidy Stoner (Disney’s Aladdin)
Talia Suskauer (Wicked, Be More Chill)

Hosted and conceived by Alexandra Silber
Musical direction by Drew Wutke

Produced by Jen Sandler

That's where we will leave you, my dear ones, with only this to say before the photo essay (by yours truly) ... Keep checking 54’s calendar for the next installment of I WISH: THE ROLES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN at 54 Below at 54below.org because this series always gets …

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Now, my dearlings, enjoy this photo phlash phrom Monday night's phestivities…

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick

 

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