Review: Ben Jones I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE at Chelsea Table + Stage Is Must-See Cabaret

Ben Jones presented two nights of cabaret theater last week at Chelsea Table + Stage but they weren't two nights of the same show. On Thursday night Ben Jones played I THINK I'M IN LOVE (read Bobby Patrick's review HERE) and on Friday night Ben Jones performed I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE. In order to fully fathom why Ben Jones would undertake such a feat, it is valuable to look at a brief history of Ben Jones and the world of cabaret.

A few short years ago, Ben Jones was living and working in musical theater and concert halls out in the wilds of America. The successful working actor relocated, with his family, to Manhattan, where Scott Siegel has, repeatedly, booked Ben to sing in his group shows, Clearly, Mr. Siegel saw something in Ben worthy of showcasing, and his faith in the power tenor was not misplaced because Mr. Jones caught the attention of many people, resulting in a nomination and win for a 2021 Broadway World Cabaret Award as Best Ensemble Soloist. Fresh off the heels of that win, one month later, Ben Jones premiered his debut solo show LOVE SONGS, which eventually became I THINK I'M IN LOVE (read the review HERE), and then he and Maestro Ron Abel took that show on the road to other clubs in other cities in other states. Six months later, Ben Jones returned to 54 Below (his cabaret home to date) with a brand new show titled I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE (read the review HERE). Two months later Ben Jones made his debut in the prestigious Mabel Mercer Foundation's Cabaret Convention. Two months later Ben Jones performed both of the shows that he wrote and produced in 2022, back to back, at Chelsea Table + Stage.

Exhausted, yet?

In an industry where some performers are still playing the same show they had running in 2019, Ben Jones owned 2022 with continued ongoing artistic growth, exploration, and creation. That is how you become a star: dig in, dig deep, and come back up to the top with the good stuff. Ben Jones specializes in the good stuff.

I THINK I'M IN LOVE and I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE are companion pieces. They are two sides of the same coin, they are Yin and Yang, they are black and white cookie, they are two acts in one play, presenting Ben's thoughts and opinions (and his personal stories) on the subjects of love and break ups. He and Ron Abel have constructed two flawless pieces of cabaret theater, each show different but with similarities that marry them as well as the artistic marriage shared by Jones and Abel (the two friends work extremely well together). This is a play. Jones has created a character (based on himself) and given that character entrances and exits, monologues, speech pattern, cadence, and an arc, including the rise of fall of levels designed for effective storytelling and punchlines, be they humorous or heartfelt. This is not a concert, and it's not a set: this is an act. Bobby Patrick reports that IN LOVE has a looser format that OTHER PEOPLE, with a band and Ben in a more casual conversation with the crowd. OTHER PEOPLE is just Ben and Ron and some great writing, executed with a craftily studied performance in which Ben does not break from the script. Even when relating to the audience members in the front row, Mr. Jones does not break character - the patrons become his scene partners, and he stays in the moment, at all times. He has come to tell a story, and he shows the audience, the songwriters, and the stories themselves the respect of staying in each moment until the last note from the piano hanging in the air has faded into the ether. There is no breaking of the character to say, 'Thank you!" as the story awaits completion. There is no breaking of the character to say, "Ladies and Gentlemen, Ron Abel!" during one of Ron's solos. This is a play. And as such, it is vital that Ben stay in the play, in the character, until it's time for him to go, and that is exactly what Ben does, even when the audience doesn't give Ben his due.

On Friday night, Ben Jones's audience was a little on the quiet side. They were with him - a look around the room confirmed that: it was all smiles, and people sitting forward in their seats with intention and attention. The audience loved Ben and they loved his singing. But only a handful of people were really with Ben for the jokes, of which there are plenty, all of them delivered with a dry, reserved, delivery. OTHER PEOPLE is a very funny show, loaded with laughs, some of them very irreverent, some quite risky in an age in which many are overly sensitive and umbrage is the National Pastime, but Ben Jones took those risks, went out on that limb, and left it all on the floor. He didn't panic when the audience didn't give it back to him because Jones, an actor with miles of experience, knows that every audience is different. Some audiences are vocal and others are listening, some audiences give immediate feedback and others laugh later. This is the life of an actor - getting to know your audience and making sure they get the story you came to tell them, even when they aren't providing you with the exchange of energy that can be vital in the quest to entertain.

Ben Jones gave everything to that quiet audience on Friday night - especially when it came to the singing.

In thirteen songs exquisitely arranged by Ron Abel, Ben Jones demonstrated the depth and breadth of his boundless skills, performing the Broadway show tunes that have been the bedrock of his work as an actor, the standards that have secured him work as a concert soloist, and pop music that one would not usually expect of a proper operatic tenor, and although Ben does not do any opera in his act, it is clear that he could, if it were organic to his play. Weaving hilariously bad Dad jokes into a breathtakingly orchestrated "Tainted Love" or layering in acting skills to inform the humor written into "Sensitive Song," Ben brings every musical number in, only ringing the bell when the round is over. With vocals so powerful as to stop a train in its tracks, Jones shows that he isn't relying on volume to get the job done - the power is impressive and the notes are beautiful, but there is absolute acting in every moment. There is no phoning it in on any number, whether it is the tremendous and truculent "I Wanna Be Around" or the tenderest, quietest whisper of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" (both numbers among the evening's highlights). Ben Jones could be going full-on pop star with tunes by Bruno Mars or Peter Allen, or he could be giving a musical theater Master Class with an incomparable reworking combining legendary ballads from CITY OF ANGELS and FOLLIES, and it all fits, it all works, it all rises, which is par for the course with Mr. Jones. Everything Ben does on the stage has been arranged to tell the story he has crafted, and this one has a surprise ending (that this writer is not going to spoil) that tells that which we all already know: every word, every sentence, every thought, has more than one meaning. It's all about the frame in which we place the words, sentences, and thoughts.

I THINK WE SHOULD SEE OTHER PEOPLE is a proper cabaret show, surprisingly advanced for a performer who is, technically (until February 12th), still in his Freshman year. Ben Jones could have just thrown together a set of songs and brought that voice (THAT VOICE) to the stage with his performances of other evening highlights "Too Late Now" (devastating) and "Killing Time" (the Carolyn Leigh/Jule Styne one, not the Clint Black one) and the people would have loved his show, but Ben has made it abundantly clear that that is not who he wants to be, as a cabaret and concert performer. Ben Jones has made it, and continues to make it, apparent that he is a storyteller, an artist, an original, and he is going to continue (with Maestro Abel by his side) to create stories in the Ben Jones style, which is what makes a star and what makes an original.

Ben Jones may think we should see other people, but this writer and clubgoer thinks we should see Ben Jones. We should see Ben Jones at any and every opportunity that presents itself to us. Take it on faith.

Ben Jones is touring the country with his shows but he plays New York in group shows on a regular basis. Keep up with his tour schedule on his website HERE.

Visit the Chelsea Table + Stage website for other great shows HERE.

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

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