Review: Craig Rubano Returns and TAKES THE MOMENT at Laurie Beechman Theatre

It was a cute, clever twist when Craig Rubano took to the stage, looked at the audience and sang the musical question “Where Have You Been?”  written by Cole Porter.  It didn’t really take a moment for this “inside joke” in the act called Take the Moment to register and get a reaction from longtime cabaret-goers at this first performance of a run.   Some had been pondering “Where has HE been?” ever since the singer’s first full show in a decade was announced.  And the answer would be forthcoming about his coming back to cabaret: what he’d been doing instead (and why), as well as his earlier backstory.   “Where Have You Been?”  is a Cole Porter song from the musical The New Yorkers.  The singer himself is not a native New Yorker, having been born in St. Louis and then spending early years in South America, then going to college in Connecticut at Cole Porter’s alma mater (Yale, cuing more Porter songs, including the rah-rah ones he wrote as a student there), making NYC his home eventually, performing in many a city, and recently landing in New Jersey.  That’s the quick version of where he’s been.  Did I mention that he sounds quite splendid, post-hiatus? 

Warmly welcomed back, reunited with his very supportive, skillful old friend/ music director/ pianist, beaming Beth Ertz, the night proved that you CAN go home again.  They were joined by bassist  Marc Schmied. (Jeffrey Carney will take over on that instrument on the next two dates of the run– April 13 and May 19.)

The smooth and polished show was directed by Jeff Harnar,  a cabaret colleague kindred spirit who’s crossed his path in the past, singing a duet on Craig Rubano’s debut CD full of Broadway material, Finishing the Act. Rubano sang two more songs featured on that album: a version of "Take the Moment" paired with “Before the Parade Passes By,” as a coupling of carpe diem directives, as well as the altruistic anthem “The Impossible Dream,” which was presented with both English and Spanish lyrics.  Speaking of musical theatre material, the autobiographical retrospective naturally lingered on a career milestone — being one of the men to play Marius (for a long time) in the long-running Broadway production of Les Misérables — with a suitably earnest and emotional revisit to “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” (On a corny note: I don’t think there were any empty chairs or empty tables in the very packed house!)   

Although not without humor and self-awareness, much of the evening indeed was earnest and emotional.  There’s one style of cabaret that favors singers connecting strongly with the willing audience by revealing personal information in patter and choosing songs with lyrics that are close to what they’d express what they feel and have lived.   This school of thought seems to have a matriculated student in Craig Rubano, who  seems to have enrolled himself in this school.  This “opening up” can open up a can of worms.  For some audience members (and performers), it’s cathartic bonding.  For others, it’s T.M.I. that can seem indulgent and presumptuous, more appropriate for a session with a therapist or a night with a confidant at a bar crying in one’s beer.  Or, worse yet— boring.... if it’s the typical life story of a small-town, music-loving, starstruck kid seeking elusive goals of fame or true love, told by some solipsistic someone who doesn’t come across as endearing or intriguing.  Fortunately, thoughtful and sensitive Craig Rubano’s life story is a more unusual one, with more than a single-minded focus on entertaining.  He is a scholar and author, with multiple degrees and interests, has lived on a farm (in real life and in his first prominent role, as a pig in Charlotte’s Web: The Musical), sung opera, survived serious injuries in a car crash, survived the rigors of show business, and is now an ordained minister.  His various chapters inform his perspective and passions and are reflected in his song choices.  His rustic episode raising goats led him to include an old song about that animal. 

Satisfied customers in the Laurie Beechman Theatre can be grateful that Craig Rubano is “back in the saddle” to be back home on the range, riding musically through a range of songs in his attractive baritone range.

Tickets to see Craig Rubano on April 13 and May 19 are available here.

For more shows at the Laurie Beechman, visit them online.

Header photo credit: Gene Reed