Review: EVA NOBLEZADA: LET'S GO TO THE MOVIES at The Green Room 42

Oscars? What Oscars? Eva Noblezada's solo show Let's Go to the Movies on Sunday, March 12th at the Green Room 42 was a far more entertaining tribute to the silver screen. Noblezada took us on a walk down memory lane, with classics from the '90s and early aughts (plus a Golden Age oldie or two). If you haven't caught one of Noblezada's solo shows at The Green Room 42, you're missing out. Stalk their website and social media to find out when she's doing her next show, and buy your tickets in advance, because it will sell out.

Noblezada's stage presence is captivating. She manages at once to sound self-effacing and off-balance while being in complete command of the stage. She acts like she's performing the entire show completely off the cuff and has no idea what she's going to do next (this may not be so much of an act as a facet of the lack of rehearsal time, which she noted several times throughout the show, but it works for her). And, yet, when she sings, she's transformed into the star that she is. Eva sang a wide selection of songs showing her range, from "Colors of the Wind" (Pocahontas) to the rocky "Holding out for a Hero" (from Shrek 2, obviously). Noblezada is utterly mesmerizing to watch. It's not just that she has a voice rivaling Liz Callaway, which she proved by singing Anastasia's "Journey to the Past," it's that it feels like she's every bit herself on stage: a bit silly, very funny, and extremely relatable. Noblezada kept the show funny and light, telling stories about her years on stage, between songs (like the time, in an early performance of Hadestown, when the stage didn't go down at the end for the final descent to hell), and keeping things light, even during some of the sadder, slower numbers. At one point, Eva mixed some clubby, dirty dance numbers into a sad, mellow rendition of "Reflections" from Mulan, noting that "it wasn't that kind of song but it felt like it was" to her, and she apologized to her parents, watching on the live stream, before going into some of the more provocative poses - making it clear what the song (in which Mulan reflects on how she fears she's disappointing her parents and doesn't feel like the daughter they want her to be) means to her.

Noblezada also has a fantastic rapport with her accompanist, Rodney Bush on the piano. He seemed to intuit what she was thinking, backing her stories up with instrumentals, when appropriate, and following her last-minute changes (she allowed audience members to choose the next song at several points, having them go off only a "vibe" that Noblezada described so as not to give away the song in advance). Bush rolled with the punches, backing her up perfectly.

Take this reviewer's advice: the next time Noblezada puts together a show, run, don't walk, to get your e-ticket, for she consistently plays to a packed house, and you don't want to miss it.

Find great shows to see on the Green Room 42 website HERE and visit Eva Noblezada's IG page HERE.