Review: John Boswell and Susie Mosher Return CASHINO To A Loving Audience at Birdland

It was pandemonium at Birdland last night and everyone was there. For the first time in ten years Susie Mosher and John Boswell were reunited for a concert version of CASHINO, a smash-hit musical comedy cabaret that, once, played to such acclaim in both New York and Los Angeles that it developed a massive, almost cult-like, following. That following still exists because there were no seats to be had at Birdland. There was no room at the bar. There was practically no room to stand and watch. Everyone wanted to see the return of Pepper Cole (Mosher) and Johnny Niagra (Boswell), two lounge lizards who turned their talents to the internet via a virtual casino where they could do their cabaret crooning for anyone willing to pay the price of a virtual ticket. People even flew in from out of town to see the performance. Everywhere you turned your head in the Birdland Mainstage, you could see a Who's Who of cabaret. Bryce Edwards. Carole J. Bufford. Rosemary Loar. Saxy Susie. Marc Shaiman. Marilyn Maye. Michelle Dowdy. Kathy Najimy and Dan Finnerty cheered loudly and lustily. Billy Stritch and Natalie Douglas beamed from their barstools. The ASA's Carolyn Montgomery and 92NY's Michael Kirk Lane seemed happy on their BFF date. Singer/songwriters Julie Gold and Christine Lavin could be seen socializing pre-show. Playwright Jessica Hendy howled with laughter from her table, Bistro Award winners Elizabeth Ward Land and Timothy Connell watched from opposite sides of the room, and Gabrielle Stravelli could be seen laughing with the face of Birdland, Jim Caruso. It was like a glittery, glamorous Broadway opening night, and the most glittery and glamorous of all were Johnny and Pepper in their matching gold sequin refinery, as they burst through the screaming (no, really, SCREAMING) throng of fans to get to the stage.

Cashino is a comedy act. It is improv comedy, sketch comedy, and musical comedy all rolled into one. There is not one serious moment from start to finish, as Susie Mosher and John Boswell storm the stage, taking every person within eye and earshot prisoner in their attempt to draw from them more laughter than they have experienced in their lives. The premise of Cashino is simple: it is a reunion of these two lovable lunatics who dreamed of a career in Vegas and ended up on the internet, ten years after the fact. In the grand tradition of Edith Prickley, Ed Grimley, and The Sweeney Sisters, Johnny Niagra and Pepper Cole are enormous caricatures to be laughed at, but John Boswell and Susie Mosher are enormous talents to be laughed with. From start to finish they had their audience in the palms of their hands as they performed one ingenious medley after another in their over-the-top fashion, often purposefully justthismuch under the pitch (a vitally important element of the characters) and always adorably in your face. It's not a show with nuance - they are hitting you over the head with everything they've got, and the onslaught of screaming laughter and appreciative cheers was only heightened by glancing around the room to see the people clutching their sides and wiping away tears. It is easy to see why Cashino was the huge success that it was, all those years ago.

Setting the scene with ridiculous conversation, Pepper Cole admits to the audience that her favorite genre of music is Eighties pop, while Johnny Niagra counters with the information that he is a Broadway boy from way back when, and that is when the fun really begins. Musically, the program is a genuine tour-de-force. Obviously, as Musical Director for the evening, Mr. Boswell did the grunt work of creating the charts for the ten numbers performed, but there is no doubt that Susie and John brainstormed together on every single aspect of the medleys. Like two true musical savants, Boswell and Mosher have managed to meld the music of the rock group Chicago with the score of the musical Chicago, they have painstakingly crafted an ANNIE medley that combines "Easy Street" and "Little Girls" with "Sweet Dreams" and "Walking on Broken Glass." There are medleys titled "The Prince and The Poppins" (it is exactly what you think it is) and "A Foreigner In Oz" (it defies description) and a brilliant medley that turns songs like "Maniac" and "Maneater" (and several more) into underscoring for any one of a dozen slasher movies. Susie and John are mining comedy gold, here, and their audience would have followed them to the end of the world for this comedy. But nothing, nothing, nothing could have prepared anyone for the final two numbers.

During their evening, Johnny and Pepper were Mr. and Mrs. Medley, but both performers got a shot at some solo action. Johnny Niagra did a fascinating study on "When Doves Cry" that harkens back to those viral videos of people singing Disney songs in minor keys to completely change the vibe, but Pepper Cole took Melissa Manchester's hit song "Don't Cry Out Loud" and added in some Peggy Lee "Is That All There Is?" monologue action that turned it into a three act play lasting ten minutes, culminating with the entire theater belting the chorus of the Peter Allen/Carole Bayer Sager classic and then serving Susie Mosher with a two minute standing ovation. And if that wasn't enough to send the audience home happy, John Boswell and Susie Mosher saved the very best for last - the "Midler on the Roof" medley, which is everything you think it would be, and so very much more. From now until the end of time, this writer will be haunted by the image of downtrodden Yente Pepper miming the walk out of Anatevka while singing "God is watching us." It was beyond anything that anyone could have ever conjured in their mere imagination... anyone except for these two comic geniuses.

So whatever theater gods decided that the New York City cabaret scene was deserving of a reprisal of the Cashino magic, they are to be thanked, and so are Gianni Valenti and Jim Caruso, who opened up the scope of Birdland so that the famed jazz club could include comedy acts like Julie Halston, Kenn Boisinger, and Cashino. It has made all the difference in the artistic mission statement of the Birdland organization, creating more diversity in the talent opportunities and audience enjoyment, leading to nights just like this one that left the people laying in the aisles.

Find great shows to see on the Birdland website HERE.

Visit the Susie Mosher website HERE and the John Boswell website HERE.