Review: Katie McGrath & Chuck Flowers Disarming While PLAYING FAVORITES at Don't Tell Mama

As she was giving her thank you speech at the end of her October 14th show, Katie McGrath informed her audience that anyone thinking of coming out to St. Louis should know that she has a big house, with guest rooms, and that all are welcome.  It was a strongly appropriate way for the singing storyteller to end her program because it would be difficult to find anyone as warm, as welcoming, as hospitable as Katie McGrath.  

Such was the mood at PLAYING FAVORITES, the musical cabaret that brought the one-time New Yorker back East from the West, where she makes her home and her name in the cabaret scene of St. Louis (it’s a bigger scene than one might think).  McGrath, a longtime member of the cabaret industry, returns to our fair Metropolis from time to time to conduct some cabaret business, to see her mates, and to do some storytelling, and this evening of musical entertainment was her 2023 one-off, and, for this show, she invited her crooning bestie Chuck Flowers for his first-ever time on the stage of a Manhattan cabaret nightclub, indeed on any New York City stage.  What a treat it was to watch these two dear friends play.  They were playing their favorites, but they were also playing - patently their favorite pastime.  

And speaking of playing favorites, Katie McGrath made sure to include in the proceedings her inamorato Chet Whye Jr., who appeared for one song, an impassioned performance of “Say Something” for which Katie and Chuck provided vocals, while Katie’s proud eyes shone as bright as a spotlight while enjoying her favorite fella engaged in the emotional act of singing.

Singing was a big part of PLAYING FAVORITES but it wasn’t everything that the FAVORITES team brought to the stage.  As a musical cabaret, naturally, the singing does the major share of the lifting.  And the singing was well executed, with McGrath’s whisky-toned nuances setting her sound apart from Flowers’ velvety fluidity - quite notable differences on duets like “It’s Alright” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” that might make one wonder how these voices ended up together, but the mixture of varied aesthetics and dedicated friendship gave the proceedings an authenticity that drew the audience to the two storytellers.  A gentle note, though:  Don’t Tell Mama has appeared to go cordless with their mics and there might be some kinks still being worked out - there is certainly every expectation that the powers that be at the venerated venue will address the issues while bringing the club’s technology into the present.  Another gentle note is an observation that there was an element of the random about the cabaret show, with a somewhat scattered attempt at the theme of “favorites,” while a strong thread of “the languages of love” might have made for a more focused story arc.  As far as the attendants at the McGrath/Flowers production goes, the reaction from the audience was most invigorating, especially from one corner of the room where some female guests really related to McGrath’s hilarious delivery of “Victoria’s Secret” - a comedy number greatly suited to Katie’s consistently-present sense of humor.  Katie, clearly a skilled actress, used her storytelling abilities on dramatic numbers, as well as the humorous ones, as was the case with evening highlights “Landslide” and “George And Greta” - a song written by McGrath with late colleague and friend, Rick Jensen.  There was much heart in the Jensen number, particularly, for obvious reasons, but the fact is that the entire show was created around heart, around love.  These are songs that Katie McGrath clearly loves performing, and the men on the stage with her, from Misters Flowers and Whye to Guitarist Mike Krysl (wonderful on Chuck’s noteworthy rendition of “Speak Now”) and Musical Director par excellence, Yasuhiko Fukuoka (always incredible),  are definitely people that she loves.  But, then, the Brick Room at Don’t Tell Mama was filled with people who love Katie, from cabaret artists like Mary Sue Daniels and Joanne Halev, Dorian Woodruff and Diane D’Angelo to DTM booker Tanya Moberly, with whom this writer shared a table.  As Moberly took her seat, I asked, “Is Katie one of yours?”  “No,” said Tanya, “Lina Koutrakos is Katie’s director, I just LOVE her and wanted to see her show!”  Therein lies the lynchpin to the McGrath/Flowers show: humanity.  Along with the music, the FAVORITES team brought all their humanity, their friendship, their vulnerability, their honesty, and their sense of whimsy.  That, the people want to see.

Maybe Katie McGrath, Chuck Flowers, and Chet Whye Jr. came to Don’t Tell Mama to play their favorites, but it would seem that they are the favorites in this story, and it should surprise nobody if the way that the New York City cabaret community feels about them doesn’t lead them right back to Manhattan for another show - preferably sooner, rather than later. 

Find great shows to see on the Don’t Tell Mama website HERE.

Katie McGrath is on Facebook HERE and Chuck Flowers is HERE and Chet Whye Jr. HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

 

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