Review: Lorna Dallas Picture Perfect In SNAPSHOTS at Chelsea Table + Stage

“Tell me what I should think of the play.”

That's me, talking to my escort, any time I leave a show.   It doesn’t matter if the show is Shakespeare, Sondheim, On-Broadway, Off-Broadway, at the Ballet, in the Opera, or any of the many varieties of shows to be found in the nightclubs of New York City.  Every entertainment is, for me, a play, and all of the performers are, to me, actors.  It’s a way of thinking that may or may not be unique to me.  But when it comes to Snapshots, the new cabaret musical being presented of late by cabaret great Lorna Dallas, we really are talking about a play. 

Snapshots is a one-act play being presented in just about an hour, using pre-existing musical material and a script crafted by Miss Dallas in collaboration with her director, Barry Kleinbort.  When reflecting on the creative process of two veteran artists like Dallas and Kleinbort (and the third member of Team Dallas, that irreplaceable, incomparable Maestro, Christopher Denny) one might consider that the building of a new cabaret play (if you will indulge me) might come as easily as cutting an ice cream cake with a hot knife.  And when one observes the skill with which Dallas and Denny execute this new theater piece, one might add a dollop of whipped cream to that cake.  But make no mistake:  these artists are not resting on their laurels, they are not coasting on experience - they are actively seeking to create art, to tell stories, to put on a play, and in a day and age when some performers are throwing together a set, enjoying a cabaret play is a refreshing way to spend an hour in a club (or, in this case, seventy minutes, which fits into that perfect cabaret length window).

Proving that there is nothing that a right proper soprano cannot sing, La Lorna begins Snapshots with a little pop music, courtesy of Misters Bacharach and David, setting the scene for the piece that will link snapshots with memories, and providing one of the most original takes on “Always Something There to Remind Me” this writer has ever heard (hello, Christopher Denny).  Remembering and the memory are big themes in both the story arc and the music of Snapsnots.  The three Dallas-ites have carefully constructed a curation of musical material that doesn’t just tell Lorna’s story - it reminds us of our own journeys because many of us have similar experiences in our histories.  When Lorna reminisces about her life in show business, she leads other actors into their own theatrical memoirs.  When Diva Dallas shares the stories of the celebrities with whom she has walked, those with similar encounters may feel grateful for their own brushes with fame. When Mrs. Brown talks about her courtship with the love of her life, those of us who have had great loves may feel our hearts swell.  This is why storytelling exists - to give people a chance to feel something, be it a manufactured emotion or a remembered one.  Snapshots is a perfect example of how art can reflect upon the memories we cherish, whether they are kept in a scrapbook or in our mind.

The structure of the Dallas script is impeccable.  Up-and-coming cabaret artists would serve themselves well by observing the differing instances in which Lorna chooses the economy of words or delving into detail.  Her prowess as a public speaker is only aided by her training as an actor, for she is genuine in every moment that she spends talking to the audience (her crowd work is impressively connected to both the group and individual aspects of the performance), and she has been well served by Mr. Kleinbort’s direction.  The gentleman has a way with the ladies, and his intention of protection always pervades the air.  The partnership works in both directions, too, as Miss Dallas interprets, with incredible insights, Kleinbort’s own composition, “Stillness” - a piece filled with intricacies and eccentricities that a diva can understand, as well as emotional storytelling ripe for an actress of experience.  It was a highlight of the evening, but it isn’t difficult to single out highlights in Snapshots because Lorna Dallas has a versatility that lends itself to a wide range of stories.  Remember the pop song opener?  Consider, then, the Prima Donna doing “Blues in the Night” in her soprano range and, still, getting all of the down and deep blues originally intended by Misters Arlen and Mercer.  Highlight.  Or think about The Mistress of the Musical Monologue performing the Wodehouse/Kern comedy charmer “London Dear Old London” for all its comedic capabilities.  Highlight.  And one of the reasons it was a highlight is something to be acknowledged with each number Dallas performs:  she is inside of every moment.  No mere case of a singer standing on a stage and singing notes is a Lorna Dallas performance - these are stories.  They are monologues.  They are snapshots.  And the actress, Lorna Dallas, is living inside of the snapshots.  While she is singing, there is emotion.  While she is breathing between phrases, there is emotion.  While she is listening to Christopher Denny, there is emotion.  One of this writer’s favorite things about a Lorna Dallas performance is that she does not indicate Chris and say, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Christopher Denny,” thus inciting a burst of applause right in the middle of the emotional arc of her story.  From tip to tail, from first note to last exhale, Lorna Dallas is presenting audiences with an opportunity to feel something, to be inside of the story with her, to be transported to another place and time.  Each and every time.  Highlight.  Indeed, during the performance of “Paris Reminds Me Of You/The Last Time I Saw Paris,” on my notepad, I wrote: “If you were watching the livestream without sound, you would still get the story from her face.”  That’s cabaret.

Other highlights worth mentioning are Lorna’s exquisite performance of Kander and Ebb’s “Walking Among My Yesterdays” (medley’d with “Snapshots” by Schmidt and Jones), a waltz-themed medley that showcased some of the greatest breath control you’re likely to hear from a singer, ever, and one of the best renditions of Herman’s “Song on the Sand” this writer has ever heard (and that’s saying a lot, since that is, in fact, the song my husband and I call "our song").  And what a treat to hear Yeston’s “Simple” sung in a cabaret show (the song from Nine definitely needs more love), especially when melded so sweetly (by Denny) with Sondheim’s “Take The Moment,” as performed to perfection by The Lady Dallas.  From script to music to connection to audience and Denny, Lorna Dallas could not put a foot wrong during her November 3rd performance.  The entire outing was cabaret theater at its finest, and when Snapshots circles back around for another performance, I would encourage everyone to remember what a much wiser man than I said, some four hundred and twenty-plus years ago:

The play’s the thing.

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Find great shows to see on the Chelsea Table + Stage website here.

Visit the Lorna Dallas website here.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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