Review: STEVEN ZUMBO Presents A Veritable Story Hour To Full Pangea House

Before beginning my review of the Steven Zumbo show at Pangea, I'd like to say a few words about marketing in the cabaret and concert industry. These are not new words, they are words I have used before, and they are words that I will use again because artists tend, often, to work without guidance. The employing of a manager, of an agent, of a director is frequently not in the cards for artists, who must make career decisions on their own, and sometimes artists don't know what is working for or against them. When I received an invitation to see the Steven Zumbo show, I didn't know if I should go, having been unfamiliar with his work - there are a lot of artists working in cabaret and concert, many of whom have slipped by me over the years. I didn't know who Steven Zumbo is, and I didn't know if he was any good, and, after a painful series of headache-inducing shows, I had made a determination to vet every artist unknown to me before seeing their show. YouTube is a great tool for this. No matter how I searched, though, there was no online presence for Steven Zumbo, which did not bode well for my attending his cabaret show. All I had to go on was this advertising:

Now, this is good advertising. It's a good, clear, appealing headshot, the color blue makes the graphic pretty. The name, the date, the time, the place are all well displayed, and there is a pull quote from a reviewer whose opinion I trust. There's no show title, which is disappointing because a show should have a name, something economic and catchy that's easy to remember, but this show is a one-off, there's no point in splitting hairs over one little thing like the lack of a title - Steven Zumbo was inching ahead of the curve.

So I emailed Mr. Zumbo to ask if there was any online footage of him at work and, to my delight, he sent back a video of a virtual performance he did in a group show during the quarantine, and only after seeing that video did I make my reservation to see his show.

And I'm so glad I did. But before talking about that, it's important to remind all the artists working in cabaret and concert of the importance of two things: good marketing and having an online presence. Were it not for advertising to which this reporter would give a solid eight and one YouTube video, this same reporter could not say this:

Steven Zumbo is wonderful.

What a fun show everyone got to see on September 10th! And it was a lot of someones, too, because Steven played to a full house, and several of the people in that house were members of the cabaret and concert community who either admire Steven, appreciate his work, or both. And they should because (again) Steven Zumbo is wonderful. He is a cabaret storyteller with pathos and purpose who leans into the comedic, the tender, and the visceral. Nary a negative vibe entered the room during Mr. Zumbo's performance - no drama, no melodrama, and no stamping around the stage like a divo. Steven Zumbo showed no interest in telling musical stories that might tax the nerves or raise the tension: his was a show designed for the heart. Even a performance of "Send in the Clowns" (which can be a very sad song) was so sweetly held in his performance as to be a delicate bird held in his hands. It would appear that the heart is where Steven Zumbo lives, which is probably why so much of his program involved humor, the greatest healer of them all.

For just over an hour on Saturday, Steven Zumbo immersed himself in every single story he would tell, inviting his audience into his "Hijinks and Tomfoolery" (which might have been an appropriate title for this or any other Steven Zumbo show). Whether presenting his version of Ulla from The Producers or a hilarious parody song about his failing Memory, whether touching hearts with a letter-perfect "Being Green" or lifting hearts with Joni Mitchell's "The Circle Game," Mr. Zumbo was absolutely present, in character, and committed to each chapter of his story hour. Indeed, Zumbo's eponymous show had occasional hints that there was a story arc, a trajectory, a goal, but the structure of any arc Steven might have intended was so filmy as to be filigree - yet, around that flimsy structure was a sturdy framework made up of the fact that everything he presented was a story. A brief bit of socio-political rhetoric about LGBT history led into an exquisite new arrangement of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and a brief personal anecdote opened up "Last One Picked" but it was clear that each new musical number (and any accompanying oratory) was a new chapter in The Book Of Zumbo. And as one chapter after another, it was incumbent upon Steven Zumbo to sort of wash his hands and shake off the previous story, which he achieved with ease and aplomb. Charming, delightful, unpretentious, and with a pleasant, well-trained voice, Steven Zumbo is a well-studied and well-thought-out cabaret artist who has found a corner in the world of performing arts where he thrives and comes alive, and where audience members really respond to him.

With Musical Director Gerry Dieffenbach watching his every move, having his back at every turn, Mr. Zumbo is both wise and lucky in his choice of material for his show because the musical numbers clearly resonate with him as a person and a storyteller, and everything, whether a belt-y, gender-fluid "Some People," or evening highlight, the ballad "It Was Me," sits perfectly in his voice, particularly with Dieffenbach providing interesting and inventive treatments, like the ones done for the aforementioned Beatles number and Cole Porter classic "At Long Last Love." The twosome makes for a good team, and, like all the other people who filled the Pangea Cabaret Room, the next time the twosome plays a show, this new fan will have every intention of being there; Dieffenbach and Zumbo know what they're doing and how to put on a proper cabaret set.

Thank goodness for that YouTube video that got this grateful writer into the club and into the seat.

Find great shows to see on the Pangea website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher.

Visit the Stephen Mosher website HERE.

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