Review: Sexy Song Cycles Sound Swell In Central Park As Matthew Puckett Presents his SONGS FROM THE EVERGREEN at 54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick your RAINBOW Reviewer here. Grabbing that silent T in cabareT to bring you all the Tea!

Monday night for the 9:30 Show found your rainbow reviewer back at 54 Below (after having attended the 7:00 Salute to Rita Gardner), this time to listen to a new song cycle by Peabody Award Winning composer/lyricist Matthew Puckett, SONGS FROM THE EVERGREEN. A music maker that is completely new to yours truly, Puckett is, so far, primarily a film composer, songwriter, and music producer with over two dozen credits on his IMDB page (HERE). Presenting the cycle in a concert format with a choir of singers lined up across the stage using music stands and stools, Puckett explained that EVERGREEN had grown out of his own relationship with Central Park, his patch of peace in this tumultuous town. Made up principally of solos with just a few choral numbers and a duet or two, each song told a particular story of people in various stages of their lives, facing a variety of challenges and crises. The concert equivalent of, say, a Maltby & Shire revue - Starting Here Starting Now or Closer Than Ever. Every performer in the piece was cast for singing AND acting, as each story told needed storytellers to bring them to life. Puckett's wonderful cast included...

Gabrielle Carrubba (Dear Evan Hansen)

Robin de Jesús (tick, tick... boom!, The Boys In The Band)

Kenita R. Miller (for colored girls, Once on this Island)

AJ Shively (Paradise Square, Bright Star)

Andre Ward (Moulin Rouge!, Pose)

Corinna Sowers Adler (Artist Director NiCori Studios & Productions)

...all actors with great voices who were singing at the top of their games on the night. All the songs were beautifully orchestrated by Puckett, who music directed, played the keys, and led a FAB combo consisting of Lee Nadal on bass, Meg Toohey on guitar, and David LaBlanc on drums. The great thing about the band was their support of the voices. If you read Bobby regularly, and we hope you read Bobby regularly, you all know that instruments overbalancing the vocals is a real bear of a problem to our rainbow ears... But this crew under Matthew P's direction was the foundation underneath the actors, buoying them up and carrying them and their characters along on waves of their fine playing. Each actor played real people in real ways with their performances, and the entire piece moved along at a fine pace. This is all down to director Stefanie Black (Artistic Director of IAMA Theatre Company), whose light touch in the minimal space, and work with the composer and cast, elevated the work to theatre of the mind, making the static into the fluid and making the night more than just a concert.

Now to the piece itself - to do one of those "blow-by-blow, they did this, then they did that, and they sang some other thing" reviews not only would be a snoozefest, but it would also do the night a disservice. This cycle exists as a single portrait populated by the figures being painted. The strongest image is that of the park itself. The 54 Below page says the following: "Set in a city park, not unlike Central Park" and a case "could be" made for a nebulous location, but if it smells like New York and yells like New York, darlings it IS New York. After the performance, someone at our table said, "That was SO New York, I can smell the bagels." The swirling, gorgeous music of New York and neuroses in the voices of the excellent cast gave the house the movement of the city, as each person brought their baggage forward as if to say with each song: We Escape Here, We Live Here, We Study Here, We Find Love (Again) Here, We Run Here. Each member of the ensemble presented their separate pieces while still remaining connected to each other, like figures in a work of art, balanced and necessary to the whole.

In the end, SONGS FROM THE EVERGREEN is an absolutely gorgeous song cycle paean to everyone's fave bit of Manhattan greenery - Central Park. Indeed, it cries out for a theatrical treatment and, if the vision is in the same vein as the aforementioned Maltby & Shire revues, then Puckett & Black already have everything they need: this score, a fine cast, and all the heart of NYC, represented by its beating heart, Central Park. This is one to watch for, my rainbow readers, for whether its fate is theatrical or recorded, or both, SONGS FROM THE EVERGREEN must be heard and must be given...

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Stefanie Black's IAMA Theatre Has A Webby: HERE

Matthew Puckett Has A Webby With Links To All His Socials: HERE

As Always, Keep Up With All Things 54 Below: HERE

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick

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