Review: The Showbroads FA-LA-LA-LA FABULOUS! at The Triad The First Gift of the Season

In spite of store displays and the Netflix home page, the holiday season isn’t QUITE upon us yet, seeing as Thanksgiving is still eleven days away.  That’s eleven days until the Macy parade and the arrival of Santa Claus at high noon, which is when (in the olden days of this writer’s life) the holidays officially began. 

Well, it’s 2024 and times have changed, and the holidays began yesterday when The Showbroads came back to New York City after a four-year absence.  FOUR YEARS!  What have we done without The Showbroads for four years?  It seems almost unfathomable.  Maybe that is because Marta Sanders and Leanne Borghesi have been around.  They’ve been in the clubs, they’ve been at the events, they’ve been at the galas, they’ve been actively participating in the cabaret and concert community.  What they have not been, however, is on the stage together, wearing headdresses, sequin gowns, and a barrage of boas.  Heavy audible sigh of relief, though, because they’re back.  Yesterday and today (at 2:30 pm, so HERE is the ticket link) Leanne and Marta are in NYC presenting their new show FA-LA-LA-LA FABULOUS! At The Triad on 72nd Street.  At yesterday’s sold-out performance, the room was rich with the faces of cabaret stalwarts like Richard Skipper, Dawn Derow, Russ Woolley, Joanne Halev, Ari Axelrod (with Leo the pooch in his arms), and Ira Lee Collings (with his customary bouquets for the artists), and for one hour and fifteen minutes, every person in the Triad Theater howled with laughter, cheered with appreciation, and applauded, and applauded, and applauded for the return of The Showbroads.

Fa-La-La-La Fabulous, as one might guess, is a holiday offering… but it’s not a Christmas show.  It’s a Christmas present… but it’s not a Christmas show.  There are Christmas songs… but it’s not a Christmas show.  Fa-La-La-La Fabulous is a variety show, a sketch comedy show, a nightclub show, and Misses Borghesi and Sanders are in full character the entire time.  The thing is, the characters they are playing are Marta and Leanne, so it’s easy to feel like you’re watching your two girlfriends, up there on the stage, putting on a play like Mickey and Judy, and they are, only it’s in the characters that are extensions of themselves, and an extension of their relationship.  Best friends who fight over a boa, brassy broads who trade barbs, actresses who act up - that’s the Sanders/Borghesi brand.  That’s probably why they start Fa-La-La-La Fabulous with songs from Mame (not the Christmas song) - could you just die to see Leanne and Marta as Mame and Vera?  Yeah, you could.  The broads have worked with musical director John Bronston to create medleys of show tunes and Christmas songs that fit into the Showbroads brand, giving them ample opportunities to showcase their unbelievable vocal abilities and hilarious comedic skills.  Dana P. Rowe and Scott Logsdon have worked with The Boa Bunch to create special material that brings their show to a level worthy of such special talents.  And together (per press release credits) Leanne and Marta have scripted the piece so that there isn’t just a plethora of laughter, but a fair amount of heartstring-tugging.  To be fair, though, the major playing to the heart belongs to Sanders, who spends an extended amount of time on the stage reminiscing about the old days of New York, when she was a starving artist just trying to make her way in the big bad business of show.  As she reminisced about the days of old and the New York of old, sighs of joyful remembrance could be heard echoing throughout the room.  This kind of performer/audience connection is the primary reason and primary goal of the cabaret art form.  Score.

For herself, Leanne leans into her own personal brand, which is broad comedy and belting her face off, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t touching hearts: she’s just doing it in a different way.  This is a Leanne Borghesi script and a Leanne Borghesi show, and it’s like this century’s version of Laugh-In, so the jokes are the goal.  But take a look at Leanne’s beaming and beatific face when her girlfriends are on the stage with her.  Yes, girlfriendS - it’s plural.  Because, doncha know, Leanne and Marta have invited some Showbroad converts to the sandbox.  Leanne’s niece, a prominent performer named Casey Borghesi, has some stage time with “Aunt Leanne” and “Aunt Marta” and the younger Borghesi is a force with which one should be prepared to reckon.  And Leanne’s acting partner in the hit horror movie eVil Sublet, Jennifer Leigh Houston, joins in on some rockin’ music selections and a little Broadway history, by way of a little Marta Sanders history.  And while I was watching the four women onstage sing a very special song (please note that I am not spoiling with song titles) it occurred to me what a wonderful, what a weighty, and what a womanly moment I was watching.  Four women living in different decades of life (I will not be so ungallant as to speculate the numbers) stood on the stage singing for their supper.  Each of these women represents a different type of show business, with Sanders being a Broadway veteran, Borghesi scoring high marks in cabaret, Houston playing out in rock venues, and Borghesi Jr. having an eye on the pop market.  Each of these women have experienced New York and show business during different eras in history.  There is an overwhelming sense of passing a torch but also of the solidarity of sisterhood.  I must admit that I found myself quite moved by the realization of what I was seeing.

And speaking of the history of show business…

There is a technique in theatrical performance called “stage blunder” or “comedy beat.”  It is when an actor or actors flub something and break the scene, sometimes even breaking the fourth wall, in order to make their audience laugh.  The first time I became aware of it was when, as a teenager, I saw the Burlesque, Sugar Babies, on Broadway.  Star Ann Miller was out and Jane Summerhays was playing opposite Mickey Rooney.  In one scene, Jane smacked Mickey with a ruler and his wig came off, causing both of them to laugh and break the scene.  A year later, in New York again, I went to the same play to see Ann Miller, who I had missed greatly before.  In one scene, Ann smacked Mickey with a ruler and his wig came off, causing both of them to laugh and break the scene.  I had my first lesson in stage blunder/comedy beat.

Yesterday was the first-ever performance of Fa-La-La-La Fabulous and the ladies hit some walls.  There were some bumps in the road.  After the show, both Leanne and Marta mentioned these bumps in the road, in general conversation.  What this reporter and aficionado wants to say is this:  it didn’t matter.  It made the day better.  It put all of us in the moment, it effectively included us in their performance, it gave us a glimpse into the life of a live actor, and it filled the room and the day with laughter, love, and a special moment we will always remember.  There is nothing that happened on the stage of The Triad Theater yesterday that I would take back, nothing I wouldn’t wish on the audience at today’s performance (which I would encourage people to catch), and nothing I wouldn’t want to see at any Showbroads show - just, maybe, a little sooner than four years.

Tickets to the 11/17 2:30 pm performance can be accesssed HERE.

The Showbroads band is Greg Germann on Drums, Ian Jesse on Bass, and John Bronston Musical Directing from The Piano, and they sound amazing.

The (incredible) tech crew is Sharon Boggs on Sound Design and Tech, Shannon Epstein on Lights, Nicolas Minas as Rehearsal Cabaret Consultation, Ken Wright Stage Managing (with occasional onstage appearances), and Gordon Cooper hosting over the god mic.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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