Review: 'Tis a worthy voyage to FAR AWAY PLACES with KT Sullivan at Pangea

She made her entrance walking among the audience tables, crooning a capella about a yearning for “Far Away Places,” in the title song of her splendid cabaret show.  Relaxed and radiant, self-assured and smiling, KT Sullivan made her way to the Pangea piano where she would accompany herself.  That’s not a “far away place” to get to in that small, comfortable back room where everyone in attendance gets to be rewardingly close. Our singing tour guide took us vicariously on a round-trip trek across continents and decades, letting us imagine everything from “April in Paris” to “Istanbul (Not Constantinople)” along with a couple of things from the late 1800s as nods to her own Irish roots and coming back to Manhattan with Cole Porter’s “I Happen to Like New York.”  The wanderlust longings were captivatingly captured in a song, with Noel Coward’s advice to “Sail Away” and a piece written by her sister Heather Sullivan about the fantasy of “Carpet Ride.”  But, fantasy aside, the performer has formed fond impressions from real experiences, going on many a cruise to many a “far away place” and has done shows overseas over the years. (She did her Far Away Places set recently in London.)  

KT Sullivan, looking and sounding elegant, offered some historical context and anecdotes that added to a listener’s appreciation of the material.  She chose a chatty and chummy manner so that bits of history would not have the feel of a lecture reserved for the most seriously curious collector of song facts.     

The repertoire allowed for variety in style and tone, letting soprano Sullivan use the classically trained aspect of her voice, indulge in some comic goofiness (“Paree,” introduced by the madcap Beatrice Lillie), and the showpiece that is the title song from Leonard Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti in which a wife rants about and summarizes the plot of a movie.  

Whatever locale she is addressing in lyrics or whatever venue’s address she heads to, it’s clear that KT Sullivan is at home with a cabaret audience.

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KT Sullivan returns to Pangea with this show on November 21. Tickets to that performance are available here.

More attractions at Pangea (in the main room and in the lounge) are on their website’s calendar at www.pangeanyc.com

Learn more about KT Sullivan on her website: www.ktsullivan.com

Header photo credit: Stephen Mosher

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