Review: Utah “Boy” Taylor Frey Grows Up, Get's Married, and Has A Kid Like Any Other Good Mormon Should In TAYLOR FREY At 54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow readers! Bobby Patrick (We/Us/Our), your RAINBOW Reviewer here - Putting the silent T in cabareT to bring you ALL the Tea!

And the TEA with the capital T this week, my dearlings, was Taylor Frey making his NYC solo cabaret debut at 54 Below Friday night. So allow this critic to put it all upfront for you, dear Bobby readers. Taylor Frey in Taylor Frey at 54 Below was positively perfect. From his music to his voice to his performance to his dang outfit - everything about this self-titled show was the perfect example of the art of a classic story cabaret. There ya go - that's this critic's critique. So, short of doing one of those blow-by-blow walks through the set list, talking about how wonderful it all was in a kind of school report of what was sung and how well it was sung, and whattheheckever because... OY Bobby is asleep already, so let's not do any of that. Instead, let's talk about what makes a perfect story cabaret and why Taylor Frey's fits this mold.

1. Script/Story - A cabaret rarely flies with someone just flying by the seat of their pants. There are only a few who do the clubs that have the appeal, the charisma, the improv-ability, the fearlessness, and that are interesting enough to go out and totally wing it with the story they want to tell. Some need a fully written text to talk through between singing bits, some just need an outline, some just bullet points. Taylor came on knowing where he was, what he was doing, and where he wanted to go. It was clear that he followed the - Write the script, memorize the script, throw the script away formula. A gifted actor as well as a singer (& dancer), Frey was able to be "on book" with no music stand in sight, and to present the story of a star-struck barefoot boy with cheek of tan coming from Utah to the dirty city, and landing his first job on his first day. A student at Brigham Young University who felt the war inside, between his faith and who he really was (a war he fought and won) is the basis of the story Taylor followed from first song to last.
2. Song Curation - His twelve songs, plus one encore, were chosen to take the audience through Taylor's engrossing story. Each number came from the world of musical theatre, so each one required real acting and real singing. Whether they were from HAIRSPRAY, MAMMA MIA, or PIPPIN TF folded these numbers into his own story, and each became necessary when the spoken word was no longer enough in the storytelling. Many cabaret artistes will present songs they always wanted to sing but in a story cabaret; the songs (if not original) must move the show forward in comprehensible ways for the audience to F-E-E-L. In all of this, Frey checked all the boxes. Observe Taylor's SOUTH PACIFIC medley of SOME ENCHANTED EVENING/A WONDERFUL GUY - the musical necessity of talking about his husband would have been sugary in a different cabaret format, but in the tale being told was absolutely appropriate. This, followed by his fabulously talented husband, Broadway's Kyle Dean Massey, joining him on stage to duet on LOVE SONG from PIPPIN (A show in which KDM starred) was pure gold. By the end of the setlist, the audience felt they knew Taylor from his words and music. What more could an artiste ask for?
3. Outfit - TF described his own outfit as being "Dressed like Johnny Weir, about to ice skate," and, indeed, it was sparkly dangly heaven (see pics). French tucked into well-fitting jeans, it enhanced the look (& feel) of the show without distracting. It was the fashion for a TALENTED out and proud queer Dad making a much-needed return to the stage.
4. Performance - Here is where all of Taylor's experience, both in life and on the stage, came to the fore. His cabaret was not about anyone or anything else but his story. While taking songs from familiar dramatic material, at no time did he adopt the characters in the shows from which his songs originated. There are types of cabaret where the actor/singer wants to (and really must) play the role as it was written originally, but here, TF's acting came from real, raw, vulnerable places that we have all been to, suffered, and overcome, and he presented them with total honesty, a few tears on occasion, self-deprecating humor, and, most importantly, no boring-ness. He was engaging, appealing to the eyes & ears, and, though scripted, his presentation was honest and never felt forced or over-rehearsed. When emotion about his battle of sexuality and religion, or when talking about his husband and daughter, overtook him he just let it happen for the moment and let us all in, taking the audience with him wherever he needed to go.
5. Support/Guests - This is possibly the most crucial element to a great story cabaret. Once you have your story and you feel ready to tell it, it takes a music director like Benjamin Rauhala to help you shape and hone it into that 68-70 minute performance that will let you come in, hit 'em where they live, sound FABULOUS, and get the heck off the stage. Having an MD that is with you from first note to last, and can even contribute funny asides, act as "straight" man when needed, moving the show ever forward, all without interfering or making any of it about themselves is a blessing, and the Fairy Godfairy himself is always that blessing. Along with Matt Hinkley on guitar, Adam Wolfe at the drum set, and Joseph Wallace strummin' the bass, the band gave Taylor a musical foundation to stand proudly upon. And, speaking of proud, there is the topic of guests. As mentioned above, Taylor is married to a man with equal star power and Broadway creds - the yummy-licious Kyle Dean Massey, who joined his man to sing that LOVE SONG and make kissy faces afterward. The pair's combined voices on this languid ballad from PIPPIN brought tears to the eyes, and not just little Bobby's either.
6. Encore - Nancy LaMott used to say, "It's cabaret... There's always an encore." This is as important an element in cabaret as all the others, because how you leave 'em is how they'll remember you. Here, one more time, was the team of Frey & Massey dueting on the magnum opus from the television show SMASH - LET ME BE YOUR STAR. Combining their individual star powers and their perfectly pitched voices left all in the house wanting oh, so much more.

And herein lies a touch of sadness in this rainbow-rife review... Taylor (and Kyle) now reside in some land called Omaha. Bobby is reliably informed that it is somewhere out there (beneath the pale moonlight) in the middle of... so their days are taken up with being dads and running a brand new company. Elevatebaby.com was founded on the principle that anyone, regardless of gender, marital status, sexuality etc., has the right to seek medical help in making a family happen for them. Born out of their own trials of doing IVF in a gender-biased industry, Taylor (CEO) and Kyle (Surrogacy Director) have dedicated themselves and their company to helping any and all with their assisted reproduction needs, streamlining an overly difficult process so that prospective parents have a lot less to worry about on their way to a baby (or 2). Now, this joyous occupation that is giving some much-needed help to prospective families of all varieties, and their REMOTE location means that our stages will suffer their absence more than they should. Not to say that either of these dads are OUT of the biz, but indeed for us fans who could watch and listen to either or both ply the craft as often as possible, the opportunities lessen ... Le Sigh.

So this has been one of Little Bobby's most long-winded dissertations, but when an act is THIS good, and there are ZERO raindrops to fall from our rainbow pen, you need to know why and how, so that you can keep your eyes peeled for any performance Taylor Frey might give, either here in NYC or out there in the hinterlands OR on your screens, because Bobby gives Taylor Frey at 54 Below his wholehearted...

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows.

Check Out Taylor's IMDB profile to see what Film Work Is Coming Up: HERE

Read/Research All About Elevate: HERE

And Keep Up With His InstaPictograms (where you can see his A DOOR BELL Daughter): HERE

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