The Real Secret: Haviland Stillwell at Opia

It is wonderfully refreshing to find a new talent on the cabaret scene, someone who does more than just belt out the same old standards. Fiddler on the Roof's Haviland Stillwell, blessed with a voice that evokes both Lauren Flanigan and Patti LuPone, baptized the new "Just Trapper" series at Opia on Sunday night with her show The Real Secret, and formally announced her arrival as a talent worth noticing.

Less a cabaret and more a selection of beautifully rendered songs, The Real Secret is quite enjoyable in its diversity. From Berlin to Sondheim to the Pointer Sisters, Ms. Stillwell proves that she is capable of performing a wide range of musical styles. She belts when appropriate, but more often focuses her lovely soprano voice on the emotion behind each song. Standing beneath a screen featuring (occasionally distracting) pictures of herself and backed by Damien Bassman on drums, Peter Sachon on cello, and director/producer Trapper Felides on piano, Ms. Stillwell made many standards feel new again.

Opening with a very cute "I Wanna Be Loved By You" (with amusing echoes of Betty Boop) she moves smoothly through Youmans' and De Sylva's "Should I Be Sweet" to a dark solo rendition of Sondheim's "Hello, Little Girl." She celebrates her Georgian roots with a combination of Berlin's "If You Don't Want My Peaches" and Yellen and Bigelow's "Hard Hearted Hannah" before tearing up the room with a soaring "Midnight Train To Georgia," nicely backed by Brian Golub and Marissa Hansson.

Ms. Stillwell further shows off her top-40 skills with the '80's standard "How Will I Know," and conjures images of Michelle Pfeiffer when she sits atop Felides' piano to sing Jake Heggie's "Snake." Her rendition of "Unusual Way" from Nine must have left Laura Benanti and Rebecca Luker weeping somewhere, but her combining of Sondheim's "Water Under The Bridge" with William Finn's "Sailing" is not quite as effective. She brings warm emotion to both Carly Simon's standard "Nobody Does It Better " and the breakaway hit from Avenue Q, "There's A Fine, Fine Line." As a finale, she raises the roof with the Pointer Sisters' "I'm So Excited," and is sweetly sassy in her encore rendition of the jazz classic "Blues in the Night."

Despite these considerable strengths, what the evening ultimately lacks is a sense of cohesiveness. There seems to be little structure to the songs, and as such, the overall power of the evening is not what it could be. If Ms. Stillwell focused on a particular genre of music or a particular composer, used the songs to illustrate a story, or even simply explained what each group of songs meant to her, it could be more fulfilling. Without narration or any real connection between the songs, the evening lacks the intimacy of the best cabaret acts, and feels a little like an impersonal concert in a large stadium. Of course, The Real Secret is Ms. Stillwell's first cabaret, and such savoir faire will develop with time. With her lovely voice and obvious passion for music, Haviland Stillwell seems poised to do great things on the cabaret scene.

The Real Secret will return to Opia on February 28^th at 9:00. Visit www.liveatopia.com for more information.

For photos from "The Real Secret", click here.

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