BWW Reviews: MEGAN MULLALLY & Supreme Music Program at OCPAC

During my recent interview with Megan Mullally (here), while describing her upcoming set of concerts here at the Orange County Performing Arts Center's Samueli Theater with her band Supreme Music Program, she said, quite adamantly, "We're sooo not a Cabaret group!" That's certainly true. She repeats this disclaimer humorously at the start of her concert ("As you can tell, we're not really a cabaret. Surprise!"), mostly because Mullally and her band have been billed—for lack of a better description—as the opener for OCPAC's 2010-2011 Cabaret season.

Instead, the mostly older crowd expecting jazz standards and showtunes on her return engagement to the Center were treated to an eclectic collection of story-songs interpreted by a truly amazing vocalist, backed by an incredible, hard-working band. Between little-known American folk songs, alternative hits, down-and-dirty jazz, moody blues, pissed-off rock, and even some outlandish country knee-slappers, Mullally and her musical friends offered a few live versions of their favored obscure tunes found in their first three albums. On stage, Mullally was joined by musical director and principal pianist Greg Kuehn, drummer/percussionist Joe Berardi, guitarist Stuart Mathis, pedal steel guitarist Doug Livingston (who occasionally picked up a tuba and bass), viola player Peter Jandula-Hudson, and trumpeter-extraordinaire Larry Williams.

Another surprise: those coming to watch Mullally in concert, expecting a glimpse of her brassy turns on Broadway or, more specifically, her famously catty, self-centered, über-rich alter ego Karen Walker from NBC's hit Will & Grace, will instead find a completely different gal... easy-going, nonchalantly honest, and insanely talented. In the intimate, candle-lit setting of the Samueli Theater, Mullally's voice is at times eerily somber, hElla Rockin' and, in some songs, stirring and powerful. Dang, this girl can belt!

On opening night, she starts off the show with little fanfare, dressed in simple, comfortably slinky black, and sporting adorably chic Tina Fey-ish glasses. They open with "Up A Lazy River" (the opening track to their most recent album, Free Again!) a jazzy, New Orleans-y tune (a sound revisited often during the concert) that showcases Mullally's voice that suggests hints of Diana Krall. But then in the next turn, she belts the bejeezus out of "Down By The Water" and turns into an Indie rock princess with "Charlie Darwin." You can intermittently hear a bit of Karen Walker's high pitch in the upper register of her voice, but mostly, you hear some pleasantly sounding mid- and lower-range notes that are quite beautiful. She even channels a bit of Norah Jones in the 30's era song "Tomorrow Night," a song she disclosed recently in her interview to be a favorite.

The entire set felt so free-flowing and pleasantly unstructured, almost like sitting in on an impromptu jam session among a group of musically-gifted friends. It was so casual, in fact, that when Mullally stumbles—first pitch-wise, then lyrically—during the otherwise moody, Quentin Tarantino-esque "Wind and Rain" she had fellow duet partner Stuart Mathis start the song over... twice. It was perfectly fine, and the audience ate it up and gave the seemingly unfettered Mullally the boost to (finally) finish the song. "Well, you know, it's better to be honest," she explains to an already rapt audience who didn't mind the restart. Despite the live snafu, the completed performance not only produced a stirringly bewitching song, it provided the audience a looser experience overall, a nice change of pace for the stuffiness of a cabaret.

And with each song, you realize quickly that Mullally—the two-time Emmy winner that she is—is a riveting actress with plenty of stage presence, transitioning effortlessly from scream rock, to funny corn-fed country, to soulful dirty blues, and even a tear-jerker in the form of Kermit the Frog's "(It's Not Easy Being) Green," using a borrowed Shirley Horn arrangement that's just absolutely gorgeous from start to finish (yes, I got a bit weepy). Though the show truly isn't a cabaret in the traditional sense, she does manage to insert a few cabaret-like moments, such as Billie Holiday's haunting "Don't Explain," a torch song handled so wonderfully by Mullally, and which also shined a spotlight on trumpeter Larry Williams. But for most of her uptempo numbers, Mullally turns into a little spit-fire, with a snarl that rivals even the male rockers. Mathis, who plays the guitar next to her, sings most of the back-up and duet vocals with a breezy, rock-weathered ease.

Mullally also showcases her comedic talents during the set. Her deadpan, casually unrehearsed in-between talks and introductions for some of the songs are priceless: "This next song is about a blue-eyed whore" (about "Down By The Water")... or "feel free to make out with this next song" (regarding the sleazy, sexy "In The Dark")... or, my favorite of the entire night, "here's more of that hillbilly sh*t!" She also discloses that she spent her first six years of being in California living in Costa Mesa with her parents, where, as a young lady, she was "obsessed with wizards and fairies, but then we later moved to Oklahoma City, and was, like, what?!?!"

Mullally and her band keep things as quirky and eccentric as possible, from song selection to the even the arrangements and instrumentations. The band closes the evening with the Decemberist's "I Was Meant For The Stage," belted by Mullally with such power, true grit and plenty of intelligent irony. She then jokes about the absurd notion of leaving the stage prematurely for the show's "finalé" only to return for the traditional encore set which she ends with a David Lynch-esque "Avé Maria," backed by an unusually beautiful soundscape and the ballsy "You Took Advantage Of Me" a song featured on the recent Fame movie remake.

Overall, this highly-recommended non-cabaret cabaret show is a great introduction to those uninitiated masses that have not seen (or, rather, heard) this different side of Megan Mullally. Her backing band is also worth your time. Never have I sat through a showcase where I uttered "Wow" quite so often as I did during this show.

Photo courtesy of artist/OCPAC.

Read BWW's Interview with Megan Mullally HERE.

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Megan Mullally and Supreme Music Program performs at Samueli Theater at the Orange County Performing Arts Center from October 7 - 10, with shows Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 p.m. Tickets are $72 and can be purchased online at OCPAC.org, by calling 714.556.2787, or by visiting the Box Office in person at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

Student Rush tickets are available for $15, 1 hour before showtime, ID required, 1 ticket per ID, cash only.

The Samueli Theater is located at 615 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

For more information, visit OCPAC.org.

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