Review: Jeffrey Scott Parsons Makes LA Solo Cabaret Debut with COMFY

Triple threat performer Jeffrey Scott Parsons made his LA Solo Cabaret debut Monday January 22 at Sterling's Upstairs at the Federal with a sold out house. The show was entitled Comfy and took us back through the years beginning with a six-year old Parsons in Utah - yes, he was a farmboy and ... a Mormon, still is - who hated uncomfortable shirts and pants, calling them "frickly", but had an early passion for sequins. We were treated to a home movie of his performance of "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" with his older sister and brother, two younger sisters scrambling around and his mother at the piano, referring to them all as the Mormon Von Trapp family. Indeed, this lad has a sense of humor and made an otherwise seriously reflective evening exceedingly enjoyable to watch, as he burst into tap at regular intervals.

Being a Mormon and gay is uncomfortable; it's a no, no. You can't be a member of that religion and practice homosexuality, without much pain and suffering. Remember Del Shores' explicit play Southern Baptist Sissies? Yet, when Parsons came to LA to enter a theatrical world, he found himself once again uncomfortable, surrounded by a community of open-minded individuals who referred to religion as spirituality. Would he be able to fit in comfortably? (Musically a terribly amusing "Disney Medley" accompanies this segment.) Well, as time went on, he by all appearances did and is now considered one of LA theatre's top leading men, who can sing, dance and act the bejesus out of any musical theatre role. But underneath, it's been an emotionally difficult road, adjusting to both the theatre world and to the Mormon Church, to which, by choice, he still belongs. He alluded to the similarities of people dressing up in the theatre with those dressing up on Sunday to honor God. Confused in both worlds and not being able to live in one without the other, he made his choice to have it all. Salvation, he claims, is personal, yet it is difficult to do it alone. He, like everyone, needs a community around him. I am usually less pleased with too much talk during a cabaret. I like a happy balance. But...Parsons is so sincere, so sweet and lovable, that he made the hour+ gig totally mesmerizing in a meaningful way.