BWW Reviews: Blake McIver Ewing Astonishes @ Sterling's

 

Actor/singer Blake McIver Ewing, well known for his big screen remake of The Little Rascals, his amazing 1992 Junior Vocalist Champion status on TV's Star Search and his stint on TV's Full House, among many others, has undeniably left his mark as an immensely talented child star. With his stage appearances in Light in the Piazza, and most recently in the critically-acclaimed Chess, he is showing just how phenomenal a talent he has become: a mature, fully blossomed musical comedy performer. On Sunday, September 5, Ewing added yet another remarkable dimension to his career with his cabaret debut @ Sterling's Upstairs @ Vitello's: Musical Confessions of a Child Co-Star.

Playing to a packed room, Ewing not only displayed a tremendous vocal range, but a style and artistry reserved for singers twice his age. He understands the stylings of standards, love songs, jazz, pop, Broadway, gospel and even bossa nova and is able to execute them all in a flawlessly professional manner. Extraordinary! He also writes his own material and has a great way with an audience. Soft-spoken, intelligent and brimming over with charisma, Ewing has it all. If he is in fact the schizophrenic he claims to be, although I feel this was his eclectic sense of humor at play, so be it: it makes him that much more the genius to be reckoned with.

Backed by superb musical director/pianist James Lent, Ewing essayed the following tunes brilliantly, each and every one. Tony Bennett's "The Best Is Yet to Come", singing to his grandmother in the audience, the beautiful Bacharach ballad "A House Is Not a Home", Sondheim's dynamically pensive "Marry Me a Little", the tear-jerking spiritual "His Eye Is on the Sparrow", the lovely "Love to Me" from ... Piazza, the imaginative "There's a World" from Next to Normal, and the glorious "Back to Before" from Ragtime, giving fresh dynamics to a number usually sung by a woman. There was also a riveting duet with Nicci Claspell, his costar from Chess: "Someday", cut from the movie version of Hunchback of Notre Dame and a vibrant encore with Alicia Keys' oh so melodic and meaningful "The Thing About Love".

Ewing is the man to watch. Don't miss him the next time he performs anywhere. At a young and tender 25, he's a class act!

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