Review: Eric McCormack and Laura Bell Bundy Reunite for OC Cabaret at Segerstrom Arts

For a while, no one seemed to have noticed the minutes tick by past the expected 7 o'clock start time for the OC debut of Eric McCormack and Laura Bell Bundy's co-headlining cabaret show at Segerstrom Center for the Arts during the Opening Night performance on October 17, 2024 of their three-night engagement at the Samueli Theater.

But, eventually, as the lights dimmed and the jovial pair are finally announced for their joint entrances followed by their first goofy duet—with accompanying goofy dance routine—it was clearly evident right away that the audience members of their show, A Blonde, A Brunette, and Some Duets: From Primetime to Sondheim, were in for a fun and cheeky night of silly songs and even sillier stories.

Bundy and McCormack began their set with the quirky tune "Two Lost Souls," which they enhanced with a funny, vaudevillian-esque dance routine that was quite reminiscent of past male/female singing comedy acts, but with a more decidedly musical theater flair. They were off to a great start—despite the slight delayed start.

McCormack, for his part, owned up to their tardiness with an apology and confession.

"I thought this was an 8 o'clock show," he sheepishly admitted, which drew chuckles from the audience. "I was just in the hotel room, chilling this whole time! I had no idea I had to be here much earlier…" 

Apparently, once someone had alerted him, he sprinted over to the theater, much to everyone's relief. Not surprisingly, the forgiving audience laughed at the gaffe, which was just another hilarious anecdote in an evening that will be full of them (and to McCormack's defense, this very early 7:00 pm start time for this season's Segerstrom cabarets are a new thing that we all have to get used to moving forward).

Of course, getting an audience to laugh at their antics is not a new phenomenon for these naturally comedic geniuses with extensive funny-inducing experiences under their belts. I mean, just one glance at their respective résumés certainly attests to this. 

Originally born in Toronto, Canada in 1963, McCormack, of course, is best known for his groundbreaking, Emmy-winning role as gay lawyer Will Truman on the hit NBC sitcom Will & Grace, both during its original run from 1998 to 2005 and its later revived reboot that aired from 2017 to 2020. 

In addition to Will & Grace, McCormack has appeared thereafter in various television shows, films, and on Broadway. 

Screen roles included three seasons on Perception, as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' doctor-turned-love interest on The New Adventures of Old Christine, the suspense drama Departure, the sci-fi series Travelers, and in the feature film The Sisters.

On the stage, McCormack has had a notable career on Broadway, showcasing his range as a performer who is able to move seamlessly between musical theater and serious drama.

His Broadway debut came in 2001 when he took over the role of Harold Hill (from the departing Craig Bierko) in the 2000 revival of Meredith Wilson's THE MUSIC MAN. McCormack's portrayal of the charismatic con man in this classic musical demonstrated his versatility, as he smoothly transitioned from his television fame to live nightly stage performances that won over audiences (well, he already showed off his singing pipes several times on Will & Grace, so this wasn't such a surprise to fans when they saw him in this).

In 2012, McCormack returned to Broadway in a different capacity, this time in Gore Vidal's dramatic play The Best Man. His role as Joseph Cantwell—a ruthless politician in this political drama about presidential candidates vying for power—earned him praises for his ability to take on complex, layered characters while performing as part of a notable ensemble cast that included actors James Earl Jones and Angela Lansbury.

Broadway baby Bundy, meanwhile, branched out from the stage to the screen and into the recording studio with relative ease, all while cracking us up along the way.

Born in 1981 and raised in Lexington, Kentucky, young Ms. Bundy began her career as a model, a pageant princess (with singing as her talent, natch), and as a frequently booked-and-blessed child actor, appearing many times in regional theater and TV commercials. And, yes, that's 14-year-old Bundy playing young Sarah in the 1995 film Jumanji.

At the age of 9, she originated the role of Tina in the Off-Broadway musical RUTHLESS!, which earned her nominations for both Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards, an early sign of more greatness to come.

It wasn't until 2002, at the age of 21, that she made her Broadway debut in the hit stage adaptation of HAIRSPRAY, originating the role of bitchy Amber Von Tussle, the contentious nemesis of Tracy Turnblad played by Marissa Jaret Winokur. (Fun fact: Bundy, Winokur, and their original castmate Kerry Butler—who herself is set to have a cabaret show here at Segerstrom Center in January 2025—have recently reunited for a series of concerts celebrating the 20th Anniversary of HAIRSPRAY).

However, Bundy's breakthrough role came in 2007 when she originated the role of pink-clad Harvard Law student Elle Woods in the hit Broadway musical adaptation of LEGALLY BLONDE, which earned her a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. She gained an even bigger national audience and fandom when the musical became the first Broadway show to be shown in its entirety on MTV.

In addition to her theater work, Bundy has appeared in multiple television shows such as How I Met Your Mother, Hart of Dixie, and Anger Management and has also cultivated quite a career as a recording artist, not only in original Broadway cast albums, but also as a CMT nominated country music singer, releasing albums like Achin' and Shakin' in 2010, which showcased her versatility in blending pop, musical theater, and country styles together. Her viral comedy work online includes alter egos Shocantelle Brown, Euneeda Biscuit, and Namastacy.

So how did these two come together, you might ask? 

Well, the talented twosome—as they briefly explained—first worked together last year when they starred in Sandy Rustin's Noël Coward-esque 2023 comedic play THE COTTAGE on Broadway under the direction of Seinfeld actor Jason Alexander. There, they discovered their similar comedic humor and musical theater-leaning interests. On stage, they felt they had great chemistry together—despite, in their funny recollection, the lack of an "intimacy coordinator" on the project to guide them to notice that fact.

In a continuous, side-splitting series of extended stories and anecdotes that took command of their show (seemingly the stories were more plentiful than the actual singing, which in this case, I didn't mind at all), they both spent the evening tracing their separate trajectories, which seem to align with their tastes in what makes them laugh and what inspires their creative juices.

"I came out of the womb singing Judy [Garland]…" proudly claims Bundy. "Drunk Judy."

The iconic legend was an early inspiration for her, particularly when it came time to doing the talent portion of the Miss Peewee Hemisphere pageant she competed in at age 5. This gave way to Bundy's spectacular medley of impersonations that included not only an uncanny Garland cadence in "Over the Rainbow" and "The Man That Got Away," but also a flawless Julie Andrews accent à la The Sound of Music, Celine Dion's dramatic gestures with "My Heart Will Go On," and Tina Turner's dance moves as seen with her "Proud Mary." McCormick gamely joins in on the choreography on the latter.

McCormick, on the other hand, though admittedly not gay in real life despite playing a very convincing one on television for several seasons, had adjacently queer interests that, of course, baffled his Canadian family a bit. This led to a "glam rock" medley that paid homage to his goth-y phase that included David Bowie's "Changes," followed by tunes from Freddie Mercury and The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Bundy then recalled her time—at the age of 9!—in the original musical RUTHLESS! which involved a plot that found her playing the role of a little girl who kills another girl for a coveted part. The audience was amazed to learn that two of her understudies eventually became famous themselves: Natalie Portman and… Britney Spears! This, naturally, segued into her own unique, slow-and-slinky take on Spears' hit "Oops…I Did It Again" which had the audience in stitches.

Throughout the evening, the pair talked about their respective routes to their current states including early auditions each of them had as budding theater thespians—with the mutual goal, of course, to someday get their big break on the Broadway stage. 

This led to a mostly Broadway showtunes-centric latter half which included McCormack's take on "Another Hundred People" from Stephen Sondheim's COMPANY and Bundy doing a stunningly perfect impersonation of Kristin Chenoweth before going into Glinda's part in the song "Popular" from WICKED—with McCormack trying his best to be her substitute Elphaba. It was super cute.

But that wonderful and hilarious number was prefaced by, perhaps, the evening's funniest story that involved Bundy recalling the time when she—as the standby Glinda for Chenoweth in WICKED—had to step into the role for the second act of a performance when Chenoweth was, um, "feeling shitty"… literally after a meal of Buffalo hot wings. 

Chenoweth, as it turned out, famously didn't miss many performances during that initial run—so this post-first act emergency was definitely out of the ordinary. With not much time to prepare, Bundy began applying her make-up to go on as Glinda in Chenoweth's dressing room at intermission as Chenoweth bellowed from the adjacent bathroom trying to offer Bundy encouragement while, well, painfully doing her business. Ha!

"I don't think she knows I'm telling people this story in our show," Bundy confessed. Welp, I guess she does now!

Next, McCormack then recalled his time playing the role of Prof. Hill—and getting to work opposite the beloved late Rebecca Luker—in the 2000 revival of THE MUSIC MAN, which transitioned into a medley of the frantic "(Ya Got) Trouble" and the lovely "Till There Was You." 

Bundy followed up with memories from her time originating Elle Woods in LEGALLY BLONDE. McCormack started things off with "Serious," the song Elle's boyfriend Warner sings break up with her, then Bundy counters with "So Much Better," the triumphant first act finalé battle cry with the famously prolonged last note (she didn't know it, but a few of us super fans were singing hushed back up vocals for her from our seats).

McCormack then continued by expressing unapologetic praises for his no-so-hidden love of adult-contemporary singer-songwriter star Barry Manilow (wow, what a contrast from… Bowie and Mercury!), which he demonstrated with a sincerely heartfelt rendition of Manilow's "I Was a Fool (to Let You Go)."

A country singer at heart, Bundy then next spoke about her post-LEGALLY BLONDE move to Nashville to start her country music career, prompting her to don one of her funny, Southern-accented comic characters to sing the amusingly irreverent "You Can't Pray the Gay Away," a satirical song that much of the audience chuckled at, but a good number of the expected conservative-leaning OC crowd likely didn't warm up to—as the older women in the next table demonstrated on their unamused faces.

But the show surely won these ladies back with the revelation that Bundy and McCormack further proved their professional and friendly relationship was certainly "meant to be" when they each discovered their respective children's names: Bundy's only child is named Huck, while McCormack's only child is named Finn! In a touching moment, they dedicated their duet of "When You Wish Upon A Star" to their kids.

To close out the show, the pair sang a heartwarming rendition of "Suddenly Seymour" from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS—coincidentally, a terrific production of which is playing next door at South Coast Repertory, just a few feet away from this very stage. While I was hoping for a few encores, the pair took their bows soon after the song ended, with Bundy hilariously leaving the stage quicker, leaving behind McCormack to take more bows solo. 

Overall, the show was a unique addition to Segerstrom Center's awesome, Broadway-centric cabaret series, showcasing a duo that presented a mostly spoken comedy set with a few songs sprinkled in (it's usually the opposite where the featured performer sings a 90-minute set of mostly music with a scant amount of interspersed brief anecdotes in between). Bundy and McCormick made a sublime, totally uproarious comedy duo, bantering with each other like two old friends just gabbing in their own living room about their respective pasts.  

If their cabaret concert comes to a city near you, be sure to grab a ticket… and someone please check to see that McCormick has signed in safely to be present for the top of the show!

Photo courtesy of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

* Follow this reviewer on Twitter / Instagram / Threads: @cre8iveMLQ *

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Tickets to upcoming performances of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' 2024-2025 Cabaret Series can be purchased online at www.SCFTA.org, by phone at 714-556-2787 or in person at the SCFTA box office (open daily at 10 am). Segerstrom Center for the Arts is located at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa.

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