BWW Reviews: Jeffrey Wright Delivers Solid Performance at the Kranzberg

After experiencing some initial success in the world of cabaret last year, Jeffrey Wright has returned to the Kranzberg Arts Center for a weekend of sold out performances. With the encouragement of mentors Lina Koutrakos and Rick Jensen, Wright has fashioned a show centered around the theme of "The Dance", featuring an eclectic mix of standards, show tunes, classic rock and country. But, Wright breaks down these genre classifications by investing each song with the same sense of genuine warmth and sensitivity that characterizes his own personality.

Wright opened the night with Irving Berlin's "Dancing in the Dark", a thematic fit for the show, but a real stretch for his range with its sudden shifts in keys as it climbs melodically ever upward. A couple of catchy show tunes followed, but what really grabbed me was his plaintive run through James Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves". Wright's assured reading lifted the song out of its classic rock radio context, and drew a deeper sense of drama from the lyrics. Pianist and arranger Neal Richardson added harmony vocals to the chorus, and provided Wright with inspired accompaniment throughout the performance.

Wright sketched out a brief bio for the audience, and touched upon the inspiration for this show's theme by relating an amusing anecdote about the dances he attended as a youth growing up Catholic in Little Rock, AR. He recalled how the nuns kept the dancers separated by the length of a ruler, to allow room for the "holy spirit". Since he's been described, by his own admission, as having two left feet, he decided to dispel that myth by injecting a bit of fancy footwork into Berlin's "The Best Things Happen When You're Dancing", with choreography courtesy of Taylor Pietz.

The highlight of the show came when Wright was joined by his co-star of the New Jewish Theatre production of The Last Five Years, April Strelinger. Together they sang the closing number of Jason Robert Brown's musical, "Goodbye Until Tomorrow/I Could Never Rescue You", and Strelinger really impressed with her emotionally charged delivery of this challenging piece.

Noel Coward's "Senorita Nina" offered Wright the change to lighten up, and his sharp take on this comic trifle demonstrated the need for the inclusion of more like minded material. It broke the mood up nicely, and it was one of the few truly upbeat numbers.

Wright closed with Elton John's "Electricity" from Billy Elliot, and then returned for an encore with a delicate reading of an Alex Rybeck original that I'm calling "Bless Your Heart".

Jeffrey Wright continues to grow as an artist, and this hour long set was certainly a step forward in his development as a cabaret performer. I would've liked to have had a bit more patter exploring the reasoning behind certain song choices, because that usually reveals something personal about the performer in the process, but I can appreciate his brevity too, since it kept the show moving along at a brisk pace, without seeming hurried.

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