Review: ADAM PASCAL at Blue Strawberry Showroom And Lounge

Skilled cabaret performing is more than just an artist singing their songs. The thing that makes a cabaret concert special is an artist’s connection with their audience that stems from the stories that are woven between the songs of their set. On Friday night at Blue Strawberry, Broadway veteran Adam Pascal captivated his audience who came for his soaring tenor and skilled musicianship with compelling and often humorous stories about his career.

Pascal told Broadway World in September that he is aware that his audiences come to his show because they want to hear him sing from songs from his vast amount of work in musical theatre. From the first notes sung it was apparent that Pascal’s multi-octave tenor is world class. He worked his way through the set astounding his audience with the upper register of his rock tenor voice singing acoustic arrangements of songs from the theatre peppered with rock classics from U2, Billy Joel, and Elton John that he used during the audition process for RENT, AIDA, and the other shows. His first notes of Billy Joel’s “Vienna” were goosebump inducing and his performance of Andrew Lloyd Webbers’ “Heaven on their Minds” from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was celestial. He surprised the audience with some stellar arrangements of songs from CABARET and CHICAGO that were his favorites from the shows instead of what his character sang. Pascal gave his audience exactly what they came for with a healthy dose of material from RENT.

What made this evening with Pascal and his guitar extraordinary was his storytelling. He shared details about his career, his struggles, his successes and the choices he has made along the way. His very personal account of his dreams and aspirations were engrossing and filled with humor and plenty of laughs. This is a man who has elevated a one-man acoustic show into a performance that is beyond what most artists can achieve with a cabaret show.

After seeing many performers in solo performances, Pascal’s show on Friday night at Blue Strawberry may be one of the best cabaret performances to play St. Louis. His voice is otherworldly and his work on the guitar was virtuosic. His fans came for the theatre tunes, relished the rock performances, delighted in his stories, and left with treasured memories of their intimate evening with the Adam Pascal.

There are two additional opportunities to see Adam Pascal at Blue Strawberry, Saturday October 7th at 7:30 PM and Sunday, October 8th at 7:00 PM. Seating is extremely limited. Click the ticket link below for more information.

To post a comment, you must register and login.