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CAUGHT UP ON CATCH-UP ON CABARET (MID-YEAR REVIEW THAT IS ALSO A PREVIEW)
AND MY DOCTORAL THESIS ON HOW CABARET IS LIKE ICE CREAM
Can the year really be half over? If it weren’t for the heat waves and passing people on the street licking ice cream cones (more on that in a minute), I wouldn’t believe it’s summer already. Why, it seems like only yesterday I was going to cabaret Christmas shows and losing my mittens. Well, the mid-point of the year seems like the right time to look back at some shows from the first half of 2008 that I didn’t have a chance to write about then, but that I know or hope will be back in the latter half.
As a champion and seeker of new talent (or the heretofore egregiously underexposed in New York), I’ve been especially happy to see two series of multi-performer shows that include newcomers. They also have a few people you may have heard about, but not heard—or maybe not for a while, unless you are a bit of a cabaret addict. This brings me to the Cabaret Conundrum, AKA The Vicious Circle. Nightclubbing takes time and money, and unless you have oodles of each, many names and smiling photos in the flurry of show postcards and their E-mailed equivalents may blur together. Which act to see? Reviews and word of mouth may help, and videos and audio samples on websites are pretty good and encouraged….but there’s nothing like that free sample of a new ice cream flavor the store to let you know for sure if you like it and want to spend your money on a cone. Three cheers for GRACECOSGROVE and her monthly “Grace Notes” shows at Don’t Tell Mama. As hostess, she’s serving up a whole lot of ice cream of the crop. She makes it a point to include a newbie each time. I was really knocked out by someone new to me named Wendy Russell. Her ballad singing and emotion-tinged voice conveying honesty and sensitivity are nothing short of magnificent. I really can’t wait to see her do a show--- if this night was any indication of what’s to come, alert the cabaret midwives: a star is about to be born. Grace, in “lab”-friendly agenda is out to let singers try out material to see how it works. Goals include support and developing audiences for their upcoming shows (cabaret is often about the plugging and the hugging). But by their very nature, talent at group shows doesn’t just preach to the already converted followers, and Grace practices what she “preaches,” including herself on the bill as a performer, showing her versatility with ballads and a sly novelty number. Anyone coming primarily to see one or two performers is exposed to the others and new fan bases for new faces develop. It’s called The Miracle Of The Captive Audience. Discovery, belated or otherwise, is a good thing. Just ask Christopher Columbus.
One soiree, as Grace calls the pleasing potpourri, featured a glimpse of SHEERA BEN-DAVID’s Come Summer, before she took it to The Algonquin-- where it was superb: focused singing with integrity and emotional, involved interpretations that rang true. So much humanity comes through! She’s also down to earth, funny, and classy. If she were an ice cream flavor, she’d be the richest one, ice cream for grown-ups, served with warm brandy—definitely nothing syrupy. (Her next stop is Palm Beach, Florida at the Colony Hotel for the latter half of July.) Like Sheera’s, several of the acts have been directed by ERIC MICHAEL GILLETT who also came along to do high-octane examples of his own new act at The Metropolitan Room, with four dates this month. It looks gutsy. Song choices include everything from Sondheim to the Backstreet Boys In between, he’ll be back at Grace Notes on July 15 and, Grace notes, she will have another night of her own solo show at The Metropolitan Room on July 12.
On the bill in another various artists showcase series, MAC’s New Faces (as well as one of Grace’s faces), was RAISSA KATONA BENNETT. Her songs at each made the sampling not just a teaser but a pleaser. Savvy, thoughtful, and poised, it’s easy to see right away that she’s a pro whose renditions show a keen intelligence and perspective. A veteran of Broadway and national tours, this actress really acts in her act---meaning that she crystalizes specific moments and reactions as songs often become admirably detailed scenes. Putting Things Away has, ultimately, a life-affirming feel. You feel a lot of warmth coming from her --confirmed offstage when you chat privately. Her show has a nice variety of songs smartly put together. So, if she were some kind of ice cream, she’d be one of those chocolate-vanilla-strawberry combo ice cream sandwiches. I hear she’ll be back soon.
ANGELA SCHULTZ (a singer I first heard at one of the MAC New Faces shows) returns to Don’t Tell Mama on July 25 accompanied by and singing the songs of BRETT KRISTOFFERSON. His songs are powerful and sometimes wrenching (in a good way, meaning powerful and not sugar-coated; no ice cream here, but not quite heroin). She’s the perfect muse, giving herself fully to the material with a dynamic theatre voice.
And I would be happy to see TINA JENSEN in one of these group shows. She’s a spunky, enthusiastic, bundle of talent and nerve endings who made an impressive debut. Disarmingly self-deprecating, full of brio, she’s edgy and cuddly at the same time. Her eclectic song choices add to the full-of-surprises sensibility. She’s as refreshing as an ice cream soda with all that fizz and bubbly factor in the sweetness.
Look for another chance at The Duplex to enter (at your own risk and risqué), the wacky and wonderful world of Booth Daniels and Patrick Frankfort, not for the prude or politically correct. BOOTH AND PAT are fearless and embrace their inner goofy rebel nerdy iconoclastic selves. With an act where the conceit is that they are getting on each other’s nerves and interrupting or derailing each other’s best and worst musical intentions, they are a satirical mini-miracle. It’s R-rated for “Ranting” and “Rude” and “Rebellious” and “Ridiculous” and “Ribald” and “Really Riotous.” Gleefully playing dumb and dumber, they push each other’s buttons and push the envelope, too. Mocking music styles by just doing them, with original songs in the mixed-up mix, mocking and mock-serious, it’s wild. If they were ice cream, they’d have to be a banana split because they are bananas and side-splittingly funny when the jokes land (some may thud, causing better ad libs) or maybe they’re a sundae just because their show is on a Sunday (July 20… but then a Friday on August 29; you see, they’re unpredictable).
Also at the Duplex, I was happy to discover talented songwriter WILL VAN DYKE this spring. With a group of strong singers, he’s at the piano as they (and finally he) sing contemporary musical theatre numbers he co-wrote. Some are intense powerhouse numbers, a few are quirky-charming (like he is), and there are tender moments, too. He and his strong-voiced crew are back on July 14 at 7 pm to reprise them. That’s Bastille Day and after that show there’s a “comic French extravaganza” with COLLEEN McHUGH (she’ll share the stage with her co-Chicagoan MIRIAM PLOTKIN. Earlier this year, I caught Colleen’s Cole Porter show and she’s in that category of performers I’m glad to recommend. She’s likeably brash and has a twinkle in her eye that probably is not the result of Lasik surgery. She can sell a song and is a real entertainer. The show is cutely named Bastille Magnolias.
Or you might go to The Laurie Beechman Theatre on Bastille Day, not because they serve French fries but because it’s the only day to see a recommended show that’s good and good for a laugh---or should I say lots and lots and lots of laughs. It’s CASHINO! That’s the parody lounge act with JOHN BOSWELL AND SUSAN MOSHER adopting the personae of a duo lounge act with more pluck than taste (in arrangements, presentation or clothes and hair). There’s more white bread and cheese here than a year’s stock at your elementary school cafeteria. Their wink at glitzy, ditzy, clueless versions of pop hits neuters the material, and the act is the hoot of the year. It’s set up with a brilliant film of the pseudo act going door to door their wares (live music) to befuddled suburbanites and squabbling and complaining between themselves between stops.
Oh! And speaking of cabaret and the Beechman, you can see cabaret most nights at the Beechman, but on the 15th you can see Cabaret at the Beechman --meaning the 1972 movie musical. As for other musicals on film, sure, you can rent Rent, but why rent Rent when you can see it there the next week (7/22)? This Tuesday movies series continues 7/29 with Little Shop Of Horrors. No cover, just the food/drink minimum. And in live cabaret, I can suggest ANNIE KOZUCH who is back this week on Thursday. Comic songs and a zippy sense of fun in her presentation are definite strengths, but she impressed also doing a total 360 on a heavy song from the musical Passion. Her cool, clean voice is a joy to hear, but occasionally there was some musical schizophrenia when a song would seem to start in cabaret land with emotional connection to the lyric and then yank us out of the involvement to turn into a jazzy romp. Maybe better to choose a team and stick with it for each song; certainly she’s rewarding to hear with either approach. And a couple of songs in Spanish (she lived in Mexico for a long time) were also muchos nice.
And if you’re taking time out for music, don’t forget the Time Out Lounge, downstairs at New World Stages, West 50 St., west of Eighth Avenue . It’s not just a multi-stage theatre space for off Broadway shows. There’s a no-cover little bar to hang out whether you’re there to see a show or cool off with some cool standards and jazz. Take the escalator down and you’ll find JULIAN YEO on July 8 and 22. I’ve been following Julian for a while, and enjoy his sly, fun, but respectful takes on standards. He emulates and celebrates and approximates the 1920s/1930s kind of band vocalist and this throwback throws himself into the style. And his excellent musical director is Jesse Gelber. Go to the space on most Sundays, 6-10 pm, and the lounge has more retro relaxation via the well-chosen, hip, classic and surprising recordings to groove to while you sip. In his not-so-secret identity as the DJ is publicist DAN FORTUNE of Miller Wright Associates, who during the week is handling the shows and CDs of some of the biggest acts around, like those at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, Ann Hampton Callaway, etc. He also turned executive producer this year for Maureen McGovern’s sensational new CD, A Long And Winding Road, of mostly songs from the 1960s. It’s an era he favors and plays, but often the known songs are in Lounge-alicious versions suitable for such a cocktail ambience: Beatles covers, bossa nova, plus vintage tracks from Peggy Lee, Anita O’Day, Sinatra (Frank or Nancy), Ann-Margret, and disc-coveries that will make you ask him, “What IS that you’re playing? I love it.” He has quite the collection!
And if you’re looking for one more ice cream reference, I’ll just say that I hope this has been helpful in giving you the “scoop” on cabaret.
