Something Tells Me Vesely's Into Something Good

But for a very scant sprinkling of easily-corrected choices made for this show, 2010 MAC Award nominee Jaron Vesely is, without question, poised to become a major force in cabaret with which to reckon. His voice, which comes across rather like a modern and more powerful version of Tony Scotti (Tony Polar from Valley of the Dolls, who crooned "Come Live With Me" to Sharon Tate), is perfectly suited to the songs chosen for Something Good, a tribute to childhood, which will return to Metropolitan Room for two performances in June.

Now, shows about childhood and the elements therein don't always make for the best choice in the cabaret sphere. One may remember several seasons ago when William Baldwin Young brought his show Getting Tall to Eighty Eight's which, though brilliantly executed and performed with passion, also displayed disturbing flashes of angst that cut like a knife to an open heart. Vesely's show, while equally incisive, provides a much more smooth ride; his outstanding vocal instrument tears into Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" at the outset, and sets the tone for a stunning evening, with its brilliant musical arrangement (heightened by David Berger's percussion). Sometime later, Vesely slides into an interpretation of "Something Good" that proves almost uncanny for so young an entertainer, launching with a very smoky mood emphasized by Willie Harvey's heavy bass and Berger's brushwork on the drums. A preamble about both the poet William Blake and St. Joan Of Arc, leads into Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill," before Vesely virtually causes an artistic inferno on a bossa-nova rendering of the Disney classic "The Bare Necessities." By the time he reaches a coupling of "Mama, I Wanna Make Rhythm" with "All God's Children Got Rhythm," he's not only got the crowd in the palm of his hand, but he's firmly elevated to the stars. In addition, his rendition of "A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes" is so inventive that it almost evokes images of Vesely as a male Carly Simon. And by the time he ends with Jerry Herman's "It Only Takes A Moment," the audience as a whole is only sorry that the show is over.

If...and it's a BIG if...there's anything wrong here at all, it's that Vesely was so severely overmiked at this particular performance, that dogs in Cleveland could have heard the show. This may or may not have been the doing of technical director JP Perreaux, because clearly a much larger crowd had been expected. However, the remainder of Vesely's staff must be similar thanked, including musical director Scott Bradlee and director/co-arranger Russell Taylor, with whom Vesely worked diligently on every possible aspect of the presentation.

The fact remains that when Jaron Vesely returns to Metropolitan Room in June with Something Good, those previously uninitiated should be required to see it. And they will unequivocally enjoy what they see and hear. This isn't merely something good, this is something spectacular.