highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review) "Early in her career, two-time Tony winner Christine Ebersole served as both an understudy and a last minute replacement for the female lead of two big Broadway musicals. Last week, Ebersole found herself back in this position when she took over for Laura Benanti, who had to bow out due to a family emergency, for a concert with Seth Rudetsky at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts....Even after enduring a nightmarish 12-hour journey to get to Arizona from New York due to having to change to a later flight after mechanical problems on their first flight, Ebersole was in spectacular voice and entertained the audience with stories of her past, both comical and serious.. " -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
photo courtesy Jane Lynch / Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts
"Not your typical cabaret show, Jane Lynch's See Jane Sing! is a (mostly) theme-less evening of comical songs, funny patter, and irreverent humor. Lynch brought her show to Scottsdale's Center for the Performing Arts last Saturday night where her sure-footed comic delivery and warm vocals wowed the sold out audience... Lynch's smart and sassy show, somewhat reminiscent of a 1970s TV variety show in how eclectic, outlandish and comedic it is, succeeds in being a well thought out concert that turns your typical cabaret show on its ear, while at the same time playing to all of the traditional cabaret requirements. ..Lynch's easygoing, warm, bright and somewhat folksy delivery of the songs may also come as a shock to those who only know her from her Emmy winning role on "Glee" ..Yes, Lynch can carry a tune, and carry it very well, but she also knows how to wring the comic moments from even some of the most serious songs. Backed by The Tony Guerrero Quintet, ..Lynch started the show off with the loopy "Wishes" that featured the repeated nonsensical lyric, "If wishes are rainbows, so am I." The jazzy, risqué song "Slappin' the Cakes on Me" followed, receiving a well-mannered delivery from the singer. Those two songs set the tone for the entire show: offbeat, adult and very funny. Lynch's close friend Kate Flannery, who played Meredith Palmer on the TV show "The Office," joined in for most of the evening, providing harmony, back-up vocals, and humorous banter and quips. Their relationship was reminiscent of Sonny and Cher's on their 70s TV series: great chemistry, love and respect for each other, tight harmonies while at the same time mocking and making fun of themselves and their stage partner. Irving Berlin's "Mr. Monotony" received a lush and fairly classical delivery from the pair while Fiddler on the Roof's heartbreaking "Far From the Home I Love" became an up-beat, driving and rousing number that worked splendidly. ...Lynch's undeniable likability and her clear, warm vocals brought a professional shine to the hilariously inappropriate nature of many of the numbers. Her See Jane Sing! show is both unexpected and exciting, full of harmony and a respect and craftsmanship that is fresh and fun but also full of heart" -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
"Alan Cumming is a Tony winner, a New York Times best-selling author, and a multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominee. At his recent sold out concert at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts he also proved to be a gifted storyteller, delivering an evening filled with humorous personal stories and an eclectic mix of exceptionally well sung songs. Performing songs associated with a wide range of artists, from Annie Lennox to Billy Joel, Lady Gaga, Rufus Wainwright and even Miley Cyrus and Elaine Stritch, the concert, entitled Alan Cumming: Uncut, also featured heartfelt stories about his family as well as a few adult tales from his sordid past, including several cheeky stories about Cumming's foreskin. Well, the evening was called Alan Cumming: Uncut after all....There wasn't a bad musical choice in the entire set list. Some of the more personable song highlights were numbers that Cumming dedicated to his father, his grandfather, and his home country of Scotland. These included an expertly sung rendition of Billy Joel's "Goodnight Saigon," which Cumming sang as a tribute to his late grandfather who served overseas and met a very unfortunate fate, and whom Cumming unfortunately never met. His spotless, punctuated enunciation of the lyrics, combined with the excellent sound system at the SCPA, allowed for Joel's words to have even more clarity ....Cumming gave his take on several pop songs, backed by musical director Lance Horne and Eleanor Norton on cello, both of whom delivered exceptional and skilled accompaniment on the well thought out arrangements. A mash-up of three hugely successful pop hits, which Cumming calls "Someone Like the Edge of Firework," is a combination of Adele's "Someone Like You," Lady Gaga's "The Edge of Glory," and Katy Perry's "Firework." It is a skillfully arranged piece, with Cumming's voice achieving a rawness and showing that he can hold his own against these three hugely successful women. ...the acoustics at the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts Virginia G. Piper Hall were exceptional. For such a large venue there is an intimacy that elevates a personable concert like Cumming's into something even more special. The clean site lines in the stadium seating auditorium also ensure that there isn't a bad seat in the house. Alan Cumming: Uncut featured a charming, intimate, and truly fearless performance from Cumming. It was an exceptional evening full of meaningful songs, stories, humor, and personal tales punctuated by the natural ease that Cumming has in connecting with an audience." -Gil Benbrook, Talkin' Broadway (click here to read the complete review)
As part of its Summer of Theatre series, Actors Theatre is presenting two performances of a wonderful cabaret show entitled That's Life: From Sinatra to Sondheim. Featuring vocalists Kristen Drathman and Rusty Ferracane, the show includes a wide range of songs that, as Drathman states, covers "our experiences in life, the highs, the lows, the good, the bad, the ugly." With superb accompaniment and arrangements by musical director Craig Bohmler, the show also excels with succinct patter full of personal anecdotes that relate to each song.
With numerous show stoppers, the 80-minute concert includes twenty songs, most of them revolving around the various phases of relationships. Drathman and Ferracane instill each song with warmth and honesty, which resonates with the lyrics; Bohmler's piano skills are exemplary and his arrangements rich and varied. With just one exception, the patter is short and specific, connects to the material and is well scripted, yet seems natural. Since it covers such a wide range of "life" topics, including long distance romances, learning to be yourself, divorce, and children, which are all experiences the audience is able to easily relate to, it makes the references, the song selections, and the show as a whole even more successful.
Drathman's excellent facial expressions and wide eyes bring added emotion to her songs. Her knock-out delivery of several numbers from musicals, including "Cabaret" Thoroughly Modern Millie's "Gimme Gimme" and "The Trolley Song" from Meet Me in St. Louis is equally matched by her quiet, grounded delivery of Martina McBride's pop and country smash "In My Daughter's Eyes." Her romantically lush "I'll Be Seeing You" is also very moving.
Ferracane is just as effective, filling his delivery of each song with a deep personal connection. While this is best shown in "I Am What I Am" from La Cage aux Folles, with his phrasing and passion he also provides an individual association with the numerous Sinatra songs in the evening, including a bluesy take on "One for My Baby (and One More for the Road)" and a rousing "New York, New York."
While the majority of the evening's performances are solos, there are also a few duets, including the opening number: an interesting take on the famous Judy Garland/Barbra Streisand pairing of "Happy Days are Here Again" and "Get Happy." It's interesting in that it is usually performed by two women, yet works just as effectively when sung by a woman and a man. Other duet highlights include a touching take on "My Funny Valentine" and an excellently arranged "I've Got Rhythm" that starts slow and then speeds up, includes an excellent piano solo in the middle, and ends with both Ferracane and Drathman belting to the rafters. Another highlight is their superb delivery of a slightly abridged version of the duet of "A Boy Like That" and "I Have a Love" from West Side Story, another song usually performed by two women. Having it sung by a woman and a man, with the man professing "I love him, I'm his, and everything he, is I am too," gives it a more modern sensibility.
Bohmler's expert playing and arrangements are excellent, complementing and never detracting from the vocals. He also has a couple of moments to shine, giving expert solo versions of Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer" and a stirring rendition of Chopin's "Étude for Aeolian Harp."
Just two quibbles. First, the show does mention both Sinatra and Sondheim in the title and while there were several songs Sinatra was famous for singing, there is only one Sondheim song featured in the evening. And that is a song from West Side Story, one for which he only wrote the lyrics, not the music. Second, Rusty's story about seeing the movie Ice Castles with his mother is humorous, but runs on a bit too long and the point of the story is a bit unclear.
However, those are two very small negative points in an otherwise enjoyable, moving and extremely entertaining concert. With a theme that anyone can relate to as well as a vast and varied song selection, That's Life: From Sinatra to Sondheim is a cabaret concert with two exceptional singers, an amazing pianist and many thrilling moments.
The final performance of the Actors Theatre production of That's Life: From Sinatra to Sondheim is on August 10th, 2014, at the Black Theatre Troupe/Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center, at 1333 East Washington Street in downtown Phoenix. Ticket information can be found at actorstheatrephx.org/ or by calling (602) 888-0368.
When you say the name Noël Coward images of men in tuxedos, ladies in evening gowns, gin martinis and witty repartee immediately come to mind. Coward wrote several well-known plays, but he was also a proficient composer, having written hundreds of songs. As part of its Summer of Theatre series, Actors Theatre presented a one night cabaret entitled A Night with Noël: The Music of Noël Cowardon Saturday evening.
The basis of this cabaret came from one of the shows that Actors Theatre is presenting in repertory this summer, Sandy Rustin's farcical British set The Cottage. Rustin based her play somewhat on Coward's famous comedies, even including a brief reference to the character "Mrs. Worthington," the focus of one of Coward's most famous songs, in her play. Actors Theatre's Artistic Director Matthew Wiener approached actor and singer Ian Christiansen, who is appearing in both summer repertory plays, about creating an evening of Coward music as a way to complement The Cottage—and A Night with Noël was born.
Coward's plays are known for a combination of highbrow sophistication, use of double entendre and biting words, and his songs are no different. For this cabaret, the good news is that Christiansen featured most of Coward's famous songs, including "Mad Dogs and Englishmen," "A Room with a View" and "Mad About the Boy." Also, most of the songs were expertly performed, with Christiansen taking turns with Heather Fallon to deliver them, and both performers looked the typical height of Coward sophistication, with Christiansen in a crisp tuxedo and Fallon in a fetching black evening dress. The bad news is that Christiansen's off-the-cuff and unrehearsed patter, including, I believe, a couple of misstated facts, while very funny at times, was unorganized, lacked focus, and was just about as far as you can get from the sophistication that Coward was known for, so it was at odds with the musical moments. The patter didn't include any information about Coward that the average theatregoer wouldn't have already known: he wrote a few plays, wrote witty and biting songs, was knighted, was homosexual and worked with Elaine Stritch. The show also only included nine songs, with the odd decision to both open and close the show with two songs that Coward didn't write. For a show that ran an hour, better organized and researched patter that either gave us some new or rare information about Coward, or at least was focused or even somehow tied to Christiansen's personal experiences, would have made the show more effective, informative and also allowed room for a couple of additional Coward songs.
Fortunately, Coward's music received fairly refined performances, so taken just on the musical moments, the evening excelled. With just one small exception, Christiansen didn't have any problems with Porter's fast paced, tongue-tying lyrics for "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and was wonderfully dry and witty in his delivery of the biting "(Don't Put Your Daughter on the Stage) Mrs. Worthington." Using a nice crisp English accent throughout his singing, Christiansen also showed a touching side in his sweet and soft take on the romantic ballad "I'll See You Again." The evening opened with Christiansen performing Flanders and Swann's "A Word on My Ear," a funny song about a tone deaf performer, and ended with a version of Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" that included some funny updated lyrics that Christiansen wrote himself.
Heather Fallon shined in her take on the ballads "A Room with a View" and "He Never Did That to Me" and also showed her comic abilities on "I Went to a Marvellous Party." The comical "Party" was broken up into three segments and interspersed throughout the evening, which was a great decision and tied nicely into the proceedings since the song is a first person's descriptions of the events over the course of a long party. Fallon's hilarious delivery of the last piece was perfect, sung with a drunken aplomb. But it was Fallon's performance of "Mad About the Boy" that was the highlight of the night. Sung with such gusto and assurance, Fallon didn't make one false move or misstep in her performance. Andria Fennig provided piano accompaniment, and while her playing was fine, it seemed to lack a bit of refinement and crispness that Coward's songs require to really succeed.
While A Night with Noël: The Music of Noël Coward may not have been as successful as it could have been, it did include the delightful, polished delivery of several classic Coward songs. The off the cuff patter didn't really add much value to the evening, and starting and ending the show with non-Coward songs seemed an odd choice, so the end result was a very "informal" formal evening, which is not what one would exactly associate with the classiness of Noël Coward.
The Actors Theatre production of A Night with Noël: The Music of Noël Coward played July 26th, 2014, at the Black Theatre Troupe/Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center, at 1333 East Washington Street in downtown Phoenix. Information for upcoming Actors Theatre productions can be found atactorstheatrephx.org or by calling (602) 888-0368
Steven Zumbo's latest cabaret show is his best yet. After having performed various shows at various cabaret clubs over the past fifteen plus years, Zumbo has definitely hit his stride in the last few years in the way he structures his shows. You see, Steven is a naturally very funny guy, but a funny guy with a serious side too. So, how do you find the right balance between the comedic and the serious to get across the person you are without making the show too much of a downer or too funny? Well, Steven has figured out that balance and his current show perfectly gets across Steven's personality.
Entitled "Where the Hell Did I Put My Glasses?" Zumbo's show is his most themed one yet. He often mentions how he eschews a theme, but he has actually come up with one - a show all about memory - that plays perfectly into his personality and the idea of getting older - something that almost everyone in the audience immediately identified with. He has also come up with a winner of an opening number, a rewritten version of the hit song "Memory" from Cats that is all about memory loss. With revised lyrics by Pam Peterson the song begins with "Midnight, I wake up and remember that I left the door open, with my groceries outside" and includes such other great lines like ,"Damn, what did I walk in this room for?" and "Did I turn both burners off, or is my house on fire?" The lyrics and Steven's delivery of them, ironically set against the well known music of "Memory" literally brought the house down.
Steven's take on "The Kid Inside" from the Craig Carnelia musical Is There Life After High School? was another winner that allowed Steven to reflect back on the memories of our high school days we all remember, with a song that is reflective, touching and has a soaring end to it. It is a song that begins somewhat quietly and then gets bigger and bigger as it goes on, and Steven was more than up to the challenge that the song required.
For the past several years Zumbo has always included a "Broadway Backwards" moment in his shows where he sings a Broadway show tune that is usually performed by a woman. His selection for this show couldn't have been better with the hilarious Stephen Sondheim/Jule Styne Gypsy song "You Gotta Get a Gimmick." Performed in the musical by three female strippers, Steven used a few simple props to get across the three characters in the song and blew the roof off the cabaret room with his performance. His stripper gyrations alone were worth the $15 cover charge.
Another highlight, and a nod to the Supreme Court's pending ruling on Same Sex Marriage was "Get Me to the Church on Time" from My Fair Lady where Zumbo and musical director Gerry Dieffenbach performed a rousing take on that crowd pleaser. "Way Ahead of My Time" by Peter Mills starts with some serious chords and lyrics before turning into a true comic gem about being different from the other cavemen. Steven's delivery was exceptional and included some added Fosse-like dance moves to make the song even more over the top then it already was. But there were some ballads and quiet songs that Steven also expertly delivered including a lovely "The Way We Were," a heartfelt "It Was Me" and a bouncy "You Go to My Head." An Encore of "Over the Rainbow" was simply stunning.
With a winning personality, excellent song selections and short but well thought out patter, Zumbo is really at the height of his game.
Steven performs two more times this week- don't miss it!
Direction by Helen Baldassare, musical direction by Gerry Dieffenbach
Christine Ebersole is a gifted dramatic actress and comedienne and those skills make her cabaret shows into something better than most cabaret shows out there. She so effortlessly segues from standard ballads to upbeat songs to comedic numbers with well written and delivered patter that is both humorous and related to the song choices, all without missing a beat. And her connection to the lyrics is almost on par with Barbara Cook, who is the master of connecting to every word in every song she sings. Ebersole's recent show at the NJPAC was another stellar affair.
A swinging "Ding, Dong, the Witch is Dead" opened up the show followed by the humorous "You Forgot Your Gloves." Christine got every nuance, including joy and sorrow out of "Blame It On My Youth." Ebersole manages to add many personal stories into her shows, including talking about her thoughts about aging which the song "Keep Young and Beautiful" perfectly spoke to, and her journey to Hollywood from Broadway which was capped off by a rousing "On the Atchison Topeka and the Santa Fe."
Her shows often have moments when she speaks about her parents, her husband and three adopted children and this one had some humorous and touching moments including a simply lovely version of "Can't Help Lovin' that Man of Mine" from Show Boat. A story and song that have become somewhat of a staple in her shows followed where Christine talks about her early days in New York City where 42nd Street wasn't a place that you'd want to visit but would be a street where she'd excel on many years later by winning a Tony award for her role in the revival of 42nd Street that actually played in a theatre on 42nd Street. That story includes a hysterical reading of a Robert Frost poem read by the character she won her other Tony award for, Edie Beale in Grey Gardens. Christine then gave a rip roaring take on 42nd Street's showstopping title number.
Christine spoke about the time when she knew she finally "made" it in Hollywood when she appeared in the tabloids when they wrote about the time she adopted two children on the same day. A "true" story in the tabloids for a change she added. In one night they went from a family of three to a family of five and she perfectly ended the story by adding that she realized on that night that "although fame in Hollywood had eluded me, my fortunes were asleep in my arms." A touching pairing of "Tender Shepherd" from Peter Pan and "If I Were a Bell" from Guys and Dolls followed that perfectly got across the joy she must have felt on that evening.
A stunning pairing of songs that included a few verses from "When the World Was Young" that segued into "Another Winter in a Summer Town" from Grey Gardens showed why Christine deserved her Tony for that show. Her delivery of the lyrics in an emotional way is not just effortless but natural as well.
Christine now lives with her family in Maplewood, NJ which she lovingly mentioned with the simple statement, "Hollywood? Maplewood? What a difference a leaf makes!" She also mentioned her 90 year old mother who recently lived with her family for ten years but is now suffering memory loss. Her mother would sometimes plays Methodist hymnals at the piano and Christine then delivered a touching take on the hymn "How Can I Keep from Singing"
Christine ended the show with a slowed down but still rousing version of "Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries." She followed this with an encore of "If You Haven't Got a Lot" that was a tribute to Eartha Kitt that was prefaced by Christine saying "I'm back. It's one of the funny conventions of cabaret, the false exit. I appreciate your warm and generous applause to bring me back on the stage even though I was coming back anyway!" She ended the show with a second encore of "If You're Young at Heart" that was both simple and a lovely reminder of how classic songs can cap off a perfect evening.
John Oddo led a quartet of skilled musicians who made the evening seem just as effortless as Christine does.
Barbara Cook is a powerhouse. As she approaches her 86th birthday she really shows no signs of slowing down. Her voice is still strong and clear, her memory impeccable and the only thing that seems to be getting in her way of going on forever is her knees and back, which she says give her plenty of pain.
Her concert series at 54 Below began last week and continues through the end of this week. While she is performing almost the exact same set list from when we saw her at the McCarter back in November, the small size of 54 Below and having Barbara only being about 10 feet in front of you when she performs adds a level of intimacy that you just can't achieve in a larger space. The way that she connects to a song, not just in the phrasing but with her facial expressions and body language, rises to a whole higher dimension when there are only two people between you and Cook.
Now we've seen her perform several times over the past ten or so years, including her celebrated Broadway concert at Lincoln Center, and Barbara has only gotten more personable, including telling some great stories as well as commenting on her own personal issues, which are mainly health related.
Not really much for me to add about her song selection that I didn't already say when she performed this show in the Fall at the McCarter except to say that her delivery of the material has only improved as she has gotten even more comfortable with the songs. All but two of the songs come from her recent "Loverman" recording, which includes a spectacular coupling of "House of the Rising Sun" with "Bye, Bye Blackbird" as well as a beautiful version of "Loverman." For this concert, as well as the McCarter one last Fall, Barbara also sang an emotionally personal take on "Here's To Us" as well as an un-miked "Imagine."
Married couple and Broadway stars Marin Mazzie and Jason Danieley have been together for around twenty years now. The story of how they met and how their relationship came together is the theme that weaves together their latest cabaret show entitled "He Said / She Said."
While the show could also be entitled "He Sings / She Sings" due to the fact that the majority of the songs are solos, there is enough high calibre solo material here sung by two very capable singers to get over the fact that the couple does very little singing together during the show. Mazzie and Danieley have two of the clearest and strongest voices out there so while I would have preferred to have them sing more songs together many of the songs choices were inspired and fit in perfectly with the theme of the evening.
The duo's opening number is an up beat and bouncy take on the Johnny Mercer standard "Something's Gotta Give" which perfectly sets up the evening and the idea of love being more of a push me/pull me type of relationship. Two solos that really hit home are Mazzie's take on "A Cockeyed Optimist" from South Pacific which receives a cha-cha type of arrangement and Danieley singing The Wizard of Oz's "If I Only Had a Brain" in a slowed down lounge type delivery. Both hit home runs. Other highlights include a pull out the stops delivery of "Cry Me a River" from Mazzie and Danieley delivering "One For My Baby" with perfect emotions as if he's been at that bar in the song many, many times.
While the stories the couple tells give us a little insight into how they met, at an outdoor production of a show entitled The Trojan Woman where they prayed for the show to be rained out so they could spend more time together, there isn't a lot more of the details we learn about their romance except from the lyrics of the songs they choose to portray it. And while most of the song choices fit well in displaying their growing attraction some of the choices were odd (Cole Porter's "The Physician") or seemingly out of place in the forward trajectory of their romantic arc. There was more than one time when the patter between songs had one of the couple remind us where we last left off in their romantic courtship, something that wouldn't have been necessary if the patter leading in to the songs was clearer and more accurately set up the song in relation to their budding relationship.
But when you have songs like "Smile," "From This Moment On," "Our Love is Here to Stay" and "Blues in the Night" delivered by two powerhouse performers I guess it doesn't matter.
Marin and Jason in concert singing a Sondheim suite:
"The Natural Order of Things" -
a brief interview with Marin and Jason about this concert:
Jason and Will Chase sing "Lily's Eyes" from The Secret Garden:
Jarrod Spector racked up an impressive run of over 1,500 performances of playing Frankie Valli in Jersey Boys on both Broadway as well as the stop of the National Tour of the show in Chicago. But for all of his Broadway performances he will be the first to admit that he isn't a big musical theatre buff. So it is no surprise that his solo cd and concerts that he has performed across the country don't have really any showtunes in them but instead focus on rock and pop hits from the 60's to today. With a rocking band and two backup singers, Spector proves a hip and modern throwback to the entertainers that he idolizes, especially Bobby Darin.
The majority of songs he performed at the McCarter theatre in Princeton come from his recent solo cd "Major Fall, Minor Lift." This wasn't Spector's first stop at Princeton as this Philadelphia native actually also went to school there.
The show was highlighted by several rocking medleys of classic pop/rock songs including an opening sequence that included a rousing version of Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke" and a medley of 60's songs that included a stirring take on Buddy Holly's "Everyday." There were some nice versions of songs that most people love to hate including the Hall and Oates song that was number 1 on the charts the day Spector was born, "Kiss On My List," and the Barry Manilow hit "Even Now." Spector sang both with conviction and no apology at his love for the material.
While Spector frames the show around his life story, telling us about his stint on Star Search when he was just a very young kid to the breakdown he had when he was in college, he could use a little bit of firming up the point he is trying to get across and editing the story a bit, in order to better connect with the material and the audience. But the songs he sings and the voice he has to sing them with more then make up for the lack of theme and how his life story relates to the songs he sings.
His sequence around his Star Search experience included a fun take on Bobby Darin's "Splish Splash." Other highlights in the set included a rocked out version of Led Zeppelin's "Rock and Roll" and a stirring take on Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." It was a varied evening for sure, but never once did any of the songs seem out of place, which is something to say when you have hits from Led Zeppelin, Hall and Oates and Barry Manilow almost following right after each other.
A pairing of two Billy Joel songs "Lullabye (Good Night My Angel)" and "River of Dreams" brought the concert to an inspired finish. Two encores followed including a soft but soaring take on "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables (Spector appeared as Gavrouche in the Broadway production when he was very young) and the only Jersey Boys song in the concert, a lovely version of "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You."
All in all, Spector knows how to entertain and his soaring voice and excellent band combined for an excellent concert. Not sure if he's doing any more concerts in the future but if you're a fan of classic pop/rock try not to miss him if he comes to your town.
Adam Pascal rose to prominence due to his break out role as Roger in the original Broadway cast of Rent. That role earned him a Tony nomination and while he has also starred in the Original Broadway cast of Aida, as the final replacement Emcee in the Cabaret revival and more recently took over in the lead male role in Memphis, Pascal seems to really consider himself a singer/songwriter and not just a musical theatre Broadway star. After having performed in bands from his teenage years, he was able to use his Rent success to obtain a way to release several solo cds that feature his original songs. Over the years he has performed at various venues across the country and we caught a solo gig he gave at the 54 Below cabaret club. It was interesting not only due to Pascal's excellent musicianship but also because just right above us was where he gave one of his most favorite performances when he starred in Cabaret at Studio 54.
And while the evening included only a few show tunes, none of which Adam has ever actually performed in an actual production of the show it comes from, it was the passion that he has with the music and the connection he has to it that really came through. I can't imagine that anyone who was expecting him to sing his big Rent song "One Song Glory" not at all disappointed in the least that he didn't sing that or any songs that he performed on Broadway.
The concert didn't really have an overall theme or focus but instead was just Adam singing some of his favorite songs and telling us stories of his past, including several humorous ones from his pre-marriage Rent days that included his partner in crime and Rent co-star Jesse L. Martin. The solo acoustic show included just Adam, center stage, playing his guitar.
Some highlights of the show included a soaring, heartfelt version of "Mama Who Bore Me" from Spring Awakening and a stirring version of "Memory" from Cats that while it got a few laughs when he started singing the song, mainly due to how unexpected it was, turned into an excellent version of this somewhat over performed song with some excellent guitar skills from Pascal. A touching version of "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" found Adam connecting with this 80's pop classic in an introspective way.
Adam's own songs comprised about half of the evening with Adam singing songs from his various albums including "Beautiful Song," "Turn The Lights On," "Something of Ours" and a touching version of "I'm With You." His set also included pairings of two of his own songs that featured a brief bit of the Paul McCartney hit "Let Em In" and one that even featured him segueing into Sondheim's "Johanna" from Sweeney Todd. An encore of Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" was a nice end to the evening.
Adam's voice has such strength and passion and when combined with the honesty and directness of his guitar playing make pretty much anything he performs special. If you're a fan of music and musical theatre don't miss Adam if he comes to a town near you.
Ben Vereen is so grateful for what he's been allowed to do on stage and screen and that joy he feels pours out from him in his concerts. Now in his mid sixties, Vereen has been through a lot, including a pretty horrific accident where he was walking on a street and hit by a car. And while his voice may has lost some of the luster it once had, Vereen has such a nice personable connection with the audience that it outweighs any vocal issues he has to deal with. His recent concert at the McCarter Theatre was a magical evening of story and song.
While the majority of his concert was included in the live cd he released in the Spring of 2011 (which I reviewed here) there were plenty of other material that wasn't on that cd, so I'll focus on talking about the material that I already didn't speak of in that review.
His connection with two composers, Stephen Schwartz and Andrew Lloyd Webber goes back to his early days on Broadway when he appeared in the original casts of Schwartz's Pippin and Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. His medley of songs from those shows was nice but what I thought was even better were two songs from Wicked that he performed in slightly slower versions to really focus on the lyrics "Defying Gravity" and "For Good." Both became personal stories for him much like Lloyd Webber's "Memory" from Cats set up the entire section about his past.
His connection to Bob Fosse, in both Pippin and the film All That Jazz was also brought center stage with Vereen talking about how electric Fosse was and how honored he was to have been included in not only Pippin but the film that basically was an autobiographical detail of Fosse's life. Other highlights include a lovely Frank Sinatra medley and a section devoted to Sammy Davis Jr. where Vereen mentions how he was his understudy when the musical Golden Boy went to London and how connected he felt to Sammy and how Sinatra broke down racial barriers for him.
While the majority of the Sinatra and Davis, Jr material is on the cd I mentioned above, there was still plenty more that wasn't. Vereen had a top notch trio playing with him and he did a lovely job in spotlighting them that included solos for each of them including a smashing "Misty" and a lovely "Your Song."
The song "Here's To Us" has become something of a staple for performers in the AARP demographic with both Barbra Streisand singing it during her recent concert tour and Barbara Cook performing it at the concert we saw her perform last Fall. Vereen somehow manages to make the song his own due to the stories he tells throughout his show and the ups and downs he documents for us. It was a lovely end to a lovely evening.
Betty Buckley performed her "Ah Men, the Boys of Broadway" cabaret show at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center's Chase Room this past Saturday. This concert as I mentioned in my review of the one she gave at the McCarter theatre a few weeks back (reviewed here) contains various musical theatre songs that were all sung by men in the shows the songs come from.
While the show was almost identical to the one she did at the McCarter there was one addition to the evening that stood out. That was the inclusion of a song that Betty sang in her latest cabaret show she introduced at Feinstein's at the Regency this past October, "The Other Woman, The Vixens of Broadway." Her new show celebrates songs performed by the second female leads in musicals and the song she sang from this show in her concert at NJPAC was "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" from Evita. With another beautiful arrangement by musical director/pianist Christian Jacob, Betty delivered a stirring and touching solo take on this song that is performed in Evita by a woman accompanied by two men. This solo version was extremely effective with Betty completely getting across the ache and pain in the lyrics while also delivering an emotional and yet complete understanding that the affair the women just had who is singing the song is over and it is time for her to move on. I'm hoping that Betty is able to record this song as well as the other songs from her new show on a forthcoming cd.
Betty is touring her "Ah Men" show around the country, so check out her website for information on upcoming performance dates.
Barbara Cook is arguably the Queen of the American Songbook. I don't know any other performer who is able to master every nuance of every lyric in the songs they sing like Cook can. Having just celebrated her 85th birthday, the only thing slowing Cook down now is the slight toll that age is starting to take on her body as her voice is just about as clear and perfect as it has ever been. In fact if you shut your eyes during her concert you would have no idea the person singing was 85. However, the cane she is using to get on and off stage and the fact that she sat down during almost the entire concert only makes you realize how lucky we are that she is still performing and that her voice is not only holding out but still very clear, pure and strong and exceedingly beautiful.
There is pure joy in her singing that shows that she truly loves to do what she does. That that joy spills over into the audience throughout her shows and she says she has no plans to stop doing what she loves to do. For the past decade or so Cook has performed a lot of Stephen Sondheim and Irving Berlin songs in her concerts so it was interesting and somewhat refreshing that Cook has now turned to highlighting some other composers. Hoagy Carmichael and Cole Porter were all represented with Carmichael getting special attention. The majority of the songs she sang at her McCarter concert can be found on Cook's latest recording "Loverman."
A jazzy and upbeat "Let's Fall in Love" started off the evening that showed the simple joy that she brings to a song. A lovely pairing of "I Hadn't Anyone But You" and "It Had To Be You" showed two ways to sing about finding your true love with the ache and yearning for love on display in the first song and the upbeat declaration of it in the second.
Hoagy Carmichael's "The Nearness of You" received a lush interpretation from Cook that was followed by a fun and bouncy "Making Whoopee." Carmichael's "Georgia, On My Mind" received an exemplary and very personal rendition from Cook considering she's from Atlanta. The arrangement was rich and driving in parts but never got in the way of Cook's vocals that soared in several places. Though she did say that singing the song is a little bit of a lie "as I couldn't wait to get out of there!" Humor was actually present thought the show with Barbara telling stories of how her former musical arranger Wally Harper would always say "I love it when you talk dirty." She also told about the time she was asked to replace Elaine Stitch that included a few blue words with her saying "now don't hate me for saying this" as well as a funny Bette Midler joke, both of which had the audience laughing out loud and Cook replying "I've become a sit down comic!"
A stunning pairing of "House of the Rising Sun" and "Bye, Bye Blackbird" showed two different sides to stories of "ladies of the night." A very humorous collection of Country song titles that Cook found while searching You Tube one night like "If I Shot You When I Wanted, I'd Be Out By Now" introduced the funny song called "I Don't Want Love." "When Sunny Gets Blue" received an exemplary rendition with Cook evoking a sultry, smokey jazz chanteuse and underscored with a stunning arrangement with a driving piano part.
The Billy Holiday hit "Lover Man" was given a lovely delivery by Cook and Cole Porter's "Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)" received another upbeat jazzed up rendition by Cook and her band. A simply stunning "Here's To Life" had Cook making every lyric of this song about a person looking back at their life but not giving up just yet completely personal and relevant. The concert ended with a rousing "I've Got Rhythm" that gave each member of Cook's quartet a chance to solo. This was followed by an un-miked Cook encoring with John Lennon's "Imagine" that was the perfect end to a lovely evening.
Musical Director/Pianist Ted Rosenthal provided appropriate but not overbearing arrangements and accompaniment along with Cello, Reeds and Percussion.
If you get a chance to see Cook in concert don't miss it.
Cook in concert singing "Why Did I Choose You?"
Cook and Vanessa Williams perform from Sondheim on Sondheim on The View:
To say I'm a huge Betty Buckley fan is an understatement. I've seen Betty perform on Broadway, London and in concert dozens of times over the past 20 or so years and while her concerts have always included various personal stories and themed elements Betty has never really given a "theme" to her concerts until just a few years ago.
Starting with her "Broadway By Request" concerts that she performed at Feinstein's at The Regency here in New York and then in various cities across the U.S., she followed that show with another well received themed concert entitled "Ah Men, the Boys of Broadway." In this concert, Betty performs musical songs that were all performed by male characters in the various shows they come from. And while Betty performed a few selections from this show in her cabaret show at B.B. Kings last Spring (review here) she also performed the entire concert last Winter in L.A. and also brought the show to the McCarter Theatre two weeks ago. She will be performing this same concert at the NJPAC Chase Room this coming Saturday. The concert also received a studio recording that was released a few months ago.
As is always Betty's style, she puts her own stamp on each song in this collection. And with many inspired arrangements by pianist Christian Jacob combined with the personal stories Betty tells about her connection to many of the songs, it elevates the entire set to a lovely confection of musical material. Looking back at the songs Betty performs in this show I realized that there is only one song, "Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd that Betty ever performed in concert before. This is saying a lot about Betty since her concerts in the past, like many other performers, were always a combination of about 90% material she'd performed before with some new songs that she just recently added to her repertoire.
While there are many upbeat songs in the evening including "Luck Be a Lady Tonight" from Guys and Dolls and "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin, it is the addition of the lovely ballads like "Maria" from West Side Story, "Venice" from Elegies and "More I Cannot Wish You" from Guys and Dolls that cement Betty's style with the theme of the show. The trio of songs from Sweeney Todd is a lovely grouping of three very different songs that all have passion in common with each other that also adds a nice dramatic element to the concert.
The songs in this concert also include two that have amazing arrangements, that she also performed at her B.B. King's concert last Spring that I previously wrote about. Those songs are "Hey There" from The Pajama Game and "Come Back To Me" from On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. The arrangement for "Hey There" is one of my favorites as it turns the song into a statement of longing with a dreamy underscore.
And while I have enjoyed listening to the studio recording of this concert it is Betty's stories that she tells in the concert version of the show that make the material have even more of a connection to her past. The story she told about how she wanted to be a member of the "Jets" from West Side Story when she was young and how she would often be dancing the Jerome Robbins choreography from the show in the driveway on a Sunday morning only to be interrupted by her father who would say "Betty Lynn, get in the car now, the Jets are going to church" was especially humorous. It also provided the perfect introduction to Betty's take on "The Jet Song" from that show.
She also has some interesting stories about her appearance as the "male impersonator" character who plays the lead role in The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the original Broadway run of that show and the research that she did to prepare for the part. The research gave her insight into this group of women who played male parts in early British Musical Hall shows and the strength and cleverness they had in finding parts that fit their voices, which just happened to be the male ones. This story perfectly leads into the original song written specifically for Betty called "A Hymn to Him" which is a take off of the song from My Fair Lady that shows what Betty would be able to do if she played the male parts in various shows. The song also includes some very funny lyrics like "They do write strong women, I've played them both" as well as give us Betty's takes on Jean Valjean from Les Miserables, Harold Hill from The Music Man and Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof. It is a truly inspired song and while Betty recorded the song on the cd of the show, the addition of the personal story that leads in to the song and the audience reaction to it make it even better live than on the cd.
My only downsides to the concert at McCarter have to do with the fact that Betty performed this show on a Sunday during the middle of her month long Feinstein's run. While she was in fine voice there were a few moments when her voice was a little strained. And her McCarter concert only included piano accompaniment by Jacob and not Betty's usual quartet of bass, drums, reeds and piano, which with only a piano provides a slightly less full sound than her usual concerts. Also, while Betty sang the songs from the show in the exact order they appear on the cd, she didn't perform "Song on the Sand" from La Cage aux Folles and I'm not sure why she didn't perform that song when she sang every other one.
Still, in mind any Betty Buckley concert is a good one as long as Betty keeps delivering and her voice still excels. We are going back to see Betty at NJPAC this Saturday and Betty's success with this show inspired her latest show "The Other Woman, The Vixens Of Broadway" which offers her take on various female musical songs that she's never performed and that she also debuted at Feinstein's at the Regency last month.
Marin Mazzie can do no wrong. She has an amazing wit, a razor like connection with her audience and a clear, forceful voice that she uses to elevate any song she sings to a higher dimension. While we've seen her perform with her husband Jason Danieley a few times this was our first time seeing her perform solo.
Her recent cabaret concert at 54 Below was a recollection back to her teen years in the early 70's in Rockford, IL and the songs and personal stories that impacted her at that time and made her into the person she is today. Her concert reminded me so much of Brian d'Arcy James' recent show at the same club about his growing up in the early 80's. But while James' show was more pop/rock focused, Mazzie's was a more nostalgic youth focused one with some of the songs we now love to hate ("Midnight at the Oasis" anyone?) delivered by Mazzie in such a way that she made us fall in love with them all over again. Mazzie managed to embody each song with an intensity as well as an element of fun from the first note she sang and in doing so she had us all hooked and taking the journey with her. The fact she didn't sing a single Broadway showtune didn't matter at all. The stunning, beaded white cocktail dress Mazzie wore provided an added touch of heat and spark to the evening that perfectly complimented the heat and spark in her voice.
Any of us who grew up around the 70's remembers fondly the stereo in the living room and the turntable that had stacks of lp's mounted on it ready to continuously play. Mazzie perfectly evoked the feeling of that period that transported the crowded room back to the 70's to relieve the time and music with her. Starting off with a slowed down and sexy take on the Rosemary Clooney hit "Come On A My House," Mazzie talked about her parents dancing in the living room while she mimicked their moves with her Malibu Barbie and Skipper Ken dolls. As she talked about the stacked records changing automatically on the turntable she also moved from one song to another including a touching yet jazzy "Tenderly." However, a percussion only accompanied "Begin the Beguine" was for me the clear standout of the evening. Mazzie's voice and percussionist Larry Lelli couldn't have been more in sync for this song, it is still playing in my head weeks after seeing this show.
The evening followed a basic chronological order as Mazzie grew up and became more interested in music that spoke to her as well as when she got her own record player to play alone in her room. While Mazzie mentioned how she was in love with Davey Jones and longed to be "the long lost Partridge family member, Marin Partridge" as she grew up the songs that connected to her became more serious. Her take on the Carly Simon classic "That's the Way I've Always Heard it Should Be" was heartbreaking and breathtaking all at the same time. She also had such conviction with her delivery of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Anyone Who Had a Heart" you couldn't help but be moved.
Mazzie's teen years in Catholic School were highlighted with a very humorous story about singing at the blessing of the class rings. The song she picked was the Barbra Streisand hit "Evergreen" even though Sister Ann Patrice (or SAP for short) censored a few of the lyrics she thought were too explicit, so Mazzie had to hum them for her classmates. For the somewhat never ending Barry Manilow song "Weekend in New England" Mazzie managed to make us remember why we were also so drawn to that song so many years ago.
Directed by Scott Burkell, the personal stories that Mazzie told about the songs and that time in her life were both touching and humorous, with some very funny comments and moments as well. While Mazzie has been known for more serious Broadway and Off Broadway roles, it is very clear that she would excel in a comedy. Mazzie's humorous tales of the commitment she made to the Columbia record club as well as her realization that her purple hair brush could be used for other purposes only highlighted the sultry and comical evening.
The long lost "Marin Partridge" did get a chance to shine with her sunny, upbeat and firmly committed take on "I Think I Love You" as well as the Davey Jones inspired encore of "I'm a Believer." Musical direction and piano accompaniment were by Joseph Thalken, with Peter Donovan on bass, Larry Saltzman on guitar and the afore mentioned Larry Lelli on percussion. All of the musicians were given solo moments to shine throughout the evening and Mazzie's connection with each was more than just a passing one.
54 Below is the best place to see Broadway and cabaret performers break out of their musical theatre mold and show their versatility. The sound is so amazing that when you have a performer like Mazzie with impeccable phrasing you hear every single word as if you've never heard it before. So if Mazzie comes back to 54 Below, or a theatre near you, or if one of your favorite performers books a date at 54 Below, make sure you don't miss it.
We journeyed back to the hot new nightclub 54 Below to see Tony winner Faith Prince and Jason Graae in a show jokingly called "The Prince and the Show Boy." With the high level of comedy these two musical clowns create, and Graae's overachieving humorous delivery and eagerness to please, it could have been just as easily titled "Prince and the Jester."
Both Prince and Graae have appeared in numerous Broadway and Off Broadway shows and while Prince is clearly the more established and well known "name" here, Graae has plenty of credits and recording contributions as well. While they might seem like a somewhat strange combination for a cabaret concert, the fact that the two of them went to the same school together, CCM in Cincinnati, and have worked together a few times over their careers provides a nice amount of charm and authenticity to their "friendship" that you don't always get when two people come together in a duo show like this.
Starting off with a medley of showtunes that included various versions of the name "Prince" in their lyrics it clearly set the stage for what was about to come. That medley included songs like "Someday My Prince Will Come" as well as "Put on a Happy Face" with "Face" jokingly changed to "Faith" and another song from Bye Bye, Birdie, "One Boy" changed to "One Showboy," to get the full name of the concert and the theme behind the show clearly out there. The fact that the medley also included "Liza with a Z" elevated the medley to heights of comical zaniness since even though that song had absolutely nothing to do with the name of the show, it added the appropriate amount of insanity that Prince and Graae excel at.
Prince has recorded a live cd of a previous cabaret show that she's toured around the country, and a few selections as well as some of the patter from that show were carried over to this one. One of the gems she sung in those earlier shows she repeated here, Mary Rodgers and Stephen Sondheim's "The Boy from ..." from The Mad Show which Prince manages to ring every nuance out of the insane lyrics.
But the concert wasn't only humorous songs, in fact some of the best moments were the more serious ones. Both Prince and Graae appeared in various versions of the William Finn show Falsettos, with Prince originating the role of Trina in the Off Broadway production of the one act Falsettoland and Graae a replacement for Mendel in the Broadway production of the later version of the two act show. For their cabaret, Graae sang an emotionally rich version of "What More Can I Say?" immediately followed by Prince with a heartfelt version of "Holding to the Ground." Graae also accompanied Prince by playing the oboe on "Smiles" that lead into Faith singing the Charlie Chaplin classic "Smile" with Graae continuing playing in counterpart. It was a lovely duet in a classy and very different way. Prince also sung the hell out of "The Ladies Who Lunch" from Sondheim's Company, and I personally didn't detect one comic tick on her face during it, which proves that Prince doesn't need to be funny to achieve greatness.
A Jerry Herman section included Prince talking about her son who is now in his late teens before she sang a touching and personal version of Mame's "If He Walked Into My Life." The Herman section also included Graae's heartfelt story of his coming out to his mother before he delivered an emotional "I Am What I Am" from La Cage Aux Folles. A rousing "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello Dolly provided Prince a chance to show how she'd be as Dolly with Graae throwing out sung snippets from a multitude of other Herman songs in counterpoint to Prince.
While the majority of the songs for the evening were hits, a couple of Graae's selections were a little too forced, including his take on Wicked's "Popular" and the Kooman and Dimond song "To Excess" about a stalker. Graae's drive to "sell" those songs just made them a little too over the top for my taste.
Musical director Alex Rybeck provided lovely accompaniment as well as contributed to the shenanigans on stage.
Wow! I think that pretty much sums up my review of Liz Callaway's concert at Town Hall last week. Titled "Even Stephen" and featuring four special Broadway co-stars (three of whom are former Tony nominees like Liz no less) the evening featured the songs of three guys named "Steve"- Stephen Flaherty, Stephen Schwartz and Stephen Sondheim.
Now considering that Liz just played Norma Desmond in the musical Sunset Boulevard in Pittsburgh the week before this concert, it is amazing not only how clear and strong her voice was but that she delivered a two hour long concert that included some of the most challenging songs by the three Steve's. Several of the solo highlights included a perfect "Meadowlark" from The Baker's Wife, a heartbreaking "Losing My Mind" from Follies and a stirring "Back to Before" from Ragtime.
Directed by Liz's husband Dan Foster, the concert was divided into sections. After a beginning that featured Liz singing one song from each composer, "Company," "Corner of the Sky" from Pippin and a rousing "Waiting For Life to Begin" from Once On This Island, the evening wisely then separated each composer into their own 30 minute set. While this separation didn't do much to show how each composer is comparable to the others, it did provide a more focused way to allow each to stand alone. I only wish Liz had given us a coupling or trio of two or three songs by the different men as segues between the sections.
Liz and Norm Lewis
Liz has had a personal connection to each of these men. In 1981, she made her Broadway debut in Sondheim's Merrily We Roll Along, appeared in the legendary 1985 concert of Follies as well as the 1983 concert "A Stephen Sondheim Evening." For Flaherty, she sang on many demo recordings for him and his lyricist partner Lynn Ahrens as well as sang the lead part of Anastasia on the film of the same name that they provided songs for. For Schwartz she has toured the country with him for many years in his "Stephen Schwartz and Friends" concerts. The personal stories she told about each composer is what made this concert even more special and made it more than just a singer singing songs from some of their favorite composers.
Jason Danieley, Norm Lewis and Joshua Henry were the three male Broadway "friends" that joined Liz throughout the show. Each of the men got two solo spots as well as a duet with Liz. Danieley was first out of the gate with a roof raising take on "The Streets of Dublin" from Flaherty and Ahrens' A Man of No Importance. He actually was the only "guest" to appear in all three sections, coming back in the Schwartz section with a forceful "Out There" from the film The Hunchback of Notre Dame and capping off the evening with an absolutely perfect duet with Liz, "Move On" from Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George. Norm Lewis got the touching duet with Liz, "Forever Yours" from Once On This Island which he followed with a slightly subdued "Wheels of a Dream" from Ragtime. I don't know if it was because it was his night off from performing in the Broadway revival of Porgy and Bess or what, but it seemed like he was struggling a bit as well as holding back. Fortunately later in the evening he gave us a soaring version of "Being Alive" from Sondheim's Company and he didn't disappoint.
On the surface, Joshua Henry's three songs might seem to be all slow and simple but they allowed his clear voice and straightforward delivery of the lyrics to shine through. He had a fun and charming duet with Liz on "Love Song" from Pippin which he followed with a perfectly delivered "Beautiful City" from Godspell and came back with a simply lovely take on Sondheim's "I Remember" from the tv musical Evening Primrose. The three men joined together for a lovely yet somewhat under rehearsed "Pretty Lady" from Sondheim's Pacific Overtures. The "special" guest of the evening was Liz's sister, Ann Hampton Callaway, and their duet of "For Good" from Wicked was stirring, touching, heartbreaking and just about as perfect as you can get.
Liz was joined by musical director Alex Rybeck on piano, Jered Egan on bass and Ron Tierno on drums. The arrangements for the songs and their playing of them was always concise, professional and lively. The direction by Foster was exactly as it should be, finding a way to combine Liz's personal stories about these three men with some beautiful songs and four guest stars and letting the stories and songs shine through. Besides my one quibble about not finding a way to combine songs from any of the composers together, this was just about as good as you can get with a concert from a Broadway leading lady.
Other solo highlights included the beautiful pairing of two Anastasia songs "Once Upon a December" and "Journey to the Past," a quiet and simple "Lion Tamer" from Schwartz's The Magic Show and a straight forward yet forceful "There Won't Be Trumpets" from Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle. Liz also sang two Sondheim songs she has sung many times in concert, "What More Do I Need?" from Saturday Night and her encore for the night, "With So Little To Be Sure Of" from Anyone Can Whistle. Both could not have been delivered any better and they are completely different types of songs, with one a driving, humorous song about living in New York City and the other a perfect and touching statement for the end of a perfect evening.
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)
