Cabaret Review by Ron Fassler . . .
The name Jack Viertel is a somewhat legendary one in Broadway circles as both a former theatre critic, Tony Award-winning producer, and non-fiction author (his Secret Life of the American Musical is a must-read). He has also recently branched out to write his first novel titled Broadway Melody which mixes fictional characters with real-life ones who inhabited the theatre district over a seventy-year span beginning in the 1950s. It’s story is about a spotlight operator in the flies and a trumpet player under the stage who both vie for the same actress. In Viertel’s words “The idea that two men could fall in love with the same woman—one from below the stage in the orchestra pit and the other from far above it on the lighting grid, struck me as something romantic that could only happen in the theater.”
And thus Broadway Melody with Jack Viertel and Friends was born, put together Monday night at 54 Below with the author onstage reading from his novel and singers stepping forward to sing songs from over the decades to connect the material. Smartly produced by Robert W. Schneider with musical director Greg Kenna at the piano, the evening was an entertaining one, especially with such talented Broadway regulars as Laura Benanti and Kate Baldwin taking part. Songs included the 1962 flop musical Nowhere to Go But Up, its title tune nicely rendered by Rebecca Spigelman, recreating a number introduced by Dorothy Loudon in her Broadway debut. Alysha Umphress was on hand for two songs; Richard Adler and Jerry Ross’s “A New Town is a Blue Town from The Pajama Game (1954), first sung by John Raitt, and a duet with Talia Suskauer of Cy Coleman and David Zippel’s “What you Don’t Know About Women” from City of Angels (1989), which was a highlight. I particularly liked Amirah Joy Lomax, a recent grad from Penn State University, who sang “Out of Sight Out of Mind,” a new composition by Lisa Lambert and Glen Kelly. This young woman’s really got something.
Of course, it was the old pros who kind of owned the night. Though not a Broadway performer (yet), I’ve seen Nicole Vanessa Ortiz in clubs before and she always comes through. Here, her singing “Anyplace I Hang My Hat is Home” from Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s St. Louis Woman (1946), was a standout. Laura Benanti’s exquisite “It Might as Well Be Spring,” though technically written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for their film musical State Fair, is now a Broadway tune due to a theatrical version that premiered in 1996. She then sang a song of her own, co-written with Todd Almond, cleverly titled “Recovering Ingenue,” which allowed for Benanti to exhibit her expert comic timing (as anyone will attest who has seen her from time to time as Melania Trump on The Late Show with Steven Colbert). Kate Baldwin, a personal favorite, was the heart and soul of the night with Bock and Harnick’s “When Did I Fall in Love?” Happily, a live recording of it is available on her Sheldon Harnick CD (“He Loves Me”) for anyone to hear whenever they need a lift.
The evening concluded with Loni Ackerman, one of the Evita replacements in its original production from 1980 and a longtime Broadway vet with credits that reach back to George M! and No, No Nanette. She and David Turner (the sole male performer) performed a duet from Kander and Ebb’s 70, Girls, 70 that was as obscure as it was welcome.
All in all, another great night of cabaret at 54 Below, which bills itself proudly as Broadway’s Supper Club. If you’ve never paid a visit, treat yourself and make it your business to do so.
Broadway Melody with Jack Viertel and Friends was at 54 Below, 254 W. 54th Street, NYC. For further programming information, please visit: www.54Below.org.
Headline Photo of Jack Viertel by Linda Viertel.
Concert photos by Ron Fassler.
