By Alix Cohen
In opposition to her own high dudgeon, Jellison opens with a tandem “Be Optimistic” (Harold Spinsa/Walter Bullock) and “A Cockeyed Optimist.” (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II) Clearly an actor, she manages to tint with irony.
“The world is batshit crazy… Doubt and faith walk hand in hand… This isn’t your founding father’s America. It isn’t even Jimmy Stewart’s America,” she warns us, then quoting from Frank Capra’s 1939 film, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Born in the US to a French, Italian family, Jellison has distinctive perspective and innate love of country. The leitmotif of this audacious show is awareness of our current national peril.
Woven through songs are stories of her family and reenacted telephone calls on behalf of a democratic ticket. Family recollection is warm, touching. Calls are terrific; pauses realistic, accents credible. Drawn from her own experience, dialogue is authentic.
“Am I Blue” (Harry Ankst/Grant Clark 1929) crosshatches with “A Blue State” (Craig Corothers 2006) :“I’m in a blue, blue state/But not blue like the sky or the ocean/Yeah it’s a sad, sad place/And I don’t like the view/But I’m just passin’ through…”
“The Fuck Song” (David Gaines, Barry Kleinbort, Jellison) is one of pugnacious frustration and irrepressibly hysterical. Jellison’s expressions and timing are pitch perfect. She spits the repeated word.
Dave and Samantha Frishberg’s “Blizzard of Lies” elicits the example of “little George Washington” followed by those untruths we employ daily. The list ends with “I’ll love you to the end”, “We’re not touching Medicare”, and Epstein’s not my friend.” Jellison is a helluva writer.
A heady arrangement of Stephen Stills’ “For What It’s Worth” enters on Ritt Henn’s infectious vamp. Bass then becomes the song’s vertebrae. The artist tells us of an influential teacher and an anti-war revue. “You didn’t do this kind of thing in Queens in 1968.” It’s parlando, an “in-one.”
I heard Jellison perform Melanie Safka’s pop “What Have They Done to My Song?” at a Stephen Hanks’ Blue Wave concert raising money for Democrats and decided on the spot to follow her. Interpretation, partly in French, simply captivates. Bowed bass effects resonant pluck. Piano bounces, yet its undercurrent is dark.
In order to “break out of a bubble”, the artist even arranged to speak with a MAGA woman. It’s sobering. Jellison’s quiet decency controls reaction.
“Hope” (Jason Robert Brown) is viscerally moving” “I come to sing a song about hope/I’m not inspired much right now, but even so/I came out here to sing a song, so here I go…” It’s the second time during this affecting evening I feel as if I’ve swallowed a cloud.
The show is smart, funny, well written, and moving, a thorny subject attacked with heart and flair. 10 minutes less would be welcome.
A throat operation left Jellison with an all vibrato vocal. She sounds just a bit like Sidney Myer. Her voice is unique, well honed, and effectively leveraged to maximum impact.
MD David Gaines has additional talent for underscoring. American anthems drift below stories. Melding of songs is seamless. Harmonic color and emotional shading seems organic.
Director Barry Kleinbort excels with Jellison’s droll expression and specific gestures. Even tucking into a song, volume is not overt. The artist’s canny personality shines through.
Text, the artist tells me, was developed in a workshop with playwright Karen Hartman.
Photos by Alix Cohen
Claudine Cassan Jellison- Am I Blue?
Barry Kleinbort – Director
David Gaines – MD
Ritt Henn – Bass
Don’t Tell Mama 343 West 46 St
https://donttellmamanyc.com/
