By Brian Scott Lipton… Cabaret, like life, depends on expectations. If you’re hoping to hear amazing singing from Tony Award winner Laura Benanti and her mother Linda in their new show “Mothers Know Best” at 54 Below, I suggest you try to find a ticket immediately. Better vocalizing is unlikely to be found almost anywhere in New York City.
Conversely, if you want a lot of “dirt” — or even a deep exploration about the lives of these two extraordinary women — a bit of disappointment might set in. There are some charming, funny anecdotes about their relationship – including Linda’s peerless advice to her teenage daughter after a famous (unnamed) producer asked Laura to be his mistress, as well as Linda’s unorthodox choice for Laura to sing (at 17) at her audition for her first Broadway show, The Sound of Music – but there’s nary a dirty little family secret to be found.
What you do get here is glorious music and (especially on Laura’s part) some divine comedy. She adds extremely funny original material to both the Ray Evans/Jay Livingston standard “Que Sera Sera” (which opens the show as a mother-daughter duet) and Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s now-misogynistic standard “Wives and Lovers,” after singing it through once with a straight face. (Honestly, it’s really catchy despite its outdated lyrics.) Afterwards, Laura confesses the first time she heard this 1960s tune, she ran to Linda with this discovery of a “great comic song” only to be corrected by her mother.
The rest of Laura’s solo repertoire for this 75-minute show comes from some of her greatest Broadway roles: a stunning, technically flawless “Vanilla Ice Cream” from She Loves Me, followed by a gorgeous “Unusual Way” from Nine, which is proceeded by wonderful stories about how the then-21-year-old starlet was shown unusual kindness from her co-star, the late, great Chita Rivera.
Above all – perhaps even worth the cover charge — is “My Fair Lady in 15 Minutes,” in which Benanti magnificently sings bits of all of Eliza Doolittle’s solo numbers from the classic Lerner and Loewe musical, along with just enough narration to fill in the story if you somehow don’t know it. (Bonus points to musical director Billy Stritch’s brief portrayal of Henry Higgins! And bonus points as well for the non-verbal contributions of bassist Steve Doyle, guitarist Ann Klein, and drummer Daniel Glass.)
Linda’s selections run a more eclectic gamut, though each one shows off her singular gifts, including a beautiful, often operatic soprano and a real interpretative commitment to her material. She moves us with two wonderful Maury Yeston songs: “New Words” and “I Had a Dream About You” (the latter paired pleasingly with Johnny Mandel and Paul Frances Weston’s “The Shadow of Your Smile.”) And if her version of Harold Arlen and Ira Gershwin’s “The Man That Got Away” may not quite match the one by her idol, Judy Garland, it is nonetheless stunning enough to earn a huge mid-show ovation.
To conclude the show, there are three duets: one I won’t reveal, and two special songs co-written by Laura: the clever “Recovering Ingenue” and the touching “I’m Gonna Miss This.”
Don’t miss this show!
Laura and Linda Benanti: Mothers Know Best continues at 54 Below (254 West 54th Street) on July 23 and July 25. Visit www.54below.org for information.