By Ron Fassler . . .
In a four-night engagement that opened last evening at 54 Below, theatre mainstay Santino Fontana put his considerable strengths as an actor and singer on display in a show guaranteed to be different at every performance. In his own words, “I like being forced into spontaneity because whatever happens is always more interesting that what you actually planned.” To that end, he had twenty-five songs numbered, dropped in a box, and asked members of the audience to pick from slips of paper and read out the number. Whatever number was drawn, Fontana sang the corresponding song off his list. With indefatigable good cheer, a ready wit, and tireless imagination, he plunged ahead song after song after song. For anyone with an appreciation for Broadway musicals, the fifteen choices were pure gold.
As a member of the press, a set list is usually given for convenience. Being in possession of one I can add that the other ten would have been just as gleaming and polished by Fontana’s renditions. The only drawback to his plan, as it would turn out, is that people kept picking ballads. The first six, in fact! It wasn’t until lucky #7 that we got Jule Styne and Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s “I Met a Girl” from Bells Are Ringing. But there’s nothing really wrong with getting to hear Fontana sing “Anyone Can Whistle” (the only Sondheim melody of the night) or Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s “Who Can I Turn To?” Interspersed were humorous reminiscences of shows he’d been in, including a lot of workshops of shows that either went on to glory or were never heard from again. “One was called Leave, which never arrived.”
Among the up tempo songs that really got cooking, a rendition of “Making Love Alone,” a specialty song written for Bernadette Peters to perform on Saturday Night Live about forty years ago, still holds up in its humor on the glories of masturbation. And the story behind his reworking the lyrics of “I’m Still Pretty” as his audition song for Frozen was a winner (as was his performance).
Considering I had the set list, I sure wish someone had pulled up #22, listed on the page as “Hal Prince Medley.” I also missed out on hearing what Fontana might have done with “Joey, Joey, Joey,” Frank Loesser’s haunting song from The Most Happy Fella. But that’s the thing… if I return to see it again in the next few days I may just get the chance. It’s a clever format.
Fontana brought one guest up to the stage, Rebecca Naomi Jones, with whom he’ll be sharing a stage next month downtown at the Classic Stage Company. Currently, they are both in rehearsal for a revival of Jerome Weidman and Harold Rome’s I Can Get It For You Wholesale, with Fontana playing the lead role of Harry Bogen. Jones will be playing the role originated by Marilyn Cooper and sang “Who Knows,” the song assigned to her character of Ruthie.
Musical direction was by Cody Owen Stine, also on piano, whose stylings were all on point. One arrangement, credited to Andy Einhorn for “Who Can I Turn To?” was especially lovely. As for Fontana’s singing, his upper register got a real workout due to the overload of ballads. However, he is equally comfortable within his baritone range and might do well to concentrate with arrangements that show off that element to his voice (he should also, as a preventative measure, remove five ballads from the list and put in five different styles for future shows).
Closing with a ballad (pre-planned and not picked at random), he performed a moving version of Harvey Schmidt and Tom Jones’s “They Were You” from The Fantasticks, without a microphone. It was absolutely beautiful and touching for a number of reasons, besides the quality of his artistry. Not only in that we recently lost Jones at age ninety-five, one of the last of the exemplary lyricists to come out of the Golden Age of musicals, but of its meaning to Fontana, marking as it does his New York Stage debut in 2006. His other connection to the song is genuinely profound, but since this is the one song he’ll be doing at every performance, I leave you with that as an enticement to get tickets and enjoy the whole show (and listen to that story) for yourselves.
Santino Fontana is at 54 Below, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, September 12-14, located at 254 W 54th Street, NYC. For information, please go to: https://54below.org/events/santino-fontana-2/
Photos: Ron Fassler
