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“Trail of Cheers”
Laurie Beechman Theatre – March 20, 30, April 11
Creating a cabaret show is a balancing act, keeping various emotional balls in the air while maintaining authenticity and musicality. The show should reveal something about the performer without audiences having to endure a self-serving swamp of his personal minutiae. Avoiding preachiness and melodrama, the performer should make the listener care about his story; if he has walked through fire and come out the other side, the balancing part can get particularly challenging.
Tom Vaughn pulls off his walk through fire with natural grace, a pleasing tenor vocal tone, and a shrewd selection of standards, original songs and show tunes. His show’s title, “Trail of Cheers,” is a reference to the historic “Trail of Tears,” Andrew Jackson’s forced relocation of several tribes of American Indians, which in the 1830s took the lives of thousands. Vaughn comes from southeastern Missouri, home of the Trail of Tears State Park, which commemorates the harrowing Cherokee migration. After Vaughn’s own health struggles with a heart attack and cancer, he chose cheers over tears, stating, “Life is damned well worth celebrating—especially through music.”
Even in the hardest times, Vaughn knew life was not over for him. He used his bad moments to concentrate on hope, and this resulted in some original songs that reflected that urgency for survival. With smooth direction by singer/actress Raissa Katona Bennett and music direction by pianist Jeff Cubeta, Vaughn opened with a salute to “Old Friends” (Stephen Sondheim). Most of his songs, however, spoke of celebrating survival and the growth it brings. “Grow,” the first of several original songs, stressed endurance and the freedom that change brings. “First Pair of Shoes,” a musical anecdote about learning to tie his shoes, illustrated the simple idea that when he first tried, he could not tie his shoes and now he can. Vaughn expressed this point in a range of styles, such as a jaunty, country-styled “One More Day,” a silky “Simple Man,” and “The Shadow of Trees,” revealing a love for nature that has helped him keep an optimistic focus. A vibrant “I’m Alive” (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, from Next to Normal) was an exultant refusal to be denied.
Some patter about his career revealed that Lucie Arnaz had added Vaughn and Raissa Katona Bennett as background vocalists on her latest CD, Latin Roots. Guitarist Chris Conly, bassist Jacob Silver, and Mary Rodriguez on drums provided a triptych of swaying south-of-the-border rhythms in the Doris Day hit “Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps” (Osvaldo Farres, Joe Davis) and Joe and Joel Sherman’s “Por Favor.” The third Latin treatment went to “Softly, As in a Morning Sunrise” (Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II).
When Vaughn’s long-time friend Raissa Katona Bennett joined him on stage, they reminisced about their days entertaining on cruise ships and segued to a Hawaiian sequence. A romantic duet of “Hawaiian Wedding Song” (Charles King, Dick Manning, Al Hoffman) was followed by “Ukulele Lady” (Richard Whiting, Gus Kahn) and Vaughn’s own “Auntie Sheilah in Hilo,” two touches of humor. Biggest laughs, however, came from Katona Bennett’s rendition of Gary Adler’s “If I Wasn’t…,” a marriage of good-humor and friendship.
Tom Vaughn has an affinity for down-home tunes that touch his roots, like Stuart Hamblen’s “This Ole House” and his encore, “Full Moon of Love” (Leroy Preston, Jeannie Smith). Their rhythms and straightforward lyrics are Vaughn’s strengths, and with his naturally upbeat spirit and sense of humor, and a program of expressive songs well suited to the show’s theme, he presented a promising musical package.
