The title of Lisa Vroman’s triumphant new cabaret show, Ingénue…Ingé-not-so-new!, was inspired by the fact that she played Christine in The Phantom of the Opera for over ten years (in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and on Broadway), looking and sounding every inch as much the ingenue in her final performance as she did in her first. Featuring stylish and supportive accompaniment by music director Shane Schag on piano and Ray Kilday on bass, the show included songs and stories from her life on stage and a few about her life in the real world. She handled them all with consummate skill. She utilized her thrilling soprano in a multitude of ways, constantly surprising and involving while never hitting a false or belabored note. Vroman is also a first-class comedian, and the laughs were plentiful in both patter and ingeniously re-written classics. There was also a minimal, but terrifically effective, use of stills and slides that always heightened the moment.
Invoking the spirit of Vroman’s idol, Julie Andrews, with a musical quote from The Sound of Music, the show opened with “One Life to Live” (Kurt Weill, Ira Gershwin from Lady in the Dark), and her big, expressive voice wowed from the first seconds and continued to do so throughout the hour. A smart, soprano medley followed that built to an expected, but nonetheless extraordinary, climax with “I Feel Pretty” (Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, from West Side Story). Bringing in a bit of pop along with a bit of “real life” rather than theatre, she did a beautiful version of “Ordinary Miracles” (Marvin Hamlisch, Marilyn & Alan Bergman) in which she effortlessly underplayed where called for, yet left no doubt of the surging power beneath her vocals.
Sondheim was visited next with a brief audience sing-along for the opening title of Sweeney Todd, followed by a story of her appearance alongside Patti LuPone and George Hearn in the PBS concert version. That led to an exquisite “Green Finch and Linnet Bird” that was a luminous and dramatic as any I have heard. A subdued and thoughtful “Anyone Can Whistle” was the perfect follow-up. Cole Porter arrived with a big, beautiful “So in Love,” blossoming into the lesser known—but in Vroman’s passionate performance every bit as exciting— “I Am Loved.” After a very funny bit about auditioning that she returned to a couple of times in the course of the show, the singer shared a song that she had decided would be her secret weapon were she ever called upon to try out for Ragtime—“Lullaby in Ragtime” (Sylvia Fine). A piano bar and cabaret classic from decades past, Jeff Blumenkrantz’s “I Won’t Mind” became, in Vroman’s hands, a heart-piercing cameo about parental love felt by one who isn’t a parent.
A set-piece involving Phantom of the Opera was a tour de force eleven o’clock number with rising hilarity and electrifying vocals that was met with roars of approval. Then the show reverted to Julie Andrews for a closer in “My Favorite Things” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II, from The Sound of Music). The song worked beautifully on its own as a final showcase for the singer’s luminous talent, before rising to the comic stratosphere with brilliantly funny new words. A heartwarming encore of “I’ll Be Here with You” (David Friedman) capped the evening with a hug. To bring back Ms. Andrews one more time, let me close by saying Lisa Vroman and Ingénue…Ingé-not-so-new! were “practically perfect in every way!”
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Presented at The Green Room 42, 570 Tenth Ave., NYC, May 27 & 29, 2023.
Gerry Geddes has conceived and directed a number of musical revues—including the Bistro- and MAC Award-winning "Monday in the Dark with George" and "Put On Your Saturday Suit-Words & Music by Jimmy Webb"—and directed many cabaret artists, including André De Shields, Helen Baldassare, Darius de Haas, and drag artist Julia Van Cartier. He directs "The David Drumgold Variety Show," currently in residence at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, and has produced a number of recordings, including two Bistro-winning CDs. He’s taught vocal performance at The New School, NYU, and London’s Goldsmith’s College and continues to conduct private workshops and master classes. As a writer and critic, he has covered New York’s performing arts scene for over 40 years in both local and national publications; his lyrics have been sung by several cabaret and recording artists. Gerry is an artist in residence at Pangea, and a regular contributor to the podcast “Troubadours & Raconteurs.” He just completed a memoir of his life in NYC called “Didn’t I Ever Tell You This?”
