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“The Sedaka Show”
Feinstein’s at Loews Regency – April 4, 11, 18, 25
I first saw Jim Van Slyke’s Neil Sedaka show in March 2009, when it was in its infancy. Indeed, as I recall that engagement was the show’s maiden voyage, at least in New York waters. Since then, he has performed it any number of times in various cities around the country, en route garnering a bouquet of favorable reviews and a very enthusiastic endorsement from Sedaka, himself. He recently landed back in New York for a return engagement at Feinstein’s. Although the show had not impressed me two years ago, I wanted to give it another chance. After all, what I had seen was the very first performance of his March 2009 run, and I know that shows and artists can grow with time; besides, several people whose opinions I respect have had good things to say about it. So, to Feinstein’s I went.
In part because I wanted to enjoy my hour at the club, but more because I truly love it when people develop and get better, I was hoping that my reaction would be, Wow, this is really good! Ah, ’twas not to be. From the outset, I saw the same problems and weaknesses I remembered from my first exposure. Van Slyke’s performance of his opening number, “That’s When the Music Takes Me,” was wan, and the song was not very interesting. The second selection, “The Other Side of Me” (written with Howard Greenfield, a frequent Sedaka collaborator), is a better song, but Van Slyke’s rendition lacked inner energy and his interpretation failed to explore the lyric.
I’m afraid that those epithets (wan, lacked inner energy, failed to explore the lyric, not a very interesting song) could be applied to most of the evening, with a few bright exceptions. Van Slyke has a strikingly pretty voice; however, it doesn’t have a lot of coloration. That, in itself, needn’t be a fatal limitation—look what Blossom Dearie was able to communicate with her monochromatic pipes—but it is problematic when combined with his not being a very deep actor, and the combination is positively deadly when, in addition, the song, itself, is dull. His voice did sometimes increase in volume, and he occasionally wore an expression of pain, but volume is not the same as fire and passion, and the veneer of emotion ain’t the real thing.
Van Slyke was most successful with Sedaka’s catchier songs, like “Laughter in the Rain” (written with Phil Cody) and “Where the Boys Are” (Howard Greenfield again), though it’s a pity that the latter, iconic song was relegated to fifth position in a doo wop medley. In these songs, the combination of the infectious music and the loveliness of Van Slyke’s voice was enough to score. With two of Sedaka and Greenfield’s big ballads, “One More Ride on the Merry-Go-Round” and “The Hungry Years,” he delivered respectable pop renditions, but not more than that—rather like Sedaka Lite. As my note reads, “He certainly doesn’t grab a song by the balls.” With an English lyric by Sedaka, and retitled “Turning Back the Hands of Time,” Puccini’s “Nessun Dorma” was quite beautiful, and in this number, Van Slyke even displayed drama and fervor—so, why did he keep them under wrap the rest of the evening?
The show was conceived and directed by Brian Lane Green. The music direction and arrangements were supplied by Tim Di Pasqua, whose presence and piano accompaniment frequently gave off more vital energy than Van Slyke’s vocals did, sweet though they may have been.
I recognize that mine appears to be very much a minority opinion.
Roy Sander has been covering cabaret and theatre for over thirty years. He’s written cabaret and theatre reviews, features, and commentary for seven print publications, most notably Back Stage, and for CitySearch on the Internet. He covered cabaret monthly on “New York Theatre Review” on PBS TV, and cabaret and theatre weekly on WLIM-FM radio. He was twice a guest instructor at the London School of Musical Theatre. A critic for BistroAwards.com, he is also the site’s Reviews Editor; in addition, he is Chairman of the Advisory Board of MAC.
