By the end of How Did I End Up Here, Sally Wilfert’s new show at Feinstein’s/54 Below, the audience wasn’t really interested in the answer to the title’s question, they were just so delighted to be there sharing in the good will and spectacular singing.The show was classic, old-school cabaret—just voice, piano and well-chosen songs.But what a voice!What a piano!What songs!It was a bracing welcome back to the world of live performance.
Sally Wilfert
The audience was greeted with the perfect love song to the reviving city, Cole Porter’s “I Happen to Like New York,” and Wilfert’s attention to detail and invested delivery got every laugh (including a few I had not noticed before) while thrilling the audience with her passionate belt. Having weathered the pandemic for a year and half, Wilfert claimed she just wanted to include songs that made her heart sing. She then did a beautiful version of “Alfie” (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) that she shaped into a guidepost on how to reapproach the world post-COVID. Susan Werner’s hilarious “What Did You Do to Your Face” was given its due with the singer getting huge laughs singing the “praises” of a friend’s surgical decisions. That hilarity was turned on its ear with the ethereal beauty and innocence of her exquisite “I Wish It So” (Mark Blitztein, from Juno) in a version that matches any I have heard.
Acknowledging the overwhelming temptation during quarantine to vegetate on the couch with popcorn and Netflix, she shakes herself free of the torpor with an electrifying “Some People” (Jule Styne, Stephen Sondheim, from Gypsy); every line of the song burst with blazing clarity, communicating every bit of drama, wit, and determination.With mock irritation, she turned to her music director, Joseph Thalken, revealing that he had grown his own sourdough starter and baked a perfect loaf of bread and had completed the music and lyrics for a full-length musical.We didn’t get sourdough but she did give us a sample of the show with “Carry On,”a strong, dramatic song easily matching the perfection of the bread.Throughout the night, Thalken proved to be not only a fine pianist and an exquisite accompanist, but he grew into a full-fledged co-star, his winning smile underscoring the good feelings Wilfert was engendering.
Some singer just get medleys, and Wilfert gave superb proof that in the best of hands, one song can illuminate and deepen the other, creating a third, more telling story out of the two separate lyrics.John Denver’s “Leaving on a Jet Plane” blended so well with “Outbound Plane” (Nanci Griffith, Tom Russell) that it really seemed like it came from the same pen.James Taylor’s “Millwork” coupled with Peter Allen’s “I Could Have Been a Sailor” was a masterpiece of memory, regret, and acceptance.Paying touching tribute to her friend, Rebecca Luker, she hushed the house with one of the sadly departed singer’s favorite songs, “On My Way to You” (Michel Legrand, Alan and Marilyn Bergman).Her “cellmate” for the duration received his own special tribute with a deeply romantic “Right as the Rain” (Harold Arlen, Yip Harburg).
Her 11 0’clock number was a brilliant rendition of “Colored Lights” (John Kander, Fred Ebb, from The Rink) that honored and spotlighted the music and lyrics in ways I have never heard anyone…I repeat, anyone…do before. The isolation of the pandemic caused a lot of contemplation on time, and life, and how much and how little we know, and she addressed this in a moving medley of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and James Taylor’s “Secret O’ Life” that was both an emotional lesson and a perfect wrap up to this truly lovely show.
Based on the success of the show, I would say that a new generation has found its Barbara Cook and that all is right with the world of cabaret thanks to the remarkable energy and artistry of Sally WIlfert.
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Presented at Feinstein’s/54 Below on July 18 & 20.
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?”
