Eric Michael Gillett and La Tanya Hall

February 23, 2012

“Nothing to Lose But Your Heart – The Songs of Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty”

Feinstein’s at Loews Regency – February 21-25

The songwriting team of composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahrens often writes songs for musicals with a show-business setting. That’s something the audience learns early on in this program featuring the duo’s songs. The showbiz milieu of such shows—which include My Favorite Year, A Man of No Importance, and The Glorious Ones—may be one of the chief reasons why Gillett was attracted to Flaherty and Ahrens’s material. In addition to being a singer, he is an actor and a teacher of acting. He also had a 12-year stint as a ringmaster for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Clearly he values showmanship.

Gillett isn’t credited as the director of this program, but his flair as an entertainer is evident throughout. He and Hall begin the program singing from the middle of the room, where they perform for a minute or two, before joining the instrumentalists on stage. At times during the evening, one of the pair will sing from the stage while the other performs from audience level. At every turn, Gillett and Hall interact physically with one another and with their listeners (and, on opening night, with Flaherty and Ahrens, who were seated upfront and center). There’s much movement and gesture throughout the show. Hall has some Folies Bergère-style moves during “Speaking French” (from Lucky Stiff); her hips swing, her arms slither exotically. During “Making Love” (from The Glorious Ones), a song in which the guy pesters the doll to give him some whoopee-time, the performers act out the scene almost as they would were they on a theatrical stage.

Much of this choreographed shtick is fine, but it’s not always necessary. Occasionally, it seems to create an excessive busy-ness. The sensual medley consisting of “Forever Yours” (from Once on This Island) and “The Bend of My Arm” (from Dessa Rose) is staged with some hot-and-heavy physicality that becomes somewhat awkward because of the presence of handheld mics. There’s really no need for anything more in this number than the passion in the voices and the heat burning in the two pairs of eyes.

Though the between-song patter between the two vocalists seems to be carefully scripted and rehearsed, it manages to come off as reasonably spontaneous. But what’s most important about this show is not the staging or the talk, but the richness of the music that Gillett and Hall make. There are some irresistibly engaging songs in the Flaherty/Ahrens catalog, and these performers appear to have chosen and prepared them with loving care.

Hall, known for her jazz singing, has two voices, really. Her upper register is reedy and whispery. It’s a folky kind of voice, fit for the Joan Baez songbook. Her lower register is earthy, resonant, and—when it needs to be—sexy. The song that best shows off this agreeable dichotomy is Ragtime‘s “Your Daddy’s Son,” with its wide-ranging, wandering melody. Hall makes it a captivating turn. The program’s finest showcase for Gillett’s talent may be “The Streets of Dublin” from A Man of No Importance, which has a driving rhythm and robust poetic imagery. This number gives Gillett the chance to flex his actor’s muscles, as he brings to life Ahrens’s bold descriptions of hard-living working-class carousers.

When the two performers sing together (which they do much of the time), Gillett’s sturdy bari-tenor serves as an anchor for Hall’s bifurcated voice. It almost seems as if his voice somehow tucks comfortably between her upper and lower ranges. The harmonies that ensue in their duets sound full and warm. And when music director and pianist Jeff Cubeta adds his voice to the mix, the resulting sound appears to be coming from a small chamber ensemble, not from a mere trio. (Bassist Matt Wigton does not sing, but his easy playing enhances the program’s overall effect.)

The emotionality in the singing is perhaps most effective in the stirring duet “Love Who You Love,” also from A Man of No Importance. Hearing this song made me remember how much I admired that show when it was staged at Lincoln Center a decade ago. Gillett and Hall’s song set here is so effective that it made me want to log on to Amazon.com and order the cast albums featuring those Flaherty and Ahrens scores that I never managed to experience in the theatre. All told, this is a very satisfying evening of music.

 

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About the Author

Mark Dundas Wood is an arts/entertainment journalist and dramaturg. He began writing reviews for BistroAwards.com in 2011. More recently he has contributed "Cabaret Setlist" articles about cabaret repertoire. Other reviews and articles have appeared in theaterscene.net and clydefitchreport.com, as well as in American Theatre and Back Stage. As a dramaturg, he has worked with New Professional Theatre and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. He is currently literary manager for Broad Horizons Theatre Company.