Tituss Burgess

September 2, 2012

“Because I Feel Like It”

54 Below  –  August 26

Though he’s known as a theatre singer (Jersey Boys, The Little Mermaid), Tituss Burgess flourishes off the boards in the realm of R&B music. His one-nighter at 54 Below allowed him to cut loose with an hour’s worth of songs—some self-penned—that rocked, slow-danced, and threw out a blue note or two. He received sound support from a combo led by pianist Brian Whitted.

His opener was a Porgy and Bess medley (George Gershwin and, variously, Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward) starting with “Summertime” and working through “I Loves You, Porgy,” “There’s a Boat Dat’s Leavin’ Soon for New York,” and “It Ain’t Necessarily So.” “Summertime” began with an urgent-sounding accompaniment and a breathy-voiced Burgess. Before long he let loose some wild clusters of notes that resembled exotic birdcalls or riffs from Yma Sumac. The audience knew after only a few measures that they were not in for an evening of decorous parlor songs.

Burgess is a sassy raconteur who connects well with his audience. He spun a tale for the 54 Below crowd about a childhood incident in which his mother took a belt to his bottom after learning he’d worn her high-heeled shoes while completing his homework. As young Tituss took his licks, Bette Midler’s recording of Bobby Freeman’s “Do You Want to Dance?” played in the background. After describing the incident, Burgess sang “Dance” (in an arrangement that pretty much resembled the Midler version) and reenacted the anecdote. Some in attendance may have felt squeamish about humor centering on a child’s receiving corporal punishment, but Burgess’s droll comic touch and capacity for smiling about his younger self gave the audience permission to laugh.

In a nod to his theatrical resumé, Burgess included a selection from the score of Mermaid—but it wasn’t one of the songs he performed on Broadway as Sebastian, the Crab. Instead he took on “Poor Unfortunate Souls” (Alan Menken, Howard Ashman), the big number from the show’s heavy, Ursula, the Sea Witch. He began in an understated mood, snapping fingers with the attitude of a bored Marlene Dietrich. Eventually the number picked up in intensity and speed as the character morphed into a wild woman. The audience ate it up. If only he’d had a kelp wig instead of the blond hairpiece.

On some of his more frenetic numbers, Burgess’s words weren’t always fully understandable. And his much-utilized falsetto occasionally sounded a little pinched. Generally, though, he sang smoothly and effectively. Late in the set, Whitted ceded the piano to Burgess, who accompanied himself on a handful of his original songs. I’m not sure whether it was the fact that he was both singing and playing that made the difference or simply that he was performing his own material, but he seemed even more focused, more anchored to the music in this part of the set than he did earlier. The pounding “Breakthrough” packed an especially contagious rhythmic punch, while the slow, intense “Sometimes All I Need” created an intimate mood, thanks in part to the dreamlike piano arrangement.

The finale of the show was a driving rendition of Jason Robert Brown’s “King of the World” featuring Burgess in a biting, defiant attitude—that is, up until the last lyric, in which the song does a rapid about-face. While this reversal left the singer stranded in a final posture of self-doubt, I don’t imagine that anyone went away from 54 Below thinking that Tituss Burgess is in any way a wimp.

 

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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.