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Tom Andersen
August 24, 2014
The closing performance of Tom Andersen’s recent Don’t Tell Mama show (his first solo program in almost a decade) had a casual pre-Labor Day vibe. He wore cool summer attire, befitting a box social. And he’d tucked plenty of fresh, thoughtfully prepared musical treats in his picnic hamper.
He opened the show with “Gosh, It’s Good to See You Again,” an amusing original number written with his musical director and pianist James Followell. The song soon led into a breezy version of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “A Cockeyed Optimist.” The festive medley established the mood for the evening. Although there were less-upbeat numbers throughout the program, there was nothing on the truly somber side of the ledger in Andersen’s set (with the exception, I suppose, of Hugh Prestwood’s terse “Ghost in This House”).
Andersen turned to Stephen Sondheim early on, offering an avid and heartfelt version of “Our Time” (from Merrily We Roll Along)—singing it at a slightly quicker clip than we customarily hear. His gliding, shining tenor brimmed with the earnestness of youthful discovery, though he was singing from the perspective of a relatively mature man (and what could be more Sondheimish than that dichotomy?). Here and in later numbers, Andersen’s full-tilt emotional openness was given full play. His capacity for giving of himself so unsparingly, both to the song and to his audience, is a rare and heartening thing. He seemed to have not a trace of self-censorship or reserve. It didn’t hurt that Followell and bassist John Loehrke seemed so perfectly in synch with the singer’s sensibilities.
Andersen’s openness extended to his often-amusing between-song patter, which at points touched on his love life. There was some sexy singing in the program to match this theme, notably in “All er Nothin’” from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (speaking of box socials). He sang the number in a laid-back, suavely jazzy arrangement, accompanied solely by Loehrke. The bassist thumped teasingly while Andersen played the musical flirt. It was a crowd-pleasing turn. Then Andersen offered a different selection from the same musical—”People Will Say We’re in Love”—which was set to a dreamy piano accompaniment that poured forth like a meandering yet insistent brook. The pairing of these two songs allowed Andersen to show two different aspects of show-tune romance: sly courtship and hypnotic enchantment.
A highlight later in the program was a lovely new interpretation of a song Andersen has sung in the past, the vertiginous “Storybook” (Nan Knighton, Frank Wildhorn) from The Scarlet Pimpernel (a show with a score I believe to be significantly underrated). His final programmed number (prior to encore, that is) was an invigorating take on Tony Hatch’s “Downtown”: a pied-piper call that seemed to urge the audience to catch the next train down to Greenwich Village.
One mark of Andersen’s artistry is the way he uses gesture to punctuate the meaning of a song. On two occasions he finished songs with a physical move that made me almost gasp: At the end of “The Journey Home” (A.R. Rahman, Don Black), he surprised us with a raised hand—a quiet, satisfied greeting; near the conclusion of “Downtown,” he bounced on his toes like a child frantic with anticipation.
Singers of various skill levels use gestures with the aim of enriching a song, but it takes a truly accomplished performer to startle us with such simple yet perfectly integrated movements.
“My Favorite Sings”
Don’t Tell Mama – August 2, 9, 16
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.
The closing performance of Tom Andersen’s recent Don’t Tell Mama show (his first solo program in almost a decade) had a casual pre-Labor Day vibe. He wore cool summer attire, befitting a box social. And he’d tucked plenty of fresh, thoughtfully prepared musical treats in his picnic hamper.