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A photo advertising “Other People’s Parties”—the recent solo cabaret debut of William TN Hall, at The Duplex—shows a hangdog Hall slumped at a bar, nursing a drink with one hand and propping up a cigarette with the other. His expression is that of a man resigned to the shabbiness of the world. But after you see Hall perform, you know that something is fundamentally off-kilter with that image (and I don’t mean just the anachronism of a cigarette being smoked in a bar in 2015).
The photo does not give Hall’s spirit its due. True, the British-born performer may not be the sunniest of fellows. In the show he acknowledged being, paradoxically, both egotistical and prone to self-loathing. But he still apparently maintains a stake in the world—however stale, flat, and unprofitable the world may be. He may even have a flash or two of optimism. Occasionally during the show, his eyes popped wide open for a second or two, as though he was startled by the idea that he was startled.
The show began with Hall standing at the microphone, where he delivered a solid rendition of Joni Mitchell’s “People’s Parties.” He then made his way to the piano, where he remained for the duration of the show. His second song was a nod to his homeland: the rocking “Made in England” (Elton John, Bernie Taupin). At this point, the full extent of of his musicianship and professionalism was becoming evident. (While this was Hall’s first time as a cabaret headliner, he has other impressive credentials: This is the third consecutive year he’s received a MAC Award nomination for entertaining the crowd at a piano bar from his perch at the piano. He also served as pianist for the late Joan Rivers in the last phase of her career.)
What in large part made this show so enjoyable was the way it was programmed. Hall (with support, I imagine, from creative consultant Amy Wolk) demonstrated a talent for devising unusual, surprising, and effective song pairings. For instance, he followed up Bob Hilliard and Sammy Fain’s “Very Good Advice” (from Disney’s Alice in Wonderland) with the pop group Girls Aloud’s “No Good Advice” (Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, et al.), which had a 1960s surf-city sound. Hall kept the female pronouns in the song, unselfconsciously assuming the persona of a rebellious adolescent girl.
Hall seems to have one foot in the musical theatre world and the other in contemporary Manhattan club life. He’s edgy but he takes standards seriously. He gave a pensive reading of Rodgers and Hart’s “I Wish I Were in Love Again” that had a ghostly, cool arrangement and was devoid of campiness or snark. Granted, he did have a wink at himself—and (intentionally or not) at Lorenz Hart—when singing the heterosexually oriented lyric celebrating “the classic battle of a him and her.”
The centerpiece of the evening was a wickedly clever (if, as Hall admitted, somewhat overlong) “Guide to Gay” medley that took the audience on a whirlwind musical tour of Manhattan’s LGBT club scene. He began the sequence, unsurprisingly, with Jonathan Larson’s rowdy “Out Tonight” from Rent. But then he segued into a vigorous “But Alive” (Lee Adams, Charles Strouse) from Applause. (It was during the singing of this driving number that I found myself completely hooked on Hall’s wit and energy.) The bar crawl continued with stops at a country-and-western bar, an “Asian” club, a “twink” bar and so on.
At two points in the evening, Hall presented numbers from a musical he’s written with Patrick Gallagher called Pretty People Suck (and Other Indisputable Facts About the Universe). Both songs were moderately amusing in a semi-cynical way. I suspect (and hope) that they work better in the context of the musical’s libretto than they did here. The likeable Laura Pavles joined Hall in singing the title number; she then soloed on the other one, “Central Park in Spring.” Pavles additionally provided support as backup singer throughout the evening. Hall also benefitted from the winning contributions of guitarist Tony Calabro, bassist Jamie Mohamdein, and drummer Chris Schultz.
Toward the end of the evening, Hall sang the Supertramp title “C’est le Bon” (Richard Davies, Roger Hodgson), a hymn to music’s ability to help keep the soul afloat. While listening to this song, it struck me that Hall has a particular talent for lending musicality to the spoken word and for making lyrics flow as effortlessly as speech. It may be going way too far to compare him to his countryman Noël Coward in this regard. But my mind did go there.
“Other People’s Parties”
The Duplex – February 15, 23
(previously presented at Don’t Tell Mama in December)
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.
A photo advertising “Other People’s Parties”—the recent solo cabaret debut of William TN Hall, at The Duplex—shows a hangdog Hall slumped at a bar, nursing a drink with one hand and propping up a cigarette with the other. His expression is that of a man resigned to the shabbiness of the world. But after you see Hall perform, you know that something is fundamentally off-kilter with that image (and I don’t mean just the anachronism of a cigarette being smoked in a bar in 2015).