Christine Andreas

CHRISTINE ANDREAS
Debut at the Cafe Carlyle

September 19, 2000
Review by Catherine Tyrone

New York cabarets seem to have been playing musical chairs with performers lately. But the game is over and the Cafe Carlyle is the winner by a landslide. Christine Andreas is, without a doubt, the grandest prize of all. Ably assisted by Musical Director/Pianist Lee Musiker heading a quartet of talented musicians, she had not only the Cafe Carlyle audience enthralled, but the doors were packed with hotel staff and guests alike, hoping to garner a bit of the magic.

Never content to just sing random songs, Christine's theme for this show is a matrimonial one: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. She describes her amazing choreography of song assembly as "just falling into place." As the collection flows effortlessly from one song to the next, a subtle, exquisite coherence takes shape and becomes alive, drawing the audience into an enchanted world where nothing exists but the voice of Christine Andreas, the glorious voice that seems to carry you to the top of a roller coaster and then holds you there, suspended in that magical momentary eternity of weightlessness.

If ever there was a voice that could translate the world into sound, this is the one. What does warm amber sound like? What does the air after a spring rain sound like? Can joy and pain co-exist? Just listen. It's all there, and so much more. Do sounds have colors? So many they have no names! This is a voice that is so rich, so true, so perfectly tempered that when Christine Andreas sings, it IS the world.

Certain writers such as Richard Bach and Khalil Gibran have been able to encapsulate profound truths into their words. Christine Andreas does it with her voice, with her music, gently reminding you of the truth you already know, the truth you realize that you had forgotten in the rush of daily life. Most people have the physical capability of singing; a few have voice pretty enough that others like to listen to them. Christine Andreas fills her music with herself, with who she is, and in doing so, she gives her listeners back a part of themselves they had forgotten was there or forgotten to value.

Having a week's notice to prepare a show for a high profile, prestigious venue with the press in attendance in full force the first night would throw most performers into a dangerous tailspin. Not so, Christine Andreas. She seems to thrive on performance situations that give others angina by the mere thought. The only hint of opening night jitters was her own admission. Her songs transport her beyond such mundane things as nerves; and what a world was created in those seven days!

For her "Something old," Christine included several favorites from her earlier shows, such as Burton & Lane's "On A Clear Day You Can See Forever," Clint Black's lovely and profound "Something That We Do," Martin Silvestri's masterpiece "Love is Good," and her signature "Storybook" from Frank Wildhorn's The Scarlet Pimpernel. Just for fun, she also reprised "To Keep My Love Alive," Rodgers and Hart's witty ditty of murderous matrimonial mayhem, and Harnick and Bock's slightly adjusted "He Loves Me" from She Loves Me.

"Something new" would seem to imply the addition of new songs to her show, and of course there is a generous portion: "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?", "Autumn in New York," and "It's Gotta Be Love" to name a few. Her delicately sculpted interpretations, though, make every song she sings "Something new," adding colors, shades, nuances, moods, textures and meanings no other singer ever seemed to see, much less share so openly. For the "piece de resistance" of "Something new," Christine traveled to Italy, to the childhood homeland of the most charming parents of her life partner, Martin Silvestri. Mary Chapin Carpenter's "What If We Went to Italy," afforded her the opportunity to once again demonstrate her phenomenal facility in foreign languages, this time, obviously, in Italian. The verdict from the highest court in the land (Mr. and Mrs. Silvestri): "perfetto!"

For "Something borrowed," the source was the classic dance musical, A Chorus Line, a show Christine says she will never be in. She refused to go to dance class because she didn't know how to dance! Ah, the exquisite logic of youth! Never mind, she dances with her voice. Dance is the expression of the heart and that heart always finds a way. With "At the Ballet," she encapsulates an entire dance musical into one song, an entire life story played out in her very own unique voice ballet. Who needs toe shoes? Certainly not Christine Andreas!


"The deeper sorrow carves into your heart, the more of joy it can contain; and from the dry and barren desert land, there grows a fig tree in the rain" (from Fain and Webster's 1960 musical, Christine). Inherently effervescent, happy souls such as Christine Andreas will typically gravitate toward happy or fun or introspective, but positive songs. When Christine Andreas elects to include "Something blue," the effect is riveting. "How Insensitive" and "I'm a Fool to Want You" (Jobim/Wold/Herron/Sinatra) she admitted, nearly broke her heart at one point in her life. With Christine's uncanny and extraordinarily powerful ability to share her own feeling in a song, the pain in the room was palpable, for some perhaps in their own situations, but for most a deep empathy for someone who has triumphed over her own pain and a profound respect, admiration, and gratitude for her generosity and courage. In giving of herself, the effect was one of universal validation and catharsis and liberation.

Whether life gave Christine Andreas a gift, or whether she herself is the gift to those lucky enough to hear her sing and to experience the spell she weaves over and through an audience, a unique opportunity is yours at the Cafe Carlyle through October 14.