CABARET
SCENES
Karen
Akers
Live, Laugh, Love
Akers Sings Sondheim
Algonquin Hotel's Oak
Room
New York, NY
The
2010 occasion of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday began a tsunami of
concerts,
musical revivals and cabaret tributes. We thought we’d heard it all.
Leave
it to the sublime Karen Akers to present an original and very personal take
on
an evening of the master’s work. Breaking her show into sections titled “Live,”
“Laugh”
(“not laugh-out-loud funny, but wit, style and acute self awareness”) and
“Love”
after the song in Follies, Akers offers a sequentially seamless mix
tilting
towards
lesser-known songs (treasures).
Beginning
with the eager optimism of “Take the Moment” (with Richard Rodgers from Do I
Hear a
Waltz?)
through a rendition of “Let Me Entertain You” (with Jule Styne from Gypsy)—without
flash,
sass,
or hip, likely as low key and stylish as Gypsy Rose Lee would have performed it—to
the showstoppingly gorgeous “Water Under the Bridge” (according to Ms. Akers
from Singing Out Loud, a
Barbra
Streisand film that never got made), we take the life journey of a woman who
has hoped,
resigned
herself, risen to the occasion, loved, lost and looks back with grace.
Listening
to the coupling of “The Story of Lucy and Jessie” and “Ah, But Underneath”
(both from
Follies,
the less familiar latter written for the London production) is like peeling the
character Phyllis’s
veneer
like an onion: “She was smart, tart, dry as a martini/ Ah, but underneath/She
was all heart,
something
by Puccini/ Ah, but underneath.” Pairing “I Wish I Could Forget You” (Passion)
with
“Losing
My Mind” (Follies) creates a progression so natural, it’s as if they
arose out of a single
emotional
arc. The thought behind this entertainment is evident and rewarding.
Akers
may have the most expressive face in cabaret. She could easily have been a
silent film star.
Her
phrasing is impeccable, her bearing innately patrician. The stillness from
which she
communicates
puts every ounce of energy and focus into a lyric, making feelings palpable.
Only
the shoulders rise with high notes as she fills with song. Bridging patter is
brief, apt, warm and
enlightening.
Her slightly smoky contralto is smooth and strong. A wonderful show,
beautifully
directed
by Eric Michael Gillett, with pianist and Musical Director Don Rebic and Dick
Sarpola on
bass.
Karen
Akers continues at the Oak Room through Oct. 29.
Alix
Cohen
Cabaret
Scenes
September 28, 2011