Review: Alice Ripley's new show is fearless but could use a bit of fine tuning at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival, October 21 and 22, 2017

This review originally appeared at 88.1 KDHX, where Chuck Lavazzi is the senior performing arts critic.

Alice Ripley

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Broadway star Alice Ripley strikes me as fiercely courageous performer.

Back in 2010 at the Fox in a tour of Next to Normal, her Diana (a role she created on Broadway), was a dynamic and deeply troubled force of nature despite Ms. Ripley's audible vocal fatigue. You can argue about whether performing under vocal stress was a good idea or not, but there's no question that it took real guts.

I saw that same "go for broke" bravery in the opening number of her latest cabaret show, which had its world premiere at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival this weekend (Friday and Saturday, October 21 and 22). It was Leon Russell's soulful "A Song for You," expanded and extended to include volcanic outbursts of passion and even some idiosyncratic scatting. This was a kind of post-Wagnerian elaboration that left me wondering where the heck she was going with it and then being impressed with the destination. She broke the rules, took chances, and ultimately succeeded.

Which was essentially what she did for the entire evening.

At around ninety minutes, that evening was maybe a bit longer than it should have been, and if I were directing this show I'd suggest possibly making cuts in the first half, which consisted of dramatically charged renditions of pop songs from the sixties and beyond. Sometimes, as in a fiercely vulnerable version of Aaron Neville's 1966 "Tell It Like It Is," the results were gripping. But ultimately there were too many deeply felt ballads in a row for me and I began to tune out.

I tuned back in, though, for Ms. Ripley's chatty and engaging patter, which related the songs to her life without descending into the kind of embarrassingly personal details that sometimes mars that approach. At no point did I want to shout "too much information!" Good for her.

And I really tuned in for the second half, which consisted of piansit/music director Brad Simmons's beautifully arranged medleys from some of the many hit Broadway shows in Ms. Ripley's impressive resume. I was particularly taken with the three numbers from Sunset Boulevard, the show in which she played the role of Betty when it opened on Broadway in 1994. She said she'd love to play Norma Desmond now, and if the powerful way she delivered "With One Look" and "As If We Never Said Goodbye" is any indication, she is definitely ready for her close-up.

Brad Simmons
Photo: Kevin Alvey

The collection of tunes from the 1992 stage version of Tommy bubbled with raucous joy and Ms. Ripley's heartfelt performance of "I Miss the Mountains," Diana's first big number in Next to Normal, was a reminder of why she got that 2009 Tony award.

Mr. Simmons, it should be noted, contributed not only impeccably well-tailored arrangements but great vocals as well. When he and Ms. Ripley sang close harmony-as they did several times-it was such a thing of beauty that I was willing to ignore the fact that they were facing each other and not actively involving the audience. That should have been a turn-off, but wasn't. Their performance chemistry was irresistable.

So, yeah, this new show (the working title of which would appear to be "The Ripley Prescription") needs some fine tuning, but it's an impressive, theatrically potent piece already. For Ms. Ripley's fans, who were present in force the night I saw the show, The Ripley Prescription was just what the doctor ordered. For me, it was a demonstration of her vocal versatility and substantial acting chops. I expect that the show will be another feather in her already highly decorated cap before long.

The Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues through November 11th at the Gaslight Theatre in the Central West End. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Cabaret Review: Susan Werner provides a fine finish to the fall Gaslight Cabaret Festival

Susan Werner at Thalian Hall
in 2009
susanwerner.com

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Susan Werner's two shows at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival this past weekend marked her first solo appearances locally in over seven years, and that's far too long.

When I saw her for the first time back in 2008 at the Cabaret at Savor, I observed that her performance was creative, smart, hip, devilishly clever, and just downright entertaining. I'll second that now. When the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich called her "one of the most innovative songwriters working today" in 2006 he was only stating the simple truth.

Due to accidents of history as much as anything else, the image of the singer/songwriter in the popular mind is often strongly linked to artists who draw their inspiration primarily from the folk/old-time tradition. Think of July Collins or Phil Ochs in the 1960s or Nanci Griffith today. Werner did, in fact, start out making a name for herself on the folk circuit, and her songs certainly include elements of what's now called "traditional" music, but that's only one color in a palette that includes jazz – traditional and modern – torch songs, American Songbook standards, and even some remnants of her classical conservatory training.

So, yeah, she did play the guitar, but she switched back and forth between it and the baby grand with ease, all the while humming riffs that led into the next number. It's as though singing was as natural to her as speaking, and the songs were just an extension of the stories that bridged them.

As for the songs themselves, Ms. Werner writes really great ones. She writes the kind of songs that make people like me want to go out and buy copies of the sheet music so we can learn them. She writes songs that can be funny, sad, wry, world-weary, romantic, cynical, cheerfully upbeat, and politically subversive – sometimes all at once.

Want some career advice? She's got it in "Don't Work With Your Friends." Need a good comeback when you encounter a friend who has just had cosmetic surgery? Consider "What Did You Do to Your Face?" There was sound advice about living for the moment in "May I Suggest" (as in, "May I suggest that this is the best part of your life"). And for fans of the Second City, she's got a great hymn to her home town in "Give Me Chicago Any Day," complete with an unexpected vocal nod to Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong.

There was more political material in this show than I recall hearing in the last one, but it was quality stuff. And the messages in those songs didn't beat us over the head. They were often laced with humor, as in "Our Father" ("Deliver us from those who think they're You") or in "Herbicides Done Made Me Gay." Or they grew naturally out of a narrative, as in the pro-choice "Manhattan, Kansas" or "Cuba Before" and "Cuba After," which were inspired by a trip to that formerly blockaded island.

There was even, as an encore, one song that Ms. Werner didn't write: Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's "Time After Time" (first sung by Frank Sinatra in the 1947 film "It Happened in Brooklyn") and dedicated to her long-time partner and now (thanks to the Supreme Court) her spouse. It was a lovely "unplugged" moment, sung seated on the lip of the stage with acoustic guitar.

It was also a bit daring, but Ms. Werner was able to pull it off because she's a good a performer and she is a songwriter. She took us on a musical journey and told us stories that were worth hearing. She enjoyed herself immensely and included all of us in the fun. So the audience responded warmly and enthusiastically, even when the material got openly political.

Susan Werner's show brought the fall edition of Jim Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival to a fine conclusion. The festival will start back up again in the spring. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.