Cabaret Review: An auspicious debut by Gina Otto

Who: Gina Otto
What: The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me
Where: The Gaslight Theatre, St. Louis, MO
When: April 9, 2015

Our town's newest cabaret headliner, Gina Otto, made an auspicious debut at the Gaslight Cabaret Festival with "The Lovers, the Dreamers, and Me." Although not without its issues, the show was well received by a sold-out house that clearly included a lot of Ms. Otto's fans from the local country club circuit, where she performs regularly.

The evening was distinguished by intriguing song choices, including one I'd never heard before: "You Don't Love Me," from Dutch jazz singer Caro Emerald's 2010 album "Deleted Scenes from the Cutting Room Floor." It's an upbeat, verbally inventive little number along the lines of The Cherry Poppin' Daddies (or, for those of you from my generation, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks) that suited Ms. Otto's light voice well in one of many smart arrangements by pianist and music director Carol Schmidt.

There were other songs that I thought worked especially well. A lyrical "Hopelessly Devoted to You," for example, was enriched by Ms. Otto's memories of singing with her father. "I Can Cook Too," a rarely heard comic number from "On the Town," was amusingly prepped as relationship advice, and the way it segued into a parody version of "McArthur Park" was a nice touch. I've never been able to take those lyrics with a straight face anyway, and Ms. Otto had some well-deserved fun with them.

Throughout the evening Ms. Otto was engaged and charming with the audience. I found the overall emotional range of the evening a bit limited, though. She did not often delve deeply into lyrics, and the overall tone seemed more suited to a supper club environment, where the singer is not so much in focus for the audience. When Ms. Otto really connected with a lyric at a deeper level—as she did in a torchy "The Man I Love"—she was more compelling. I wished she had done that more often.

I also wished she had not held the mic directly in front of her mouth quite so much. It partly blocked the view of her expressive face.

That said, it was a lively first show and the audience was clearly entertained. The local cabaret scene continues to grow and new faces are always welcome.

Gina Otto's appearance conclud the spring edition of producer Jim Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater on North Boyle, which concluded on April 11th. For information on upcoming shows: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

And that's how it's done

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Who: Ken Page
What: Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue
When: February 20 and 21, 2014
Where: The Gaslight Theatre

I've always maintained that actors in general and musical theatre actors in particular have something of a head start when it comes to cabaret.  They already know how to give meaning to a lyric and how to connect with an audience.  As evidence, I offer up Ken Page's "Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue," which kicked off The Presenters Dolan's Gaslight Cabaret Festival on February 20 and 21.

A veteran of stage and screen and a familiar figure at the Muny, the St. Louis-born actor has been on the cabaret circuit for many years now, including appearances at one of New York's newest and (I'm told) coolest venues, 54 Below.  His show at the Gaslight was almost a textbook example of How to Do Cabaret—perfectly paced, completely engaging, and nicely balanced.

To illustrate my point, let me tell you how the evening began.  It started with an upbeat instrumental version of the Temptations hit "Get Ready" by Mr. Page's talented combo: pianist/music director Henry Palkes, drummer James Jackson, and bassist Vince Clark.  Then, after a moment of silence, Mr. Page's voice was heard from house right singing the opening phrase of "Feelin' Good" (from "The Roar of the Greasepaint, the Smell of the Crowd")—a cappella and right on pitch.  Resplendent in basic black with a bright red scarf and pocket handkerchief, he came onstage singing, the band kicked in, and everything was off to a strong start.

But there was a problem.  Mr. Page's wireless mic had failed, so he interrupted the song to ask the sound tech to fix it while he used the wired mic on stage.  It was all done smoothly and with good humor.  The mic was fixed, the song ended, and Mr. Page chatted with the audience a bit.  He confessed, with mock shyness, that people had taken to calling him "Big Daddy" lately—a comically self-deprecating reference to Mr. Page's girth.  He then built an audience participation bit on that, getting everyone, on the count of four, to yell "Big Daddy!"  It took a few tries for us all to get the beat, but in the end the house rocked with the words "Big Daddy" and the audience was solidly on Mr. Page's side.  When he then launched into a cheerfully raunchy version of Howlin' Wolf's "300 Pounds of Heavenly Joy" he brought the house down.

And that, as Johnny Carson once said of another cabaret veteran, Marilyn Maye, is how it's done.  Within the space of five minutes or so, Mr. Page had established his vocal chops, shown he could deal gracefully with bumps in the road, and established a rock solid relationship with the audience.

As I said: textbook. 

Ken Page as Old Deuteronomy in "Cats"

The rest of the evening followed suit.  You can see the complete song list at the end of this review, but here is what struck me as some of the highlights.

About halfway through the show, Mr. Page introduced "Memory" from "Cats" (one of the many Broadway shows in which he has appeared) by dedicating it to all the friends he has lost over the years to HIV/AIDS.  His performance was hushed and almost reverential—utterly unlike the big "eleven o'clock number" approach most singers take.  He made it, as a result, completely his own and completely moving.

At the other end of the emotional spectrum was his set of songs from the "Fats" Waller tribute musical "Ain't Misbehavin'" (another of Mr. Page's Broadway triumphs).  "The Joint is Jumpin'" and "Your Feet's Too Big" were appropriately rollicking and "Ain't Misbehavin'" was nicely wistful.  His updated version of the Sonny and Cher chestnut "The Beat Goes On" was great fun and his powerfully soulful take on Count Basie's "Mr. Piano Man" was enhanced by great keyboard work from Mr. Palkes, replicating Basie's original.

One of the most winning moments of the evening was a tribute to the late St. Louis songwriter Fran Landesman.  Mr. Page recalled Ms. Landesman's importance as both a lyricist and a guiding light of the Crystal Palace nightclub during the heyday of Gaslight Square, the legendary St. Louis entertainment district that flourished around Olive and Boyle (just north and east of the Gaslight Theatre) back in the 1950s and early 1960s.  That served as the introduction to Ms. Landesman's best-known song, "Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most" (music by Tommy Wolf).  The song was clearly a recent addition to the show, so Mr. Page used a lyric sheet because "this song has a great lyric and I don't want to get it wrong."  His performance was nevertheless tremendously effective.  Seated next to me, my friend Anna Blair—who knew Ms. Landesman well and has done a Landesman tribute show of her own—was fighting back tears.  That's how good it was.

The evening closed out with high-voltage renditions of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's "They Just Keep Moving the Line" (I know the feeling…) from "Smash" and "Be a Lion" from the show that marked Mr. Page's Broadway debut, "The Wiz."  His encore, the poetic "Shambhala," was accompanied by overtly theatrical hand gestures that should have come across as artificial and affected but instead felt organic and completely right for the lyric and the mood.  Like everything else in this very solid show, it just worked.

The Gaslight Cabaret Festival continues through April 25th at the Gaslight Theatre, 358 North Boyle in the Central West End.  For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.

Song List:
Get Ready (Smokey Robinson)
Feelin' Good (Anthony Newley / Leslie Bricusse)
300 Pounds Of Heavenly Joy (Howlin' Wolf)
The Beat Goes On (Sonny Bono)
Summertime Love (Frank Loesser)
Magic To Do / Corner Of The Sky (Stephen Schwartz)
The Joint Is Jumpin' (J.C. Jones / Andy Razaf / Fats Waller)
Your Feet's Too Big (Ada Benson / Fred Fisher)
Ain't Misbehavin' ("Fats" Waller)
Memory (Andrew Lloyd Webber)
Mr. Piano Man (Count Basie)
Betty and Dupree (Traditional)
Spring Can Reeally Hang You Up The Most (Tommy Wolf / Fran Landesman)
They Just Keep Moving The Line (Marc Shaiman / Scott Wittman)
Be A Lion (Charlie Smalls)
Shambhala

Magic to do

Who: Keith Jozsef
What: Intimate Illusions
Where: The Gaslight Theatre
When: Saturday, April 6

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St. Louis’s own Keith Jozsef is a member of that increasingly rare species of showbiz fauna, the professional magician. Not only that, but a professional magician with a full-evening magic show—something rarely seen these days outside of high-traffic tourist traps like Las Vegas or Branson.

As the title implies, Intimate Illusions was not a Siegfried and Roy–style extravaganza. It was, however, a nice collection of different types of magic wrapped up in a very entertaining two-hour package. There were no animal effects or escapology, but otherwise Mr. Jozsef presented a kind of general store of illusion that nicely displayed his versatility as a performer.  And I say this as someone who got his start in showbiz doing magic.

Mr. Jozsef is a striking figure on stage—casually dressed and sporting a striking upswept hairstyle that looks rather like the prow of a ship. His demeanor is assured but charming, winning the audience over within moments of stepping on to the stage. In magic, as in cabaret or any other type of solo performance, quickly connecting with the audience is essential. Mr. Jozsef got us on his side early on and we stayed there until the end.

The show opened with a novel variation on the classic “Zombie ball” illusion, in which the magician covers a metallic ball with a silk cloth and then holds on to the silk as the ball floats around the stage. In this version it was a small table that was levitated but the effect was just as impressive—especially when Mr. Jozsef had an audience member hold on to the other two ends of the cloth while table continued floating.

That was a nice touch and typical of the high degree of audience participation in the show. Nearly all of the tricks involved one or more spectators, including an ingenious version of “sawing a women in half” in which the woman was an audience volunteer rather than the magician’s assistant. I’d never seen this particular take on that hoary classic (I think it might be original with Mr. Jozsef), and the illusion was quite striking.

Based on what I saw in Intimate Illusions, Mr. Jozsef does not appear to be a virtuoso manipulator of the Ricky Jay school, but the sleight of hand effects he did were smoothly executed and entertaining. I was especially impressed by a burned and restored thread effect near the end of the show. Accompanied by intriguing patter based on Hindu creation myths, it was a beautiful piece of close-up magic. I’m not sure it really “read” much past the first few rows, alas; the Gaslight Theater is not laid out in a way that makes small effects like that easy to see.

There was a fair amount of mentalism (mind reading and prediction effects) in the show. It’s a subgenre that has never interested me very much, but Mr. Jozsef did it well. He also gave us a very slick “cut and restored rope”, using a version of the venerable effect that has become rather popular lately, probably because it really does use nothing more than an ordinary length of rope.

What I really loved, though, were the larger illusions, including a very spiffy levitation that served as a finale. Now if only he’d managed to make the drunks sitting around us vanish…

According to his web site, Keith Jozsef mostly does private and corporate events, so it was quite a treat to see one of his rare public shows. My understanding is that he does a Halloween-themed show at the end of October every year, though, so as fall approaches you might want to check out his web site: keithjozsef.com.

The days when big magic shows helmed by performers like Kellar, Carter, Thurston, and Blackstone would tour the country are long gone. David Copperfield was, for a while, the last of the big touring magicians, but even he seems to have decided to stick to Vegas and let the audiences come to him. It’s good to see that guys like Mr. Jozsef are keeping the flame burning. If you get a chance to see him, don’t pass it up. He’s a local boy who has definitely made good.