Shawn Knight’s
One Man Show About Composer, Harold Arlen
Nashville, TN
Reviewed by Jaz Dorsey
Cabaret is an incipient art form here in Nashville. While there has been a handful of folks manning the cabaret front since the turn of the century, only recently does it seem that Nashville’s theatre crew is getting bit by the cabaret bug.
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The most recent stirring was this past weekend’s sneak previews of Shawn Knight’s one man show about composer Harold Arlen.
This is a new addition to Knight’s tribute series to American theatrical composers. It’s a subject that may be old hat in Manhattan but is very new and novel here in a town where theatre music has, along with everything else, lived in the shadows of country music. But with all of the musical theatre training that’s going on here now – especially at Belmont University, where Knight is on the Theatre faculty – there’s an itch to learn about this aspect of the great American songbook.
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This is a traditional cabaret tribute show, mixing narrative and song performance, but what gives Knight’s show a special panache is the fact that Arlen has been severely overlooked despite the fact that he wrote the music to SOMEWHERE OVER THE RAINBOW – not to mention STORMY WEATHER and THE MAN THAT GOT AWAY. All of this comes out in Knight’s well researched and entertaining narrative, which he acts convincingly. A bissel makeup, a bissel costume and you could find your self believing that the man himself is in the room.
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The musical part of the program is interesting because it does not take you to the place you expect to go. This really isn’t a musical show as much as it is a look at a composer, and there is much anxiety in Knight’s rendition of the musical numbers. Very “brechtian” you might say.
We were lucky to catch this invited look at Knight’s show here in Nashville before he heads off this weekend to share it with an audience of over 200 at his grandmother’s community in Florida. In fact, that’s is where the series got it’s start and has developed – and now Knight will add Arlen’s tale to his other composer profiles, including Gershwin and Porter, for an audience that appreciates the performer’s talents and is looking forward to what he is bringing down next to share with them.
With any luck, when he gets back, he’ll be ready to do it again here in Nashville.
