Cheyenne Jackson: Eyes Wide Open —Cafe Carlyle

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Cheyenne Jackson

Eyes Wide Open

Café Carlyle, NYC, January 13, 2015

Reviewed by Annamaria Alfieri for Cabaret Scenes

Cheyenne-Jackson-Tilles-Center-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212Cheyenne Jackson does not rely on just his matinee idol good looks and lovely  baritone  voice to win over his sold-out audience at New York’s Café Carlyle. He hangs his performance on autobiographical anecdotes delivered with unfaked sincerity, adding layers of  authenticity rare in these times. The songwriters represented include Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Lady Gaga (and their respective collaborators), giving emotional expression to the stories of Jackson’s life. The list includes a collaboration by Jackson and Michael Feinstein, inspired by the motto of Jackson’s grandmother–“Red Wine Is Good for My Heart.” Jackson accompanies himself on the piano and sings its blues-style lyric  and  traditional  ballad  melody with  obvious  pleasure in the memories it evoked of his granny.

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 The evening’s smooth jazz accompaniment, provided by music director Willy Beaman on piano, Vancil (Vanch) Cooper on drums, and Michael O’Brian on bass, shone at its swinging best in “A Foggy Day (in London Town).”  The depth of Jackson’s baritone on “Besame Mucho” fills the room with musicality and artistry, and is blessedly minus any hint of the gratuitous sexiness that one often hears in this song.

Jackson dedicates his rocking, deeply emotional rendition of Elton John/ Bernie Taupin’s “Your Song” to his husband.  A highlight of the show is a medley that perfectly blended “I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)” with “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.”

“Falling Slowly,” a paean to Jackson’s apparently hard-won sobriety, includes backup singing by Beaman.  In the final number, Jackson loses himself in Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and is at his very best.  His encore, “What a Wonderful World” fades at the perfect moment into “Auld Lang Syne,” a sweet reminder of the young year’s promise of new beginnings.

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(Cheyenne Jackson’s show runs through January 24.)

Annamaria Alfieri

Annamaria Alfieri is the author of four acclaimed historical mysteries, including the current Strange Gods, which takes place in British East Africa in 1911 and is described as Out of Africa meets Agatha Christie. Writing as Patricia King, she also is the author of five nonfiction books, including Never Work for a Jerk, that landed her on the Oprah Winfrey Show. She is a past president of Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter, and Vice President of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. She is a life-long fan of the American Popular song.