Gone Too Soon: The Music of Madeline Kahn

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Gone Too Soon:
The Music of Madeline Kahn

Metropolitan Room, NYC, September 12, 2015

Reviewed by Annamaria Alfieri for Cabaret Scenes

Madeline-Kahn-Cabaret-Scenes-Magazine_212This concert of remembrance offered a tribute worthy of the great lady and marvelous performer who was Madeline Kahn. The host, William V. Madison, is the author of a biography: Madeline Kahn: Being the Music – A Life. He introduced each song with a perfect anecdote from his book, linking the present performance to one of Kahn’s legendary, and sometimes, her not-so-well-known appearances.

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Adam B. Shapiro started off the proceedings with perfect combination of funny and plaintive in his rendition of “Adelaide’s Lament” from Guys and Dolls. Standouts of the afternoon included soprano Rosa Betancourt’s star-quality rendition of “Musetta’s Waltz” from La Boheme, the one opera the classically-trained Kahn got to perform. Joan Copeland, looking frail but singing strong and true, delivered a poignant, beautifully phrased “An Old Man” from Two by Two. Then, Walter Willison showed how he earned his Tony nomination for that show: his “I Do Not Know a Day I Did Not Love You” produced that magical hush in the room, when the audience is holding its breath.

Many members of the cast offered tidbits of Madeline Kahn’s peerless humor, but Hanna Burke, complete with feather boa, channeled her perfectly with a hilarious “I’m Tired” from Blazing Saddles.  The finale brought the whole audience into the act with a sing-along of Kahn’s unforgettable turn in Young Frankenstein: “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.”

The movie and theater world lost Madeline Kahn far, far too soon. In her films, happily, we have her indelibly still.

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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.