Jason Kravits
Off the Top!
Rockwell Table & Stage , Los Angeles, CA, October 11, 2016
Review by Les Traub for Cabaret Scenes
Jason Kravits will never repeat the cabaret show he did at Rockwell—no either the songs nor the patter. He can’t –because he made it all up on the spot, based on words and phrases he took from small paper forms filled out by the audience and randomly pulled from a bowl. That’s not to say that it wasn’t cohesive or didn’t have a through line. He managed to put together all the elements of a good cabaret show while on the fly. Topics on the forms that were given out prior to the show (and not examined by him beforehand) included “words to live by,” “a place,” ‘a thing,” “an adjective,” “a phrase,” and “the last text you sent or received.” One draw produced the name of the show, Don’t Touch Me.
Other things he read off gave him his name, hometown and titles for his songs. The songs were well-crafted and many included sophisticated rhymes. One called “1-2-3″ started off by his portraying himself as a young boy learning to count and asking for help with the first three numbers from a girl in his class. The song moved through time, ending with his adult self asking which trains stop at 72nd Street in NYC. While he imbued most songs with humor, he did have some with poignant moments. One called “Acrobat” described how acrobats start far apart but, to come together and connect, one first has to let go.
Nicole Parker and Gary Anthony Williams were called up to add to the improv fun and each demonstrated quick wit and quick thinking. Credit also goes to Alexander Burke on piano who seemed to effortlessly take up Kravits’ melodic and tempo cues, along with providing some originality of his own. The rest of his trio was right there along with him.
