Laura Osnes: The Paths Not Taken

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Laura Osnes

The Paths Not Taken

Feinstein’s/54 Below, NYC, November 29, 2016

Reviewed by Victoria Ordin for Cabaret Scenes

 

Laura Osnes
Laura Osnes

As if to enact visually the title of her updated show, The Paths Not Taken, Laura Osnes took the stage from the back of Feinstein’s/54 Below with a suitcase in hand. Structuring a show around setbacks or disappointments might seem odd for a 31-year-old two-time Tony nominee, Drama Desk winner, and veteran of five Broadway shows. But Osnes has experienced more rejection than one would think, beginning with the failure to gain admission to her first-choice college, the prestigious Cincinnati Conservatory from which Faith Prince and Brian Newman (Lady Gaga’s bandleader and trumpet player extraordinaire) graduated.

From the exuberant first number, “Not for the Life of Me” (Jeanine Tesori/Dick Scanlan, from Thoroughly Modern Millie), it was clear why Osnes has been working steadily on the Great White Way since 2007, with her next show, The Bandstand, set to have its Broadway debut this coming April. Her clear-as-day soprano is expressive and her manner polished and professional without seeming calculated. Leaving the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point after one year for a job with the Minnesota Children’s Theatre was the first less-traveled path of the singer’s career. It paid off: Osnes met her husband in Minneapolis and, by her 22nd birthday (before she would have graduated from college), she landed her first Broadway show: Grease.

“Far From the Home I Love” (Jerry Bock/Sheldon Harnick)—which the performer did not get to sing in a school production of Fiddler on the Roof (she also lost her preferred role in Seussical)—suffered from a problem that persisted through much of the show. Fred Lassen, a fine pianist and musical director with Osnes for years, has a tendency to “rock up” straight musical theater songs. In such songs, his arrangements are too squarely on the beat and Osnes’ vocals follow suit.  This is a matter of artistic choice, not lack of talent—also noticeable in “Part of Your World” (Alan Menken/Howard Ashman) and “Let Me Be Your Star” (Marc Shaiman/Scott Wittman). The performer’s rendition inevitably suffers by comparison to performers commonly associated with the hit songs from A Little Mermaid and Smash: Sierra Boggess and Megan Hilty respectively. “Heather on the Hill” (Frederick Loewe/Alan Jay Lerner) from Brigadoon failed for the same reason.

Osnes is at her best with big theatrical songs like “Show Me” (Lerner & Loewe), “Popular” (Stephen Schwartz), “What Baking Can Do” (Sara Bareilles’ song from Waitress, another role she narrowly missed), “Sailor of My Dreams” (Jim Wise/George Haimsohn), and “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” (Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx).

The performer truly inhabits the space of the character and as long as the arrangements make sense, her voice shines. She’s also in her element with Sondheim: “Soon” and “Greenfinch and Linnet Bird” were both excellent. The evening’s surprise hit was “When I Fall in Love” (Lindsay Warren Baker/Amanda Jacobs), a beautiful, little-known song from a musical version of Pride and Prejudice that hasn’t made it to Broadway. If this song is any indication of the rest of the score’s quality, it should.  (It’s played NYC in the NYMF festival and was seen upstate in Rochester this summer.)

If you enjoy hearing about what goes on behind the scenes of a production (from the workshop stage onward), Osnes’ stories will fascinate you. Often an artist faces a scheduling conflict and must decide between two projects. The story of Bonnie and Clyde reminded us that Monday morning quarterbacking is easy; choosing the right path in the moment is considerably harder.

Osnes’ remarks about her mother’s tragic early death were deeply moving. The only false note came near the end of the show, in which the performer succumbed to the cliché that everything happens for a reason, or its variant, that you end up where you’re supposed to be. As my single, unemployed guest pointed out, the sentiment is somewhat more bearable when uttered by a performer who isn’t drop-dead gorgeous with monumental talent. More often than not, things tend to work out for such people.
But, aside from of a handful of unsatisfying numbers, Laura Osnes put on an impressive, high-energy show with the help of strong playing by Lassen on piano, Sean McDaniel on drums, and Pete Donovan on bass.