Caitlin Fahey: Party of One

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Caitlin Fahey

Party of One

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, June 18, 2017

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes

Caitlin Fahey

It’s always a happy day to discover a new cabaret talent. Caitlin Fahey made her New York City cabaret debut at Don’t Tell Mama. She possesses a powerful voice, both a belt and an impressive head voice she doesn’t yet make enough use of. Even more exciting is her acting ability: she takes such standards as “It Might as Well Be Spring” and “I’m Old Fashioned” and makes the lyrics personal and fresh, as if they were simply her thoughts discovered at the moment.

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“How About You?” is reimagined as a one-act comedy about a disastrous first (and last) date, leading into a torchy rendition of the haunting “Night Song.”

Fahey also samples more contemporary writers, such as Janis Ian, Fiona Apple and ABBA, and brings the same intensity and personal discovery to these compositions. And she feels free to show her goofy side with a tribute to her family’s favorite ball team, “Meet the Mets” (Ruth Roberts and Bill Katz).

Where the performer needs to improve is in the details in the spaces between the songs. Her voice occasionally goes unpleasantly shrill when telling the punchline to her patter. And she definitely needs to work on her wardrobe: an off-one-shoulder black top and casual black pants, along with her curtain of dark hair, may be very suitable for brunch with friends, but doesn’t possess the dazzle the spotlight demands. Glam up, girl!

Throughout, the singer is ably assisted by her Musical Director Rick Jensen and guided by her director Lina Koutrakos.

Caitlin Fahey is hopefully going to be around for a long while, growing and giving us even more dazzle with each new show.

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Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Nobel, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."