Marissa Mulder

Living Standards

Metropolitan Room, NYC, June 4, 2014

Reviewed by Alix Cohen for Cabaret Scenes

Lest you miss the subtitle of this show, “Recent entries to the Great American Songbook,” it’s reiterated with: “They Don’t Write ‘Em Like They Used To?” (Tom Toce/ Bill Zefiro) …or do they? How the roster can include Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits, Randy Newman, and Craig Carnelia is perplexing. Be that as it may….Marissa Mulder has blossomed into a warm and gracious presence. When the artist sings of hurt, we want to help; when joyful, we grin.

Standout material in tandem with performance include two numbers which showcase up-till-now hidden, comedic talents: “Apathetic Man” (Zina Goldrich/Marcy Heisler)— “…is there anything more sexy than an apathetic man?”—adroitly illuminates the way a women feels she will be the one to reach his barricaded heart. The lyric is on-target, sharp and funny. Mulder credibly embodies starry-eyed hope to urban sarcasm, mining the song for both humor and humanity.
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“Good Thing He Can’t Read My Mind” (Christine Lavin) is a one-act play: “I am at the opera/I don’t like the opera/But he loves the opera and I love him/I follow the libretto/ I follow the conductor/When I follow the plot my head begins to spin….
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” Mulder is adorable as she enumerates the things she hates but does for love.
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The lyric is wonderfully clever, written as if an ingénue were speaking. The performer’s phrasing couldn’t be better, facial expressions are priceless.

“Pretty Funny” (Benj Pasek/Justin Paul from their musical Dogfight), on the other hand, is about as harsh as one can get and a challenge to perform: “Pathetically naïve and desperate to believe…You can always find some good/Well you misunderstood.” Mulder manifests the pain (in shock) of trying to keep it together. Focus is exemplary. Both “The Lies of Handsome Men” (Francesca Blumenthal) and “Good Night, New York” (Julie Gold), admittedly favorites, are beautifully rendered.
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Mulder imbues the first with the wistful poignancy of someone with far more experience than her tender age indicates.
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Elegant and still, she admits to weakness, sad, but bemused. The second is filled with gratitude and affection for a city, a life not thought possible. This would’ve been more affecting were it vocally airbrushed, something of which the artist has shown herself capable. (A few other songs would benefit from being taken down a bit as well.) Less successful are “Martha,” which comes from her outstanding Tom Waits show, but here loses impact due to a smile that belies the lump we’re meant to viscerally feel in its character’s throat. And Craig Carnelia’s terrific “What You’d Call a Dream,” which is far too big for its jewel-like lyric describing the best of times lost but not forgotten. An encore of “You Make Me Laugh” (Shelly Markham/Tom Toce) sends us buoyantly into the night. Brightness and warmth embrace the jaunty song.

Musical Director/pianist Nate Buccieri’s arrangements occasionally feel competitive with the vocalist. To me, his duet vocals interfere with clearly solo emotions.