Tom Reardon
Until the Night
Feinstein’s at the Nikko, San Francisco, CA, September 17, 2015
Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes
The music scene is one tough biz, the majority of performers struggling to pay the bills, book gigs and build an audience. Fortunately for Tom Reardon, who moonlights in his day gig as a Superior Court judge, success came fast and furious. And he’s been busy ever since discovering his joy of singing.
This two-night sold-out run found Reardon reminiscing through the music that shaped his life, from his early Columbia House mail order cassette tapes to the contemporary artists who are creating the modern Great American Songbook.
Smart and humorous banter comes easily to Reardon, and it’s that genuine honesty and openness that endears him to his growing fanbase. Comically remarking about how he “came out” as a balladeer and was bullied by piano players is just a touch of his between-song wit. Supported wonderfully by multi-instrumentalist Billy Raphael and Musical Director Eryn Allen on piano, Reardon swept through material ranging from the Gershwins to Neil Young.
The high energy opening number was a mashup of pop/rap “Price Tag” (Jessie J, Dr. Luke, Claude Kelly and B.o.B) and Cyndi Lauper’s smash “Money Changes Everything,” which Reardon called his “indictment of capitalism.” Utilizing three male backup singers added harmony to the mix, highlighted on Pink Martini’s gender-bending “Bitty Boppy Betty” (Alex Marashian) about a local DA who nightly transforms into “Bitty boppy Betty, what a bouncing beauty/ So sophisticated and refined.
/ She’s a boy who doesn’t show it,/ And though the guys all know it,/ None of them seem to mind.”
Reardon tackled the always difficult music of Joni Mitchell, one of the great wordsmiths of our times, on “Down to You,” and worked magic on Sondheim’s “No More”/”Children Will Listen,” both from Into the Woods. His musical theater background enhances his delivery of certain numbers, like William Finn’s “And They’re Off” from A New Brain. Lovely heartfelt covers of Townes Van Zandt’s “Tecumseh Valley” and Traci Chapman’s “Baby, Can I Hold You” show a maturing artist comfortable with multiple genres, like Van Zandt’s haunting Texas country vision or Chapman’s poignant love song. Reardon plays with both old and new in clever motifs, adding personal anecdotes and funny banter into the mix, making for one helluva entertaining evening.
