Frans Bloem
Beyond Borders
Metropolitan Room, NYC, May 27, 2017
Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes
Frans Bloem leads two lives. A native of Amsterdam, he is an international tour manager and guide; he is also a popular cabaret entertainer, singing in theaters, clubs, and music festivals throughout the world. It was Bloem in his musical mode who packed the Metropolitan Room in late May as he delivered a spirited evening of songs in many moods.
With Steve Sanberg at the piano, Bloem appeared as youthful as ever as he sang numbers in English (including “Help Is on the Way” and the American classic, “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”), as well as in Spanish and French.
Then, inexplicably, after eleven songs, he walked off the stage, through the exit curtains, and out of the room. Sanberg, alone on stage, filled the performance void playing and singing a number of standards. After ten minutes, the curtains again parted and, through the dark, a female figure in dress, high heels, and abundant blonde hair entered, and mounted the stage into the spotlight.
It was Bloem in fetching drag. In Dietrich mode, he then offered two songs in her style: “Falling in Love Again” and “Where the Boys Are,” the latter as a sing-along. The gag merrily accomplished, he removed the wig, to sing “What Makes a Man a Man?” Then, darting behind a screen on stage, he quickly changed clothes once again into male attire, to finish the show as himself, singing “I Don’t Care,” “She,” and “I Have Lived.” His wind-up: “What a Wonderful World,” with the audience joining in – to complete an engaging evening, delivered with Frans Bloem’s unique blend of gentle authority, warmth, and endearing spirit.
