Pam Antrobus: Minority Report

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Pam Antrobus

Minority Report

The Duplex, NYC, May 21, 2018

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes

Pam Antrobus

Minority Report is a throwback to the West Village cabaret shows of the ’60s and ’70s: offbeat, very political, and somewhat dangerous. And very entertaining. Pam Antrobus proudly declares herself a member of five marginalized groups: she’s a woman, black, disabled, lesbian, and old.
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And many of her song choices reflect these definitions of herself. Wielding a warm, if occasionally uncertain, contralto, she received excellent support from an extensive musical ensemble led by music director Tracy Stark.

A medley of two songs by Curtis Reginald Lewis—“The Great City” and “She Never Mentioned Love”—gave Antrobus the chance to show off her talents as an actress, giving deeply emotional interpretations of the lyrics. An intriguing medley of “Everything Must Change” (Bernard Ighner) and “It Was a Very Good Year” (Ervin Drake) also allowed her to explore memories of romances past, adding a bit of swing and Latin rhythms to the mix.

On a more political side of things, her version of “Mississippi Goddam” updated the lyrics in a way that Nina Simone would surely have approved of to comment on current events. She displayed a wry humorous side with “Pussy Bites Back” (Lord Kitchner/Pam Antrobus) with the band donning pink knitted hats for the occasion.

A Broadway segment was also unconventional with numbers from The Color Purple, Hamilton, and The Who’s Tommy. Stark contributed a lovely duet on “What About Love?
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” from Purple. And the show was wrapped up very well with the final number, the devastating “The King of Love Is Dead” (Gene Taylor), a gospel-inspired protest song that is political, compassionate, and conquering all at once.

Her support team, in addition to Stark, included producers Geri and Cyndi Armine-Klein, artistic advisor Helen Baldassare, bassist Owen Yost, drummer Tim Lykins, and alto saxophonist Ethan McIntosh, who happens to be Antrobus’ grand-nephew.

Also, very present was a supporting chorus of Dennis Antrobus, Marge Helenchild, Erika McIntosh, Kati Neiheisel, Gretchen Reinhagen, Nancy (Lefty) Stearns, Pete Sturman, and Cynthia Swanson.

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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."