Sandy & Richard Riccardi
An Evening with Sandy & Richard Riccardi
The Triad, NYC, June 8, 2018
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes
Sandy and Richard Riccardi are a team off and on the stage. Married for ten years, their enjoyment of each other is evident as they create both original and parody songs and share them with the audience. She is a curvaceous blonde, elegantly gowned in black and gold, who resembles a mix of Barbara Cook and Madeline Kahn physically, vocally, and in her delivery of a comedy line. She also has the ability of offering up a very off-color phrase without seeming either smutty or condescending. He is rather rotund and balding and plays a brilliant piano in a wide range of styles. She provides the lyrics, he provides the original music and arrangements.
Described as a “left-leaning show,” which is a major understatement, about three-quarters of the program was satires of the current administration in Washington, including such highlights as “It’s All White with Me,” “Boy from Mar-a-Largo,” and “Covfefe” (“Black Coffee”). To describe the lyrics as merciless would not be an over-reaching. And then there was a version of “My Heart Belongs to Daddy,” revised to reflect the view point of the First Daughter: “I really need my daddy, because my husband’s going to jail.”
There were some delights among the non-political material as well, such as comments on modern dating sites (“Tinderly”), and two hilarious originals,: “I Used to Love a Gynecologist” about past amours (Sandy described it as a song that embarrasses her Southern mother and prompted her father to suggest some extra verses), and “I Wanna Be a Swing,” a show-off piece for an ambitious actress who wants to play all the roles.
Any complaints: the fun goes on a bit too long. Fewer songs might strengthen the impact of the rest. But for a hilarious and dangerous cabaret show, the Riccardis cannot be beat.
