Laura Osnes & Tony Yazbeck: An Evening of Gershwin Greats and Other Favorites

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Laura Osnes & Tony Yazbeck

An Evening of Gershwin Greats and Other Favorites

Feinsteins’s/54 Below, NYC, October 2, 2018

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes

Laura Osnes & Tony Yazbeck

This is the type of show that makes it very hard to be a cabaret reviewer—how many times can you use the word “perfect”? In a better world, this performance wouldn’t be possible because Laura Osnes and Tony Yazbeck would be starring on Broadway, hopefully together considering the chemistry they generate on stage. Joined by music director Fred Lassen, whose contribution cannot be over-valued, the two stars charmed, amused, dazzled, and moved the audience from the very first moments.

Osnes has a great ability for delivering a Broadway song with absolute simplicity disguising intense emotion. In “The Man I Love,” “A Foggy Day,” and “A Wonderful Guy” she expressed a different mood while not neglecting the sweep of their melodies.

It is easy to forget what a fine singer/actor Yazbeck is, given his dazzling dancing, but his “Someone to Watch Over Me” was touchingly vulnerable, while “This Is Not Over Yet” from Parade built the stakes of the lyrics in a continuous dramatic rise. Of course, there were displays of explosive footwork as he revisited his Broadway solo, “All I Need Is the Girl” (Gypsy).

And when the two combined forces, wow! From a passionate “Till There Was You” to a goofy “Carried Away,” this was Broadway magic of the highest order. Osnes displayed major dance ability as well, despite not having been able to display it in her Broadway shows to her disappointment, going toe to toe with Yazbeck on two lengthy Gershwin medleys, as well as on several more numbers. In fact, it was perfect.

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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 & Noble, 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."