Yael Rasooly and Daniel Rein
Love Must Have an End
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, May 11, 2019
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes
Photo: Yair Meyuhas
Yael Rasooly is a mesmerizing vocalist; she’s dramatically beautiful and has a knowing smile that can slide into a smirk when appropriate. Backing up her lovely singing with a lifted shoulder here, a shifting hip there, she finds surprising nuances in familiar material. She takes “Speak Low” very slowly, delivering the fatalistic philosophy of a world-weary doyenne who knows that love cannot last; the final words halfway between a sigh and a cry.
Daniel Rein, in addition to providing eloquent musical support throughout, offered two lengthy solos—the first a blending of “September Song” and “Falling in Love Again,” and the second “Mack the Knife,” both of which were an intriguing mix of extravagant and delicate piano playing.
The theme of the show was the music and the world of the Weimar Republic, and the first portion stayed close to that concept. Unfortunately, the song list soon strayed, creating a rather unfocused show. The latter part of the program was devoted to a preview of an upcoming Piaf show, for which Rasooly clearly has a strong affinity, but it certainly didn’t fit in with the Germanic part of the evening. A major misstep was her attempt to provide a simultaneous translation for “Wie Lange Noch?
” (Kurt Weill and Walther Mehring), which proved confusing and lent a comic effect to what was a seemingly serious moment. Rasooly was far more successful with a great humorous routine defining the emotional range of French songs in a lead-in to “La Foule” (Angel Cabral and Michel Rivegauche).
One had a sense that the show would have been improved if it had been under the strong hand of a director who might have better focused the presentation.
So much vivid talent deserves a stronger setting.
