Sally Darling: And Kurt Weill Begat Kander & Ebb

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Sally Darling

And Kurt Weill Begat Kander & Ebb

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 11, 2019

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes

Sally Darling

Sally Darling is absolutely honest. On stage she seems incapable of being anything else. She delivers lyrics with specificity and unadorned emotions.
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In simplicity and impeccable phrasing, she recalls the priestess of cabaret performance, Mabel Mercer. She must sing great material because anything less will be exposed as inferior with her laser-sharp delivery. For this program, she has chosen the works of three brilliant craftsmen and artists—Kurt Weill and the team of John Kander and Fred Ebb.
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Leading off the program was a very clever medley constructed by music director Matthew Martin Ward that wove a selection of their works together and illuminated the common sound of these masters. Contrasting songs were used to illuminate each brilliantly, such as the penultimate number, “Barbara’s Song” and “Love and Love Alone”; together, they formed a tragic one-act play. In contrast, at the top of the show, combining “My Ship” and “A Quiet Thing” became a sweet, gentle celebration of love.

Of course, there were numbers from the most Weill-influenced of Kander and Ebb musicals, Cabaret. Darling delivered the two solos that Mrs. Weill, aka Lotte Lenya, introduced as Fraulein Schneider, “So What” and “What Would You Do?” with such authority and compassion that it seems amazing she has never played the role on stage. But these dramatic numbers were not the diva’s only forte; she also found the delicious wit in “That’s Him” and “I Wrote the Book.”

Ward added a great deal to the show. Beyond his smooth playing, which matched the singer’s simplicity, he also provided some excellent vocals.
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An emotionally fulfilling duet of “It Never Was You,” with Darling and Ward delivering the song while facing each other, had the audience watching a very intimate moment. He also soloed on a moving “September Song.” Like every moment of this terrific show, it shone with honesty and sincerity.

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."