Barbara Heller & Friends
The Love Show
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, August 14, 2019
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes
Barbara Heller is big! Not in her appearance (though her hair seems to have a life of its own). Her voice is big. Her emotions are big. Her personality is big. Her show is big (there are three musicians and two backup singers—that size would overwhelm a smaller performer). Her connection to her audience is big (again, the level of audience participation, both planned and unplanned, would be a distraction from a lesser diva’s show). And her talent is unquestionably big. Occasionally, even too big; she needs to learn to step back from the mic and slow down her patter (she rarely completed a sentence before she was off to the next one) for better understanding. But these are minor flaws, easily corrected, perhaps, by working with a director on her next show.
Kicking off with the classic “Amore!,” the theme of the show was made clear: love and romance. This left room for a wide range of material from a sweet “If I Loved You” with lovely violin support by Alissa Jackman, to a medley of break-up songs that allowed Heller to show off her clever impersonations of pop singers, including Celine Dion and Beyoncé. Much time was devoted to one of her favorite songwriters, Sara Bareilles, duetting with Patrick Tombs on a charming “It Only Takes a Taste,” and with Shira Bouskila on a mash up of “Hold My Heart” and “I Choose You.” Drummer Elan Kugel also contributed to the fun.
The highlight of the evening was an original song by Heller, “You Are Gold,” a gospel rave-up created by the “small black child” who lives within her. The show-stopping arrangement by music director Austin Nuckols, including a “Barry Manilow key change,” wowed the audience to the extent that they demanded an instant encore. Perhaps the biggest error of the evening was not scheduling this as the climax of the show; it deserved to be.
