Craig Pomranz
The Power of Song!
Pangea, NYC, November 16, 2019
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg for Cabaret Scenes
Craig Pomranz brought out his sweet tenor at Pangea, which occasionally rose to a slightly uncomfortable belt, but was perfect for crooning a collection of standards some very familiar and some rarely performed at the club and quickly won over the audience. With his combination of shyness (a whispered “hi” into the microphone before he even began to sing) and his slightly snarky interplay with his music director Michael Roberts (in introducing “No One Has Ever Loved Me,” he explained it came from Stephen Sondheim’s “really dreadful” musical Passion) and with the audience (“this has been really, really… nerve-wracking”), he presented up a delightful personality. How much of this was rehearsed under the direction of Ronald Cohen and how much was extemporaneous was impossible to tell, which made it all the more fun.
There were some lovely juxtapositions and blending of songs for fine dramatic effect. Leaping across decades, Michael Bublé’s “Everything” and the classic “You’re My Everything” proved that romance stays the same. An even wider time gap between compositions informed a powerful exploration of faith with “Amazing Grace” and “Bridge Over Troubled Water.” Songs were also combined for a study of a decade: “We’re in the Money” and “I Can’t Give You Anything but Love” gave two different views of the Great Depression. He later jumped ahead a decade for a moving study of war-time Britain with “London Pride” and “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square.”
Pomranz also showed an amusing penchant for unexpected songs. I’m not sure when, if ever, a song by the English pop group SQUEEZE has been included in a New York City cabaret show, but the singer delivered a dandy torch-song version of “When the Hangover Strikes.” Another bluesy moment came with the rarely performed Julie Wilson solo from the musical Jimmy, “I Only Want to Laugh,” combined with the classic “Smile” for heartbreaking effect.
Throughout, the charm and musicality of the show was matched with an intelligence and a sense of theatricality, all making for a great evening out.
