Sparkle: An All-Star Holiday Concert
The Green Room 42, NYC, December 1, 2019
By Marilyn Lester
Photos: Lia Chang
The Festive Season is a time of joy, celebration and… parties! It’s also a major time for fund-raising. Scott Nevin’s Sparkle, An All-Star Holiday Concert, a benefit for The Actors Fund, now in its eighth year, managed to combine a great deal of festivity with the raising of money. Nevins is the proverbial genial host. He’s a radio/TV personality, comedian, and celebrity interviewer who came into prominence with the Bravo television series The People’s Couch. Sparkle, held at The Green Room 42, is a miniature manifestation of the grand gala type of event, with tables of benefactors, a raffle, auction and, of course, entertainment. This year’s edition boasted a baker’s dozen of performers, with special guest star, André De Shields.
De Shields, for anyone who’s been asleep since June, is the New York acting phenomenon who won his long overdue Tony Award this year for his phenomenal turn in Broadway’s Hadestown. He’s been féted ever since, with Lifetime Achievement and other awards and accolades bestowed upon him in a constant stream of activity. But all of them are not only well-deserved but a long time in coming. De Shields is one of those forces of nature who gives 1,000% when he performs. He’s had the lifetime habit of leaving ‘em with the sense that something fine and miraculous has just happened. He was no less amazing with his Sparkle performance.
Always the epitome of sartorial splendor, De Shields made a characteristically grand entrance in a red tuxedo and Santa hat. On stage pleasantries followed, as is the custom at these affairs, but then, spontaneously, leaving music director and Wiz fan Brian Nash somewhat lovingly stupefied, De Shields sang his signature song, “So You Wanted to Meet the Wizard.” Yes, De Shields was the Wizard in the original 1975 production of The Wiz, a role in which he announced, “I am here!” on the Great White Way. Needless to say, his rendition at Sparkle brought the house down. But that treat was an aside to the main feature and centerpiece of the evening, the actor reading Clement Moore’s A Visit from St. Nicholas, more commonly known as ’Twas the Night Before Christmas. The dramatic reading had the audience spellbound and then beside themselves with laughter as before the line, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night,” he delivered a chorus of Santa belly laughs and ho ho ho’s. And to wild applause he was off, with “to all a good night.”
There were several high points in the eclectic numbers sung by the 12 performers who gave their time and talent to Sparkle. Among these were a nuanced rendition of “The Christmas Song” offered by Lexi Lawson, Erin Quill’s funny “(I’m Spending) Hanukkah in Santa Monica,” and Julie Garnyé who performed “O Holy Night” with a traditional, classical start that morphed into country-gospel. Chris Weaver, who literally raced from Grand Central Station to make the show, and who arrived in the nick of time to close it, astounded with a dynamic and gorgeous rendition of “Mary Did You Know.” Showstopper Natalie Douglas sang the spiritual, “Children Go Where I Send You,” a dynamic challenger of repetition in the mode of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” Other Sparkle performers were Nathan Lee Graham, Randi Driscoll, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Haviland Stillwell, Natalie Joy Johnson, Jesse P. Johnson, and Marissa Rosen, who was also one of the backup singers along with Chase Kamata and Melody Madarasz.
The aforementioned Brian Nash, besides piano duties, was also arranger for the evening and led the band: Sean Murphy on bass and Phil Coiro on drums.
