Cathy Glickman and Anna Palermo
Don’t Tell Mama
Davenport’s, Chicago, IL, August 14, 2021
Reviewed by Carla Gordon
In
Don’t Tell Mama, gal pals Cathy Glickman and Anna Palermo offer an
intriguing musical excursion through the intense and occasionally rocky relationship
between Judy Garland and daughter Liza Minnelli. The opening number, a close-harmony
duet of “Two Lost Souls,” takes on a darker shade in the context of the show.
Palermo’s jazzy offering of “The Trolley Song” was energetic and well sung.
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Edgy dialogue shared between the ladies includes juicy tidbits about how Judy’s demanding stage mama Ethel and mogul Louis B. Mayer’s harassment painfully shaped Judy’s early years. Glickman’s well-delivered “Liza with a Z” was joyful, and the high-speed ending was big fun. Although pianist Beckie Menzie accompanied the show con brio, both Glickman and Palermo each took a turn at the piano. Glickman’s choice for self-accompaniment was a thoughtful “I’m Always Chasing Rainbows,” which included the rarely performed verse. Palermo’s self-accompaniment choice was a nicely understated “It’s a Quiet Thing.” Palermo is beginning to demonstrate her understanding that in a cabaret show, singing less often gives the audience more room to be part of the journey.
Some of the show’s more meaningful insights were those that focused on the marriages to gay men shared by both mother and daughter. That Judy chose the bisexual Vincente Minnelli (young Liza once caught him in an intimate encounter with another man) and Liza’s choice to marry Peter Allen linked them in a unique way. Glickman and Palermo’s pairing of “The Man That Got Away” and “Maybe This Time” was a lovely way to show the sorrow shared by mother and daughter when it came to their mutual inability to find the proverbial Mr. Right. The duet of “The World Goes ’Round” might have been enhanced by a bit of harmony, especially at the end of the song. The affection between gal pals Glickman and Palermo is palpable, and it spilled over into their tender closing rendition of, what else, “Over the Rainbow.”
