Gay Marshall
Back on Boogie Street: The Songs of Leonard Cohen
Pangea, NYC, May 24, 2022
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Too many tributes to songwriters in a cabaret setting drift into hagiography, but the delightful Gay Marshall made it clear from the first moment of her show at Pangea that the evening was not going to be the standard salute to Leonard Cohen, as she made clear with her quick and wryly amusing dispatch of his most famous composition. Although she quickly admitted that the composer/lyricist/poet was a relatively new discovery for her, it was clear that what attracted this expert in the songs of Piaf and Brel to Cohen was that so many of his songs focus on the disenfranchised and lowlifes who populate their world as well. This Bistro Award-winning Franco-American chanteuse is quite at home in this milieu.
Although she was never interested in Cohen,the man, who she found was “full of surprises… and drugs,” clearly the instinctive storyteller he revealed himself to be in his work connected with Marshall’s own skill as a spinner of tales. With her grace—even her hands seem to waltz—her wit, and her compassion, she can look past his major flaws and addictions to find the poetry in Cohen’s art. Wisely, by intertwining his poetry with 16 musical selections during a surprisingly tight evening, she found even more of the substance in his creations.
Among the songs that allowed Marshall to dig deep into the material with its strange imagery were the effusive “I’m Your Man,” which promises a lover everything, and “Famous Blue Raincoat,” which embraced the feelings experienced at the end of a love affair. The latter was definitely had the kind of dark dreariness that many think of as specifically Cohen’s. However, t the chanteuse’s skill and compassion brought a humanity to the number. She also discovered compositions by him that were both optimistic and pertinent today, such as “Democracy Is Comin’ to the USA.”
Throughout the evening, Marshall was given fine support (and occasional opposition) by music director Ross Patterson and bassist Don Falzone. But it was Marshall who charmed, amused, and drew the audience into the world she shared with Leonard Cohen for this absorbing evening.