Kate Baldwin & Aaron Lazar
All for You
54 Below, NYC, July 20, 2022
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
The stage of 54 Below was very crowded. There were eight musicians, including music director/pianist Luke Frazier, and there were also with Fiona McLonergan, Prince Lancelot, Babe Williams and Sid Sorokin, Phyllis Rogers Stone, Fabrizio Naccarelli, Sweeney Todd, and Nellie Lovett, and Francesca Johnson and Robert Kincaid. When they became too many for the platform, they overflowed into the audience. Luckily, they all existed within two remarkable Broadway performers—Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar. Riding on their acclaimed joint performances in The Bridges of Madison County at Papermill Playhouse earlier this year, the good friends and occasional co-stars (about once every 10 years), created an evening of their favorite roles they had played and those they hope to play in the future. By the end of the evening, the audience was begging for revivals of Sweeney Todd, Follies, and The Pajama Game featuring the two of them.
Lazar’s solo moments included a Broadway baritenor swoon-worthy “If Ever I Would Leave You” and a very specific “Finishing the Hat.” But his most thrilling moment was his recreation of his dramatic moment in The Light in the Piazza. With just a few words of explanation, he made the meaning of “Il Mondo,” performed entirely in Italian, was completely clear to the audience. His voice soared operatically and made the passion, the emotions, and the love clearly apparent—until he spent his final moments collapsing to his knees, arms outstretched, and moving the microphone from his face with his voice still clearly filling the room.
Baldwin had thrilling moments as well that showed off her wide range—not just vocally, but emotionally as well. A sultry “Old Devil Moon” from her success in Encore’s Finian’s Rainbow (following some amusing patter about how strange a story it was) proved most very welcome, as was her emotional rendition of Jason Robert Brown’s “Always Better.” But her theatrical skills were truly demonstrated in the contrasting “Could I Leave You” from Follies, delivered with the lightest touch of anger and malice and smothered in cool, sophisticated allure. The same skills showed also in her devastating “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” expressed in absolute simplicity—with only guitar and bass backing her; its purity of which brought tears to the eyes.
Mention must be made of the thrilling orchestra (as large as many Broadway shows use today). Under Frazier’s direction, it added beauty and drama to the evening, even when Baldwin’s Mrs. Lovett threatened the violinist (the “fiddler player” in “A Little Priest”). It was notable that after the stars left the stage at the end of the show to a standing ovation and the orchestra continued to play the final number (“I’d Give It All for You”), the audience gave them with a second ovation.
But seeing and hearing Baldwin and Lazar working together was exciting as well, both musically and theatrically. They both possess excellent diction and wide ranges, and they acted each duet with vibrancy. “There Once Was a Man” was truly joyous; the two performers projected their enthusiasm when they were placed at opposite ends of the room, and reunited they found the black humor and threat below the surface in the previously mentioned “A Little Priest.” Equally shining was their banter that celebrated their close friendship (even if some of it was overly scripted). Hopefully it won’t take another 10 years for them to reunite.
