Tony Yazbeck
54 Below, NYC, January 10, 2023
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Broadway veteran Tony Yazbeck is an electrifying actor/singer/dancer. He is also quite good looking and has immense charm. None of these things explain the truly weird cabaret show he presented at 54 Below. Evidently inspired by his personal experiences (never well defined) during the pandemic shutdown, it took about half the evening before he began to deliver what the audience expected from him. It wasn’t that the first part was bad, it was just terribly confusing.
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A director might have helped him to define what he was trying to say.
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The evening began with what Yazbeck later referred to as “The Recovery Suite.” With no introduction, music director Jerome Korman began a beautifully performed “Claire de Lune” (Debussy). The star came onto the stage weighed down with all the darkness in his soul, almost apologetically sitting in a chair to change his shoes. Four songs followed—“The Last Man on Earth (Ellen Rowsell/Jonathan Oddie/Joel Amey/Theodore Ellis), “Frail” (Dan Haseltine/ Stephen Mason/ Matt Odmark/Charlie Lowell), “Fade to Grey” (Billy Currie/Chris Payne/Midge Ure), and “In Your Light” (Jon Allen)—offered as a song cycle that began to seem like a therapy session. The songs were mixed with explosions of tap as though he was expelling internal demons. It was dramatically effective perhaps, but hardly inviting in the intimate setting of a cabaret space. During this part of the show, Noah Chase played a beautiful mandolin solo; he also provided admirable support on guitar and backup vocals elsewhere in the show.
Things brightened in the later part of the show with a spirited “I Can’t Be Bothered Now” coupled with a more upbeat tap routine; the audience happily welcomed the moments they had hoped for. Other lovely moments were with several ballads, each performed with delicacy and deep understanding: “New York State of Mind,” “Pure Imagination,” and “The Way You Look Tonight.” A surprising “Both Sides Now” also scored big with the audience. Yazbeck’s miscalculation wasn’t that he tried an unusual dramatic arc, it was that he didn’t prepare the audience to travel with him. Given all of his impressive talent, hopefully his next show will work better.