Camille Capers: Introducing Me!

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Camille Capers

Introducing Me!

The Green Room 42, NYC, February 26, 2023

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg

Camille Capers

Camille Capers, who recently graduated from Howard University, made her cabaret debut at The Green Room 42. Yes, there were some beginner’s flaws that will be mentioned later. But in view of her breathtaking talent, they were negligible. With her gorgeous and wide-ranging voice, her perfect enunciation, and her charming personality, she established herself as a force to be reckoned with within the New York cabaret community. As much of a cliché as it is, a star was born. With a well-chosen group of songs that she obviously feels passionate about (though a few more written before she was born would have been welcomed, as would a comedy number or two) and charming patter that fully informed the audience about what she was singing and why she was singing it, she had prepared well for an extremely professional evening.

Among the numbers she delivered in her rich, multi-shaded voice were Adele’s “All I Ask,” the bluesy “Love Will Come and Find Me Again” from Bandstand, and the Ike and Tina Turner classic “River Deep – Mountain High.” Each was presented with passion and the confidence of knowing just where to place her voice and a knowledge of where her thrilling money notes were. Other highlights were “Easy As Life” from the musical Aida, “Heartless” from The Prince of Egypt (imbued with so much genuine emotion), and “Raven” from the musical Brooklyn. She even performed a song in French from Notre Dame de Paris in her usual electrifying style, though she did confess she doesn’t speak a word of the language.

Throughout the evening, Capers received excellent support from her music director/pianist Rachel Kaufman, even on an improvised encore of “My Funny Valentine.” The singer was charmingly surprised and somewhat flustered by the demand for one more song; this wasn’t the standard case of “end-the-show, leave the stage, and come back for one more rehearsed number.” This was a very special moment, and it’s unlikely that she will be caught so unaware again.

There are a few things she needs to learn.



She should get rid of the music stand and the script sitting on it. The stand blocked her from the audience; the script was a crutch she simply didn’t need. Those things along with her reliance on the mic stand on which she kept a firm clutch, locked her at center stage throughout the show. She has so much energy that she needs to move, to swallow up the stage and claim the entire space as she so richly deserves to do. These things will come with time and experience as she hopefully keeps returning to the cabaret world.

Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Noble, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."