Moira Danis: Witness

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Moira Danis

Witness

Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, March 12, 2023

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg

Moira Danis
Photo: Bill Westmoreland

Moira Danis never ceases to surprise in her cabaret shows. Each presentation is different from the previous one, whether she is paying tribute to Petula Clark or celebrating the legacy of Irish music. In her newest production, her most personal one to date, she took on her own life journey reflected in this country’s history of racial inequality. Yes, much of the story was dark, but it had wonderful flashes of humor and great depths of compassion throughout. She was beautifully supported throughout by her longtime musical director/pianist Wells Hanley, with vocal backup provided by two fine singers—Brian Childers and Andre Montgomery. The show was a trip very much worth taking. Director Gerry Geddes brought out a wide range of emotion in the show, but kept his work nearly invisible, the mark of a very good cabaret director.

One of the highlights was the combination of “You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught” and “Children Will Listen.” These songs are often combined, and they work well together. But, the combination of the strong voices of Danis, Childers, and Montgomery as they traded off verses and songs brought even more power to the material. This moment included Danis’ memories of her early encounters with subtly expressed racial prejudice and her growing awareness of it.

The vocal arrangements throughout the show were lush and complemented the singer’s passionate delivery. Another special surprise was the humorous choice of presenting “The Rainbow Connection” as a question-and-answer session between her and the two male backup singers; it worked perfectly.

Danis scored big with such emotional numbers as “Angels” (Robert Williams & Guy Chambers) and “Only One Life” (Jimmy Webb). By interweaving the national tragedies of the assassinations of our heroic leaders with the song “Abraham, Martin and John,” she scored a dramatic coup that affected the audience emotionally. Some songs, such as “They’ll Know We Are Christians,” were used as background commentary and were very smart choices. Throughout, the show took surprising and very personal turns (for example, her honesty and humor about her loss of visions was especially compelling), that kept our attention throughout this compelling and emotional program.

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 & Nobel, 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."