Isaac Mizrahi

54 Below, NYC, August 4th, 2023

Reviewed by Chris Struck

Isaac Mizrahi
Photo: Gregg Richards

Isaac Mizrahi dabbles in a bit of everything. He’s an actor, a designer, and a part-time chef. He wants to be good at being bad, and to be the good boy doing it. If you flip that around, you’ll get it right. (In on one of the punchlines during the evening, he did just that; he flipped the positive to the negative, and yet the joke still landed. This evening was even more of a standup routine than the comedy shows advertised just outside the big, red door of 54 Below. In between bouts of laughter, Mizrahi also sang, and sang fairly well, I might add.

He adjusted some lyrics for comedic (and somewhat political) effect, and he entertained his audience, who appeared ready and willing to strut down the runway for him at the upcoming New York fashion shows.

He hooked us with his gift of gab rather than with his gilded gowns.

Mizrahi a number of jokes that forced me out of my skeptical malaise, but that it was also due to his considerable charm, which he distributed profusely. He was equal parts humble and gregarious, easily winning over a packed audience who became old friends. As his stories proceeded about the you know who’s and the so and so’s of high society New York, it was easy to see why anyone would want a friend like Mizrahi in their corner. I could see him in the part of Aladdin’s genie singing “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.” He used his brief stories about moments spent among his star-studded friendships to set up one of his main jokes of the evening, which started with a comment about his favorite restaurant for dining among the rich and famous, Il Cantori, “where the elite meet.” There he met Jon Hamm, who was taller in person than he expected and who told him, in what he hoped was a provocative—perhaps flirtatious—way, “I’m even tall sitting down.”

Mizrahi liked to refer to the scandalous while keeping things above board. From his ode to the Lorazepam fam, “You Fascinate Me So” (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh) to his own lyrics to Cole Porter’s “You’re the Top,” he was a figure of constant contrasts. With his customized lyrics, he serenaded the audience with a coquettish wink, “You’re my wish for a private airplane,” while also pointing out the social injustices that still plague New York. He was the bad boy with a good heart who wanted to show how much he cared about all the important things we should care about. With his white suit, black flowers carefully tucked into his jacket pocket, and his shiny sandals that glistened in the club’s lighting, his choice of “Heart of Glass” (Debbie Harry/Chris Stein) was made all the more poignant. When the audience begged him for an encore, he appeared genuinely touched and saved his best song for last: “Liza with a Z” (Fred Ebb/John Kander) as an ode to his good friend Liza Minnelli. He emphatically danced across the stage and explained how to spell Minnelli.

In this showcase of his various talents, Mizrahi often stated that this annual residence was of significant importance to him, so expect an opportunity to see him back. In each year’s appearance he features an adjusted version of “You’re the Top” along with a new set of songs. But you can best believe that he’ll be letting you know Liza has a ‘z’ at some point during the show.

He was joined on stage by music director, Ben Walter, bassist Neal Miner, and drummer John Stasser. All three had opportunities to showcase their solo skills; Miner worked hard and lived up to Mizrahi’s high praise, and Stasser performed a solo with a shaker in his right hand instead of a drumstick—incredible work by a solid band.