Sarah Carson
Strange Magic
Don’t Tell Mama, NYC, September 19, 2024
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
A successful cabaret show needs an interesting story that is personal to the performer and includes a surprising mix of songs drawn from various sources that fit into the tale in surprising ways. Also needed is a group of excellent musicians. Sarah Carson’s new show meets all these criteria and then some; they all combined to create a very fine evening of entertainment. Built around her unexpected career as a licensed hypnotherapist and what led her to this vocation, the narrative was told with a wonderful mix of humor, compassion, and emotion.
Directed with great variety by Lennie Watts, the show kicked off with the intriguing and wildly appropriate “Welcome to My Magic World” (Ray Winkler/John Hancock & John Farrar), an invitation the audience was happy to accept. A returning theme throughout the evening was the confusion about what hypnosis does and doesn’t do, expressed first with the very clever parody “That’s Hypnosis” (Harry Warren/Carson) that explains that it can be used to stop smoking but won’t cause your eyeballs to twirl like Scooby Doo’s, among other examples. Later in the program, she offered a “Misconception Medley” that included “I Put a Spell on You” (Jay Hawkings/Herb Slotkin) and “Devil Woman” (Terry Britten/Christine Authors) among others. By that point, she had put a spell on the entire audience.
Not everything was light: a mashup of “Windmills of My Mind” (Michel Legrand/Alan and Marilyn Bergman) and “Losing My Mind” (Stephen Sondheim) featured both a brilliant lead-in to the medley (very smart cabaret) and built in intensity to just shy of nerve shattering. A beautifully judged “Waving Through a Window” (Justin Paul/Benj Pasek) was tied to Carson’s fear of performance, making it both personal and emotionally moving. In a whole other category was “SuperSleepExtraTrancyUltraDeepHypnosis” (a revision of the familiar song from Mary Poppins by the Ruchard & Robert Sherman) that reached dizzy heights reminiscent of Bea Lillie at her zaniest.
Throughout, Carson received excellent support from her musical team of music director/pianist Steven Ray Watkins (who also contributed some fine vocal backup), drummer Don Kelly, and bass player Matt Scharfglass. They also contributed a delightful sight gag at one point. But it was the singer/storyteller who dominated the stage and intrigued her audience. Where she will lead them next is to be eagerly anticipated.
