William Ryall
Why Can’t I Walk Away
Chelsea Table + Stage, NYC, January 27, 2025
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
If there was a MAC Award for the “Longest Title of a Cabaret Show,” Broadway veteran William Ryall would certainly be a contender. The biographical program he brought to Chelsea + Stage was formally entitled: Why Can’t I Walk Away: My 34 Years on Broadway (The Good, the Bad, and the Wicked), and that pretty much sums up what it actually was. Accompanied by music director/pianist Garrett Taylor, Ryall delighted us with both theatrical and personal tales that ranged in emotional scale from hysterically funny to deeply sad; they were always beautifully related in his patter and strongly sung in his big powerful voice.
He began with “As If We Never Said Goodbye” (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Don Black & Christopher Hampton), which showed off his quasi-operatic range and his passion. He gave a nod to Raymond Chandler and an amusing story about Eric Roberts, and we knew we’d be in for a varied program. It included “Give My Regards to Broadway” (George M. Cohan) and “Nobody Does It Like Me” (Cy Coleman/Dorothy Fields). Not all the songs were given a full performance, and one of the few disappointments of the evening was that there were too many song snippets; it would have been better to have if Ryall had included fewer numbers and let those he sang breathe.
The second half of the show was far more personal and had a section devoted to the breakup of a long-term relationship; it included with “Why Can’t I Walk Away” (Hugo Peretti, Luigi Creatore, & George David Weiss) and “I Don’t Remember Christmas” (David Shire & Richard Maltby Jr.). His recommitment to his theatrical career was remembered with “I Was Here” (Stephen Flaherty/Lynn Ahrens). Ryall’s choice of lesser-known material from works such as Maggie Flynn and The Glorious Ones added to the show’s effectiveness and made them seem so relevant to his story. Peppered throughout the show were amusing tales of his encounters with celebrities such as Bob Mackie, Dame Angela Lansbury, and Tony Curtis. What a pleasure this show was with this its fine mix of emotion, personality, and fine surprising song choices.
