Julie Benko & Her Band Euphonic Gumbo

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Julie Benko & Her Band Euphonic Gumbo

Birdland, NYC, February 10, 2025

Reviewed by Jacqueline Parker

Photos by Kevin Alvey

Julie Benko

This show was like a pep rally for adults! In one of the most exciting cabaret entrances in recent memory, Julie Benko entered while her band played Dixieland melodies, and she walked through the audience and greeted them with Mardi Gras beads. She dazzled in a gorgeous black dress and fascinator hat, and her broad smile and twinkling eyes lit up the room. She explained that Mardi Gras usually begins on January 6, which is also the 12th day of Christmas. This year, Mardi Gras starts on March 4, so she got the party started early.

Benko came to prominence when she took over the starring role in Funny Girl (after having been the standby for Beanie Feldstein), a formidable task given that she was following in the footsteps of Barbra Streisand in this long-awaited revival. She won the Dorothy Loudon Award for her portrayal of Fanny Brice, which proved that she was certainly up to the task.

This show focused on Mardi Gras, and it had a certain devil-may-care attitude throughout. Most of the songs were about New Orleans, but there were a few surprises such Benko’s altered lyrics for “Bill Bailey” (Hughie Cannon) that were hilarious and gave the song another meaning. Accompanied on piano by her music director (and husband) Jason Yeager, she brought the Crescent City to life and made Birdland seem like Bourbon Street.

A touching moment was her sweet delivery of “Pretty Baby” (Tony Jackson & Egbert Van Alstyne/Gus Kahn) which, because the show was being livestreamed, she sang directly to her newborn daughter, Lulu. She asked several trivia questions related to the Big Easy, and she rewarded each respondent with the correct answer an item related the answer. Seemingly believing that there’s never too much variety, Benko accompanied herself on a washboard cut in the shape of a tie that hung around her neck for “Louisiana Fairy Tale” (Haven Gillespie/Mitchell Parish & J. Fred Coots).

Julie Benko and John Manzari

There was a lot of interaction between Benko and her six-piece Euphonic Gumbo band. She also called on former Funny Girl castmate John Manzari to add some of his tap-dancing magic to the proceedings. The stage was already crowded with Benko, the musicians, and their instruments, but Manzari managed to squeeze in a small wooden platform and dance on it in a fury.

Benko encouraged the audience to sing along with her on “When the Saints Go Marching In” (traditional Christian hymn) and they happily obliged. She concluded the show with “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans” (Eddie DeLange/Louis Alter), and after her rocking, rollicking, and sentimental show, we all felt we did know. This show has become a yearly tradition at Birdland, so mark your calendars for next year!

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Jacqueline Parker

Like Ethel Merman, lifelong New Yorker Jacqueline Parker began her career as a stenographer. She spent more than two decades at the city's premier public agency, progressing through positions of increased responsibility after earning her BA in English from New York University (3.5 GPA/Dean’s List). She won national awards for her work in public relations and communication and had the privilege of working in the House of Commons for Stephen Ross, later Lord Ross of Newport. In the second half of her career, Jacqueline brought her innate organizational skills and creative talents to a variety of positions. While distinguishing herself in executive search, she also gave her talents to publishing, politics, writing, radio broadcasting and Delmonico's Restaurant. Most recently, she hosted Anything Goes! a radio show that paid homage to Cole Porter and by extension the world of Broadway musicals and the Great American Songbook. Other features of the show were New York living, classical music, books, restaurants, architecture and politics. This show highlighted the current Broadway scene, both in New York and around the country through performances and interviews with luminaries including Len Cariou, Charles Strouse, Laura Osnes, Steve Ross and Joan Copeland. Her pandemic project was immersion into the life, times and work of Alfred Hitchcock, about whom she has written a soon-to-be-published article. Jacqueline has been involved in a myriad of charitable causes, most notably the Walt Frazier Youth Foundation, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Sisters of Life, York Theatre, and the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud Founder of Hidden Water. Her greatest accomplishment is the parenting of her son, a lawyer specializing in mediation. She has many pretend grandchildren, nieces and nephews, on whom she dotes shamelessly, as well as a large circle of friends to whom she is devoted. Her interests in addition to theater and cabaret are cooking, entertaining, reading, and spending time on Queen Mary 2.