Bethany Baca
The Bridge Initiative Cabaret Plus
ASU Kerr Cultural Center, Phoenix, AZ, February 24, 2025
Reviewed by Lynn Timmons Edwards
Bravo to the Kerr Cultural Center for presenting cabaret when there are few venues in Arizona that do so. Its partnership with the Bridge Initiative gave us a varying array of cabaret artists, many of whom were presenting a solo show for the first time. Some did not rise to the level of preparedness to warrant a review, but Bethany Baca is ready to fly. Her greatest asset was her phenomenal voice. She had been trained at one point by the late Christy Welty, and she’s still being mentored by acting guru Elaine “E.E.” Moe. Because of her age, body size, and ethnicity, she’ll have a hill to climb to being cast in mainstream theatrical roles. However, she remains undeterred and aspires to play Elphaba in Wicked on Broadway one day.
She opened her show with “When Will I Be Loved” (Phil Everly) followed by another Linda Ronstadt hit “Blue Bayou” (Roy Orbison/Joe Melson). Ronstadt was a staple in her home; her mother had her cleaning house to Ronstadt’s songs and took her to meet the star when she was on a book tour to Tucson. Baca’s parents were in the house this night, and she could not say enough about how they have supported her efforts to grow as a singer. She has a strong, well-trained instrument with a high belt and good control over her intonation, which let real emotion come through the lyrics.
Baca was accompanied by pianist Lincoln Wright who is one of the best in Arizona. He can easily take the acoustic piano from mariachi to full orchestra with ease. She told us a story about her college life in Santa Barbara and sang “Breathe” (Lin-Manuel Miranda from In the Heights). She gave it a solid professional delivery worthy of a national tour booking. Avoiding “ballad bondage” she launched into her audition song “Model Behavior” (David Yazbek from Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown). It’s a long patter song and she directed it to her mother’s table of friends, one of whom was the inspiration for the character portrayed in the song, which gave her a chance to show off her comedic chops. This song has not been sung in any other cabarets I have covered. “Before It’s Over” (Benj Pasek/Justin Paul) was dedicated to Welty, who had encouraged her to enter the NATS vocal competition for young adults in which she took first place. Because Welty and I were best friends, my objectivity was lost but she was a master at picking songs for young singers.
Baca came into her own in the following two songs and stopped clutching the music stand, which enabled her to make direct eye contact with the audience. She sang “Meadowlark” (Stephen Schwartz) as well or better than either Betty Buckley or Liz Callaway. It was also Welty who had challenged her to learn “that beast of a song,” according to Baca. She took one step toward her Broadway goal by being cast as Elphaba in a local concert version of Wicked. She had “The Wizard and I” (Schwartz) totally in her voice. She followed that with “The Girl in 14G” (Dick Scanlan/Jeanine Tesori), which was written for Kristin Chenoweth for her debut CD in 2001. Baca popped back and forth between operatic riffs, jazz, and Broadway storytelling like a cabaret veteran and not like the newbie she is. When I became aware that the final song would be “Watch What Happens” (Michel Legrand), I thought “a Great American Songbook tune, Yeah!” But Newsies (Alan Menken/Jack Feldman) has a song by the same name, which is what she sang. It was a bit of a letdown as her eyes drifted back to her music stand, and the song was similar to but not as good as her previous choices. The thought of leaving the audience with the sense that she will be going places was an apt one, so I’d suggest she replace the “Watch What Happens” she sang with the Legrand song and “You’re Gonna Hear from Me.” (André and Dory Previn). Bravo to The Bridge Initiative and the Kerr Center for giving Baca the chance to make her cabaret debut.
