Lisa Kantor

May I Suggest…

Club Café’s Napoleon Room, Boston, MA, April 25, 2026

Reviewed by John Amodeo

Lisa Kantor has become very good at pivoting, mostly because she’s had a lot of practice. She gave us a glimpse of that in her latest show, May I Suggest…, a beautifully crafted journey through the human condition and how we navigate the curve balls thrown at us in our lives. “I suggest for a living,” she admitted, immediately after the opening number, an urgently delivered “Spark of Creation” (Stephen Schwartz). “I’m a psychologist. I deal with humanity all day, and through that, I learn about my own humanity. And once we figure out how to deal with all this, we die. Can’t you tell I’m a gas at cocktail parties,” she quipped to raucous laughter. She may not be a gas at cocktail parties, but she sure was fun on a cabaret stage.

Kantor was fun, but also edgy and provocative. She packed her show with stories and songs that told of her personal philosophy on life and love. We didn’t necessarily have to subscribe to her philosophy, but she nevertheless made us think hard about what our own life philosophy might be. Working with director Lina Koutrakos, Kantor paired many of her songs with witty and sometimes reflective patter that made us listen even more carefully as she segued seamlessly into each song. An example of her smooth transitions involved a recent harrowing experience that involved Koutrakos, where Kantor was about to board her flight to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico this past February. She was headed there to take a workshop given by Koutrakos, but she received a call saying that she should not board the flight due to the cartel uprising there that was just underway. Kantor stepped right from that story into a cute tongue-in-cheek “I Guess I’ll Have to Change My Plan” (Howard Dietz/Arthur Schwartz) that she nonetheless conveyed with depth that demonstrated her keen ability to pivot. Ironically, as I write this, Kantor was one of a half dozen singers taking a cabaret workshop from Koutrakos in the same venue as this show.

Kantor’s song selections were magical. She mined gems from musical theater, jazz, the Great American Songbook, and contemporary cabaret, many having rarely see the light of day. Some of her stunningly real songs included “You Stepped Out of a Dream” (Nacio Herb Brown/Gus Kahn), directed to the audience; Bob Dorough’s and Fran Landesman’s smoky, jazzy “A Small Day Tomorrow,” which justified dispensing with moderation for one night; and a haunting “So In Love” (Cole Porter), in which Kantor revealed her capacity to love. Music director/pianist Tom LaMark, who played beautifully throughout, was especially lush on the latter song. Here, Dave Landoni used his bow on the acoustic bass for added poignancy. While she had us in the palm of her hand, Kantor moved into a heartbreaking “Since You Stayed Here” (Peter Larson/Josh Rubins), during which you could hear a pin drop in the audience. If that happens once in a show, I consider the show a success, but Kantor managed that again with the beautiful “Ordinary Miracles” (Marvin Hamlisch/Alan & Marilyn Bergman) during which a sweet stillness descended upon the room.

Did I mention Kantor was fun? In fact, near the top of the show, she launched into “Ain’t We Got Fun” (Richard Whiting/Gus Kahn/Raymond B. Egan), bringing it into modern times with “we work from home now in half a suit/ain’t we got fun?” to our amusement. Sharing that she always bristled at her mother’s harsh criticisms, Kantor gave us a wry “Talk to Me Baby (I Can’t Hold Out)” (Willie Dixon). She reinvented herself with a claws-out “I Wanna Be Evil” (Lester Judson/Raymond Taylor) and quipped at one point, “I wanna slap Landoni’s bass.” Her celebratory “Shall We Dance” (Richard Rodgers/Oscar Hammerstein II), which almost got the audience out of its chairs to follow suit, finished with an impressively long sustained note, which even surprised herself.

Here’s a note about that long note. Kantor came into this show recovering from a bout of laryngitis only a week earlier, which she never mentioned. Only those of us who knew her vocal range and timbre well would have noticed a slight reduction in her range and dynamics. That explained her surprise at her long-held final note on “Shall We Dance.” But it took nothing away from her otherwise polished vocals with jazz inflections, creative riffs, deft phrasing, and most importantly, emotional feeling and humor expressed in her still quite fine singing. This show was a perfect example of how poise, interpretation, and honesty move us most and leave us with much to ponder.