Gehan A Cooray: The Baritone on Broadway

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Gehan A Cooray

The Baritone on Broadway

The Green Room 42, NYC, August 22, 2025

Reviewed by Bart Greenberg

 

Gehan A Cooray

Gehan A Cooray made his New York City cabaret debut at The Green Room 42 with his powerful baritone. For those with long memories, his voice was reminiscent of Broadway favorite Alfred Drake. Cooray is classically trained, and for good and not so good that was quite apparent. Most of the songs on his set list were classic theater numbers, with a few operatic and international favorites mixed in. He sang in English, French, and Italian with equal clarity, and he handled all the material with the same fluidity and emotional intent. Whether he was offering up Bizet’s “The Toreador Song” or Cole Porter’s “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (he has a special affinity for the songwriter and included three of his songs in the show), his delivery was flawlessly smooth and confident.

However, this is where his vocal training got in the way of his cabaret persona. Cabaret thrives on a performer’s idiosyncrasies and eccentricities, and Cooray seemed to keep his below the surface. There was a carefulness in the show, with each song presented as a separate entity with no medleys, no mashups, no surprises. Including some of those would definitely have elevated the evening. Perhaps had he involved an experienced cabaret director he might have resolved the issue.

Under the excellent music direction of pianist Rob Cookman almost all the selections soared. Among the highlights were two numbers from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe’s Camelot: “C’Est Moi,” the celebration of egotism that allowed Cooray to display some sly humor, and “If Ever I Would Leave You,” which allowed him to demonstrate his pure romanticism. More emotional moments came with Porter’s “So in Love” and “I Get a Kick Out of You.” He even attempted some humor—successfully, with “Practically Perfect” (George Stiles/Anthony Drewe, from Mary Poppins), and less so with “Popular” (Stephen Schwartz, from Wicked). But those were merely bumps in the road; he returned to form with the traditional “Santa Lucia” and the entrancing “La Vie en Rose.” His next venture into the world of cabaret should be something to look forward to.

Bart Greenberg

Bart Greenberg first discovered cabaret a few weeks after arriving in New York City by seeing Julie Wilson and William Roy performing Stephen Sondheim and Cole Porter outdoors at Rockefeller Center. It was instant love for both Ms. Wilson and the art form. Some years later, he was given the opportunity to create his own series of cabaret shows while working at Tower Records. "Any Wednesday" was born, a weekly half-hour performance by a singer promoting a new CD release. Ann Hampton Callaway launched the series. When Tower shut down, Bart was lucky to move the program across the street to Barnes & Noble, where it thrived under the generous support of the company. The series received both The MAC Board of Directors Award and The Bistro Award. Some of the performers who took part in "Any Wednesday" include Barbara Fasano and Eric Comstock, Tony Desare, Andrea Marcovicci, Carole Bufford, the Karens, Akers, Mason and Oberlin, and Julie Wilson. Privately, Greenberg is happily married to writer/photographer Mark Wallis, who as a performance artist in his native England gathered a major following as "I Am Cereal Killer."

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