Michael Kirk Lane
Right Where I Belong
Laurie Beechman Theatre, NYC, December 21, 2025
Reviewed by Bart Greenberg
Michael Kirk Lane has amassed an impressive résumé involving New York City cabaret, and he openly acknowledged the debt he owes to his cabaret education by watching the great (and the less successful) performers. He put a great deal of that training into his new show at the Laurie Beechman Theatre. With the excellent team behind him of director Faith Prince and music director/pianist Yasuhiko Fukuoka, he used his fine voice and his intelligent treatment of lyrics to tell his story. A very wise and varied selection of songs illuminated both the dark and the light sides of his autobiographical tale.
Lane has the ability to make well-known songs sound fresh, whether via a new interpretation or revised lyrics. “Glamorous Life” (Stephen Sondheim) had new lyrics that better reflected the singer’s own life. “Where You Are” (John Kander/Fred Ebb) was reinvented to comment on a very dark period of his life in college to great dramatic effect; it organically led to “Where Do I Go?” (Galt MacDermot/Gerome Ragni/James Rado). The emotional arc was completed with “I’m Going to Go Back There Someday” (Paul Williams/Kenny Ascher), which he delivered as a serious ballad. Given Lane’s understanding of how to the program a cabaret show, everything was given a boost when he sang the very theatrical “Be Our Guest” (Alan Menken/Howard Ashman).
Where the show went wrong was in Lane’s dependency on his sheet music and printed lyrics. This was especially problematic when he sat by the piano and was staring at his tablet sitting on top of the instrument and was not visually connecting with his audience. He should have known better.
Still, he certainly knows how to build a song. His delivery of “Sing Happy” (Kander & Ebb) was perfection as it started slowly and lowkey and built, and built; it was a true showstopper. He also ended the show well, first with the title song by Jeffrey Moss and then with the optimism and forward looking of Jason Robert Brown’s “Wait Till You See What’s Next.” Such fine delivery deserved better preparation. Hopefully, it will receive it the next time.
