The mark of a great cabaret performer is that they make their banter seem completely spontaneous, and Linda Lavin’s exquisite show at 54 Below, titled Starting Over, contains moments that were undoubtedly rehearsed many times, but feel natural. That’s simply because Ms. Lavin is a natural born storyteller, and she fills each sentence and each song with something more valuable than spontaneity: authenticity. Gracing the stage in a dazzling sequined pair of pants, the 77-year-old is a bona fide knockout who grabs your attention and never lets go.
Flashing her luminous smile and with watery eyes that showed how surprised she was at the audience’s ecstatic reaction, Ms. Lavin told us about her life through songs. Even though she won her Tony for her role in the play Broadway Bound, she is devoted to musical theatre and shared anecdotes about her work in Broadway shows like It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman (from which she performed a delicious bossa nova infused “You’ve Got Possibilities”), and quirkier stints like The Mad Show from which she sang a novelty number called “The Boy From…”, an Astrud Gilberto parody with music by Mary Rodgers and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. As a sidenote, it was interesting to hear the arrangements for the song make it sound like a number from Merrily We Roll Along, perhaps this is where Sondheim first got inspired to write that score?
For over 90 minutes, Ms. Lavin shared stories about her joyous life, including how she was meant to be a classic pianist, but figured out she was a better singer (not that she didn’t play the piano though, she did and with such grace!), or how as a child she believed she had written “God Bless America” because it was the very first song she learned. She didn’t shy away from more introspective moments, and as she sat and let her musical director/pianist Billy Stritch sing a haunting rendition of “Cottage From Sale”, she seemed particularly moved, but it wasn’t long before she took us out of our funk by making a joke about hell being the hallway between the famous figurative doors that open and close as we face adversity.
Linda Lavin’s show felt like attending a party with the best hostess, who even while singing from a stage seemed to connect to each and everyone of her guests. One of the highlights was listening to her do “Almost Like Being in Love” as Judy Garland, and then inviting the audience to sing along with her, it was nothing like being in love, seeing Miss Lavin sing, dance and smile was actual, pure love.
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