By Marilyn Lester***Actress-singer Ann Kittredge has developed a habit—and that is of putting together cabaret shows that seem to just get better and better. Her latest, reIMAGINE, celebrated her debut CD of the same name (King Kozmo Music, a subsidiary of Jazzheads) at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. And yet again, the diva hit the ball way out of the park. ReIMAGINE was eye-opening, inspiring, rousing, delightful and plain fun—as well as a whole lot more.
Kittredge has said that she’s devoted her life to “imagining,” a practice that has taken her to Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theaters, films and television. Taking a break from theater, she devoted her time to raising two children, returning to performing in the cabaret world. It was a decision from which we’ve accrued a lot of benefits over the last several years. Things were ticking along nicely and then… yes, then the pandemic came along and the world stopped. Not daunted, Kittredge devised an online cabaret series, “Virtual Shorts,” to keep live collaborative music active. The journey from monthly stream to recording studio has yielded reIMAGINE, with curated selections from Broadway, the movies, contemporary pop and, in one case, a century old operetta.
About half of the eclectic set was from the album itself, but all of the selections were meaningfully re- interpreted. For the most part, Kittredge turned them into story songs. It’s true that a lyric tells a story (some more fully than others), but so does the musical arrangement, as well as the construction of the music in its scales, chords, tempo and so on. The talented and perceptive Kittredge is able to take a deep dive into all that, transforming any given tune, owing to her understanding of music and her abilities as an actress. With a nod to her starring role as Queen Guenevere in a high school production of Camelot, she offered a beautiful and authentic “Before I Gaze at You Again” (Frederick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner) that exploded the lyric into a soul-touching reality.
That 100-year-old operetta she mined is Naughty Marietta (Victor Herbert, Rida Johnson Young) from 1910. It’s hit song, made famous in the 1935 film version by Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald is “Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life.” The number can sound dated and corny to modern ears, but re-imagined, with a superb guitar lead in by Sean Harkness, Kittredge gave a slow, evocative interpretation that deeply explored the meaning of the lyric with a modern sensibility. Likewise, those of us who cringe at the mention of an accordion—a trauma of being brought up with Lawrence Welk—obviously don’t have a clue about what that instrument is actually capable of. Special musical guest, accordionist Robbie Kondor, entirely transformed the polka medley of four tunes, including that big-time number, “Pennsylvania Polka” (Lester Lee, Zeeke Manners). Gone were the lederhosen and clog dancing as Kittredge and Kondor produced sophisticated renditions of the material.
Another special guest, the dapper, inimitable and irreplaceable Steve Ross, took the piano and solo’ed and dueted with Kittredge on a sweet and delightfully traditional “Edelweiss” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein III). The riches of reIMAGINE were many, including material that’s not usually incorporated into cabaret and concert repertoires, such as “May It Be” (Enya Patricia Brennan, Roma Ryan) from the Lord of the Rings movies, “Power of One” (Mervyn Warren, Mark Chait) from Pokémon: The Movie, and “You Make Me Laugh,” an original by Tom Toce (who was in attendance) and Shelly Markham.
Although three music directors participated in the creation of reIMAGINE: Alex Rybeck, Wendy Cavett and Christopher Denny, for this evening, Denny was at the piano. Also making up the complement of first-class musicians on stage were Jennifer Vincent on bass and Rex Benincasa on drums. In a swingy “Accentuate the Positive” (Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer), the band members took solo moments of upbeat musical positivity, uniformly displaying A-1 chops. This rendition of the tune also had a few lyric changes of note, from the creative and fun mind of the show’s premier director, Barry Kleinbort.
Photos by Maryann Lopinto
