By Bart Greenberg***The energetic Anthony Fett returned to The Triad Theater to celebrate the Fourth of July with his newest show, Americabaret. For those first discovering this peripatetic performer, it is difficult to be quite sure what the show is about. Is it a satire of 1960s television specials, a spoof of the current over-the-top right wing “patriotism,” or something more 
sincere? After about 15 minutes, the puzzling energy of the calmed down a bit and certain items became clear: Fett has a fine singing voice, a quiet dignity and a deeply-felt love for out country under all the chaos. He’s also fully committed to flash and style, with multiple costume changes (including the seemingly inevitable drag outfit as the Statue of Liberty), an elaborate set design by Josh Bardiuer, and choreography by Lauren Gemelli. And then there was the almost non-stop excellent musical support of music director Yasuhiko “Yaz” Fukuoka.
Some of the songs in the well-chosen, and wide-ranging, program included the inevitable classics such as “Yankee Doodle Dandy” (George M. Cohan), “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” (Samuel French Smith) and “America the Beautiful” (Samuel A. Ward, Katherine Lee Bates), and some more surprising material such as “The Promise of Living” (Aaron Copland), “The Story of Tonight” (Lin-Manuel 
Miranda) and a very different kind of standard in “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” (The Sherman Brothers). All of these tunes were delivered with a great deal of joy and sincerity beneath the glitz.
The latter part of the show took a decided country turn, first with “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” (Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II), and then with a lengthy medley salute to country divas, from “Oh Susannah” (Stephen Foster) to “Crazy” (Willie Nelson) to “I’m a Survivor” (Reba McEntire) among many others—one of those mashups that calls for extensive energy and a certain tongue-in-cheek attack. Fett was up to the challenge.
Toward the end of the evening, Fett quietly took center stage and offered a beautifully articulated medley of two of Irving Berlin’s compositions, “Give Me Your Tired, You’re Poor” and “God Bless America.” And all the chaos and the camp and the emotion came into focus for several shining moments. This is what the magic of cabaret is all about.
