By Bart Greenberg***The towering Sapphira Cristal took the stage at 54 Below to assure her audience that “I’m Gonna Live Till I Die” (Al H
offman, Walter Kent, Mann Curtis) and no one present could doubt it for a minute. A force of nature, the former Miss Congeniality of RuPaul’s Drag Race,brought a combination of warmth and sass to her program Sapphi Don’t Sing the Blues. So, no blues, but she brought her wide-ranging vocals to a variety of material from a terrific “You Go to My Head” (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) to an outrageous “Pink Pony Club” (Chappell Roan), complete with lots of dancing.
Some of the musical highlights of the evening included low-down jazz with “You Came a Long Way From St. Louis (John Benson Brooks, Bob Russel), an R&B medley of “Man I Need” (Olivia Dean) and “Easy” (Lionel Ritchie), which led to some vocal pyrotechnics, and a truly bizarre and fascinating mash-up of “Strange Fruit” (Abel Meeropol) and “Happy Days Are Here Again” (Milton Ager, Jack Yellen). Who wo
uld have thought that the lyrics for the latter fit perfectly with the melody of the first for a shattering effect.
A terrific trio of music director-pianist Arnie Sainz, bassist Ben Young and drummer Will Edmundson provided Cristal with fine musical support. “Enough” (Jess Glynne) even provided Edmunson with a dynamic solo. Kyle Ramar Freeman, late of the Broadway musical Titanique, spelled Cristal for his own solo, “Get Here” (Oleta Adams), another exciting highlight.
With all of these excellent moments, why was the evening not totally satisfying? Perhaps the problem was in her own words, “I’m all purpose, like flour.” Cristal was trying to show many aspects of her personality without anchoring the evening with a theme or a central idea. The lack of an overarching story was problematic. Perhaps working with a director would solve this issue in future shows, better displaying her considerable talents.
