By Andrew Poretz***Last year, young cabaret performer Grace Peña made her solo cabaret debuts at no less than three venues: 54 Below, Don’t Tell Mama and The Green Room 42. Her new show, Under the Influence, directed by Lennie Watts, launched at The Laurie Beechman Theatre with musical 
director-pianist Analise Levesque, guitarist Max Wagner, bassist Mason O’Donnell and drummer Ryan McCausland.
The show’s theme was songs that have influenced her, particularly those that came to her from shuffling a Spotify playlist. She spoke of how her mother first turned her on to the more sophisticated songs of jazz and how jazz, blues and classic MGM movie musicals of the 40s and 50s influenced her. Peña opened with an a capella intro to “Feeling Good” (Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley) before the band came in. Peña here displayed a bluesy, soulful sound, which is her strong suit.
A double-entendre, risqué blues called “Long John Blues” (Tommy George)—which she described as “sexua
l music”—was influenced by Bette Midler, although it was Dinah Washington who introduced it in 1948. The comic twist describes a woman visiting a dentist named Dr. Long John, who is described as being “over seven feet tall.” Peña performed it with only a distorted electric guitar accompaniment for a hard blues sound, buttressing the observation that blues is her biggest strength.
Peña is adept with songs from the Great American Songbook, though “Day by Day” (Sammy Cahn, Axel Stordahl, Paul Weston) was somewhat uneven; and in the intriguing choice of “I’m Hip” (Bob Dorough, Dave Frishberg), Peña did miss much of the irony in her interpretation. There were some updated references, such as Lady Gaga, but as the arrangement became increasingly faster, th
e lyric became more difficult to decipher.
The evening’s highlight began with a medley of Peña’s two favorite songs, Stevie Wonder’s “Overjoyed” and “Forever My Friend” (Ray LaMontagne), capped with “Bein’ Green” (Joe Raposo)—introduced by Kermit the Frog on “Sesame Street,” and later covered wonderfully by Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles. Closer was a sing-along of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing.”
A technical note: Peña’s voice is powerful, but poor mic-ing caused overpowering by the quartet, thus it was sometimes difficult to understand her when she spoke. In delivery, experience should even out patter and timing. Peña is an appealing and entertaining up-and-comer, pointing to promise to be fulfilled ahead.
Photos courtesy of the artist
