By Scott Barbarino***Vocalist Marnie Klar is one of those performers who naturally emanates a beautiful warmth and genuine innocence and spirit. Like Karen Carpenter, she draws you in with her smile and eyes. She also can express vulnerability that belies her underlying strength. This essence makes her the 
perfect choice for presenting the music of The Carpenters in Karen Carpenter Covers. It was a spot on performance that this Carpenter fan thoroughly enjoyed.
Karen Carpenter’s vocals soothed a generation with “happy” music while she was personally having a really—and this is an understatement—really hard time. After her passing her story had a major impact that changed how the world understood the challenges of untreated mental illness: anorexia in her case.
This show, Karen Carpenter Covers, has great music that makes you feel good, with a required dash of melancholy. The narrative, the stories and patter, make this production a bit gritty and realistic, which makes sense for the life Karen Carpenter had, as we now know in retrospect. We lost a good one when we lost Karen Carpenter and her music clearly and beautifully still resonates.
I loved Tanya Moberly’s direction of the show—it was masterful from start to finish. You could also feel there had been a wonderful collaboration in working on the show.
The band of music director-pianist Steven Ray Watkins, bassist Matt Scharfglass and drummer Don Kelly nailed it! Kelly Wohlford’s artful lighting was the cherry on the sundae.
There’s a show TODAY, Saturday, December 7 at 4 PM. Tickets here. Don’t Tell Mama is located at 343 W 46th St, New York, NY
Scott Barbarino is the Publisher of NiteLife Exchange
