By Marilyn Lester*** Two-time Tony Award® winner Norbert Leo Butz brought Girls, Girls, Girls back to 54 Below with perhaps more relevancy now than ever before. Girls, Girls, Girls debuted at the venue in 2013. It was revived in 2016 and both times garnered rave reviews. This iteration of the one-man folk-rock tour de force is certainly worthy of more raves. With two feet planted firmly in the theatrical, the show goes beyond traditional cabaret with a wider appeal. A 
youthful audience clearly dug the theme by “professor” Butz, and grooved on his high energy, charismatic personality, humor and musical choices, not to mention Butz’ cool dance moves.
The genesis of this (yes) feminist show happened when Butz realized that, like HMS Pinafore‘s Sir Joseph Porter, who traveled with an entourage of sisters, cousins and aunts, he too was surrounded by women: a wife, an ex-wife, three daughters and 17 nieces, at least. Intense thinking ensued; dots were connected, and a deep dive of study was taken into the nature of the feminine… into what makes the other half of humanity tick. Where to start? Way back to Greek mythology (with a side trip to Carl Jung) and the archetypes of womanhood therein. Ironically, Butz became himself a living archetype, a warrior of knowledge on a hero’s journey (cue up Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces). The result: a beautifully-crafted and very smart and entertaining narrative with an amazing set of musical numbers—story songs that perfectly illustrated the text, often mirroring the struggles that women as a “second sex” have had to bear.
How about “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot
s Pt.1″ (Wayne Coyne, Stephen Drozd, Michael Ivans, David Friedman)—a tune certainly not your parent’s cabaret, but wonderfully rocking fun; and so totally on point for the story of warrior goddess Athena, who sprang full-grown and fully-armored from the head of her father, Zeus. Meanwhile, Mrs. Zeus, aka Hera, goddess of marriage, women and childbirth, got some zingers back on her philandering husband with Loretta Lynn’s take-no-prisoners “Mrs. Leroy Brown.” And for Aphrodite, better known as her Roman version, Venus, goddess of love, there was the heartbreak of “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love” (Mel Tillis).
Myths basically tried to explain the world in all its dimensions. One that touched Butz deeply is that of Demeter, goddess of the earth, harvest and fertility, and her daughter Persephone, goddess of grain and agriculture. This story is one of intense mother-love and it explains the seasons: Persephone is forcibly captured by Hades, god of the underworld, and dragged into Hell. Eventually she is allowed to visit her mother for part of the year, hence winter, when Demeter mourns her absence, and spring, when Persephone returns to her. The Broadway musical Hadestown is based on the myth, but Butz tells his take in one song, the ballad “Tecumseh Valley” (Townes Van Zandt), perceiving Persephone as one traumatized by her abduc
tion.
Then there were the three Furies, avenging goddesses of justice; the nine Muses, who inspire art and science; and more, beyond myth into the territory of pioneering psychiatrist-psychotherapist, Carl Jung, who had his own insight into archetypes. Patty Griffin’s “Mary,” for instance, expands the meaning and relevance of the Holy Mother, while Stephen Trask’s “Wig in a Box” contemplates androgeny. With gender issues at the center of today’s news, this song among the others gives even more impact to the show and its theme. At the end of the beautifully-paced and utterly fascinating Girls, Girls, Girls, Butz revealed that his study allowed him to touch the feminine within himself as he led an audience shout chorus of “Respect Women! Honor Women!” Yet, he admitted, with the sad encore ballad of “Jolene” (not Dolly Parton’s but Ray LaMontagne’s) that the sacred feminine is still a mystery.
The quest may continue, but this brilliant piece of theatrical art certainly inserts another piece into the feminine puzzle. Butz, with his earthy voice and keen interpretive abilities also played guitar off and on. His band, music director-pianist Michael J. Moritz Jr., guitarists Jimmy Leahey and Khaled Tabbara, bass guitarist Alan Stevens Hewitt and drummer Billy LaGuardia, provided top-notch musicality in synchrony as well as shining moments for each in the spotlight.
