By Bart Greenberg****Reviving an old tradition of a review featuring fresh talent, Ellen’s Stardust Diner offered up the latest edition of New Faces of 2018 Starduster Showcase downstairs at The Iridium on May 1, 2018. Five delightful young performers were chosen from the waitstaff of the famed “singing waiter” establishment to have a longer chance to offer up their talent for an enthusiastic audience. (The program is presented on a quarterly basis.)
The showcase was hosted by producer Scott Barbarino and cabaret star Lisa Asher, the latter also serving as director, with musical directing support from the nimble Mark Hartman. Happily, both Asher and Hartman also had a chance to display their own solo talents: the former with a touching “Angel From Montgomery” (John Prine) and the latter with a gender-twisting devastating “Could I Leave You?” (Stephen Sondheim).
As to the young performer themselves, Mollie Craven showed not only a beautiful soprano but a keen acting sense in her performance of “Will He Like Me” (Sheldon Harnick/Jerry Bock), as well as a jubilant version of “There Once Was a Man” (Richard Adler/Jerry Ross), shared with Patrick Pevehouse. Shannon Antalan has a powerful but controlled voice, used beautifully on classics “A Sleeping Bee” (Truman Capote/Harold Arlen) and “Disneyland” (Howard Ashman/Marvin Hamlisch). Kayleigh Brennan, unfortunately, had the least range in material, getting only plaintive numbers such as “Too Late to Turn Back” (Frank Wildhorn/Don Black) and “She Used to Be Mine” (Sara Bareilles).
On the masculine side, Pevehouse has the rare ability to mix leading man looks with goofy delivery. His presentation of the hysterical “Way Ahead of My Time” (Pete Mills) was a class in how to model a comedy lyric. He then turned around and captured the ambivalence of “Marry Me a Little” (Sondheim). But if there was one personality that shone about all, it was Ryan Patrick Smith, a ball of energy with a strong tenor, who will inevitably be facing comparisons to Nathan Lane in the coming years. Kicking off the show with the showstopper “I Can Cook Too” (Betty Comden & Adolph Green/Leonard Bernstein) that was crude, comic and endearing, Smith moved on to a simple, moving “Mama a Rainbow” (Larry Grossman/Hal Hackady).
Praise should also go to all five performers for working seamlessly together in the opening, “Starting Here, Stating Now,” and closing,“ Closer Than Ever,” numbers (both by Richard Maltby, Jr./David Shire) of complex vocal harmonies, which required great concentration and an ability to listen to each other.
One suggestion for both these performers and those that follow them: being on stage isn’t the same as going out for a drink with your buddies (even if they are in the audience for your show). You have to dress up and you have to remember that you are in the spotlight. If you want to be treated as a star—you should dress like a star.
Leave a Reply