By Bart Greenberg***It’s hard to believe that Hugh Panaro has been around for something like 40 years. His handsome face and his fine voice are as impressive as ever. He also has a grand sense of humor. And stories. He has stories. From his youthful desire to 
be a veterinarian to his first discovery of musical theater (thanks, in part, to home-town girl Andrea McArdle) to casting disappointments. The audience didn’t get to hear a lot about his private life—he’s notoriously guarded about that—but his career was on full display in the show Huge Panaro: Man Without a Mask at 54 Below.
Panaro had a strong team behind him: the excellent Joseph Thalken as music director and pianist and bassist Brian Holtz. The show was very well-directed by Richard Jay-Alexander, both with Panaro’s sensitive interpretation of his songs and the utilization of the entire stage space, allowing him to inte
ract with every section of the audience and not be locked to center stage. He also had great fun singling out individual attendees to sing to and flirt with, both of which he did engagingly. All of these dynamics helped to keep a rather lengthy show moving along.
The star also brought along a very special guest, Francesca Mehrotra, a lovely actress with an extraordinary voice. Both currently featured in Masquerade—the new immersive The Phantom of the Opera experience—they dueted on “All I Ask of You” (Andrew Lloyd Webber, Charles Hart) in a rendition that was filled with passion and romance—and a fire that isn’t seen too often seen on cabaret stages. Then, as hot as that number was, Mehrotra brought delicacy and yearning to her solo, “I Wish It So” (Marc Blizstein). Hopefully, she will be headlining her own show.
As to Panaro’s solo work and career triumphs, some of the evening’s highlights included a gentle medley of Peter Pan’s “Distant Melody” and “Neverland” (Jule Styne, Betty Comden & Adolph Green) and Sweeney Todd’s “Ah Miss” and “Johanna” (Stephen Sondheim), noting that he saw both shows in one life-changing weekend in his youth. There was also a beautifully-acted “Why God, Why?” (Claude-Michele Schönberg, Alain Boublil) and a highly-seductive “The Music of the Night” (Lloyd Webber, Hart). He also brought great skill to an art song “You Have Never Failed Me” by his music director, Thalken. Panaro closed the evening with a very sensitive “Moon River” (Henry Mancini, Johnny Mercer)—and like everything about Man Without a Mask, it was an intelligent and emotional choice.
Photos by Marilyn Lester
