By Bart Greenberg***Many regular cabaret goers have, over the last several years, revisited one of the legendary nights of entertainment: Judy Garland’s April 23, 1961 concert at Carnegie Hall, recorded
live on Capitol Records. This historic show has been recreated by solo performers (in and out of Judy drag), a trio of female divas, and an array of famous singers. It has almost reached an expiration point, especially since the original glorious recording of that night has been several times re-issued, most lately as a 2026 box set, and so is happily available.
And then along came Charlie High with a new approach, tremendous energy, and a wide-ranging voice that electrified those at The Laurie Beechman Theatre. Much of the emphasis of the show was about the impact the LP set had on an isolated “gay boy” as “a gay spiritual revival.” With the album, High had discovered his people. This central connection was at the core of his evening, giving it emotional weight beyond just the songs. And the audience was instinctually in on it from the very beginning: during the finely-reduced orchestration of the origin
al Overture, by Drew Wutke they applauded as each new song emerged, just as they did at the original evening (and on the record). Wutke, also served as on-stage pianist and music director, backed by reedist Erica von Kleist, bassist Booker King and drummer Paige Durr. Kudos to these “friends of Dorothy” as the singer identified them.
But it was High who remained center stage throughout, expressing pure joy in a medley of “Almost Like Being in Love” (Fredrick Loewe, Alan Jay Lerner) and “This Can’t Be Love” (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart), expertly underplaying “The Man That Got Away” (Harold Arlen, Ira Gershwin) or embracing absolute simplicity with “If Love Were All” (Noel Coward). High utilized every inch of the stage through the evening and even ventured into the audience (using a non-Judy cordless mic) to flirt with his fans while belting “Just You, Just Me” (Jesse Greer,
Raymond Klages).
He paid homage to the original recording by turning a passage in “You Go to My Head” (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) into gibberish, while deviating from it by one number not performed on that fabled night—but it is certainly a legend in it’s own right: the Judy/Barbra “Happy Days Are Here Again” (Milton Ager, Jack Yellen) and “Get Happy” (Arlen, Ted Koehler), bringing Casey Borghesi to the stage to share her inner Streisand. The justification was that it was the exact 63rd anniversary of the original performance. The justification wasn’t necessary; it was thrilling.
High demonstrated his beautiful head voice with his delivery of “Stormy Weather” (Arlen, Koehler) and drove the audience to its feet with his free-wheeling belting of “Chicago” (Fred Fisher). It was very clear that the assembled would have been happy for him to sing ‘em all, and stay all night.
Photos by Robbie Rozelle
