With her eternally youthful persona, it may be hard to believe that singer-actor-animal rights activist Bernadette Peters has been in show business for over six decades (Remember, she started as a child!). Peters’ diverse career has seen the performer make her mark on the movie screen, on TV, and– most notably– on the Broadway stage. She is celebrated for her longstanding artistic association with composer Stephen Sondheim and has been rewarded for her talents with three Tony Awards, three Drama Desk Awards, and four Grammy Awards for cast albums. On the afternoon of Sunday, October 4 at New York City’s famous cabaret venue Don’t Tell Mama, MAC- and Broadway World Award-nominated singer Gerrilyn Sohn paid tribute to the star with her solo show Timeless: A Tribute to Bernadette Peters. Even at a tight 60 minutes, Ms. Sohn did a wonderful job of delivering the same charm, vocal skills, and commitment to respected composers that made Peters such an enduring figure in theater culture– not to mention her delivery of a seemingly endless song list of Broadway faves. Sohn had perfect accompaniment with piano by Tracy Stark (Stark was also Musical Director.) and bass by Marco Panascia. Timeless was directed by Lennie Watts.
Appropriately enough, Sohn kicked off with… a Sondheim song! The song was Broadway Baby from Follies. This beloved song, which can be adapted for singers from ages 8 to 80, is perfectly suited for Sohn’s particular charms. She has a very distinctive voice (a mix of wide-eyed, girlish innocence and experienced sophistication)… and she exhibits a wide vocal range within the span of a single song. Without jumping too far ahead, Broadway Baby was NOT the last of the Sondheim songbook we’d hear that night! But more about that later… Next up was Look What Happened to Mabel from Jerry Herman’s Mack and Mabel. It’s a fun song, and I’ll take this time to state that as an audience member, I definitely prefer high-spirited songs like this during cabaret shows. That said, I also understand why any singer would also like to perform the big, torchy ballads, where they can really sing their “heart” out! That moment came with Raining in My Heart, from Dames at Sea. It’s clear that Sohn can excel at being fun and cute, yet also move the audience with her more provocative selections. An example of that, later on in the show, was Other Lady, a searing musical conversation from the perspective of a mistress addressing the wife about sharing the same man. It was truly “a show within a show”…
Speaking of “provocative”: Sohn gave the audience Unexpected Song, from Song and Dance, with music by Andrew Lloyd Weber and lyrics by Don Black. It is widely known as being one of Lloyd Weber’s most frequently performed compositions. Sohn shared with the audience that this unique number was famous for its structural gimmick, in which Act 1 is entirely sung and Act II is enirely danced. Sohn’s interpretation was no less than grand, with an absolutely stunning final note.
The story of Unexpected Song, however, wasn’t the only piece of Bernadette trivia of the night! Gerrilyn reminded us that Ms. Peters was a frequent guest on TV through the years, both appearing as herself and playing other characters. Sohn honored Peters’ contributions to the small screen with a “TV medley”. It was both a transgenerational buffet of pop culture delight and, once again, a fine display of Sohn’s range. Tonight You Belong to Me, from the movie The Jerk, was a musical bauble perfectly suited for Bernadette Peters’ charms when that movie came out in 1979… and, fast forward 47 years, the song has become perfectly suited for Gerrilyn Sohn’s charms as well. Tracy Stark joined Gerrilyn for vocals, and the result was absolutely delicious. Sohn even breaks out the kazoo (!) for this one. The singer even told the story about meeting Bernadette in person, and it was one of the highlights of the night to hear Geraldine Gerrilyn share that anecdote.
But back to Sondheim… How did Gerrilyn Sohn know that Send in the Clowns was one of my favorite songs in musical theater of all time, Sondheim or otherwise? That said, Pennies From Heaven, which was also in Sohn’s show, is a close runner-up. Obviously, Send in the Clowns has been redone and reinterpreted many times throughout the years, but my own personal marker for how well an artist performs this number is how they “bring it home” with that final lyric, “Well, maybe N-E-X-T Y-E-A-R…!” Needless to say, Sohn didn’t let me down!
Of course, Sondheim wasn’t the only composer who was honored in Timeless. Sohn gave a medley of three appropriately “timeless” showbiz favorites: There’s No Business Like Show Business (Irving Berlin), Some People (Sondheim and Jule Styne), and Before the Parade Passes By (Jerry Herman.) It was pure musical theater heaven, particularly her height-hitting final note. For her closing number, Sohn chose Sondheim’s Last Midnight, a great way to send the crowd off “into the woods”… even though the “woods” in New York City are made of concrete. But of course, there was also an encore. I won’t give the encore away, but I will reveal that it was Sohn’s personal message to her audience– and, hopefully, a promise for more shows in the future.
Gerrilyn Sohn indeed succeeded in paying tribute to the lovely Ms. Bernadette Peters, who is ostensibly one of her creative inspirations. But with her distinctive voice, her vocal skills, her charm, and her sense of humor (For one number, she sings in Pig Latin [!] and invites the audience to join in. Woo hoo!), it ultimately mattered less that this was a tribute to another artist, and more that it was a fine showcase for the artist known as… Gerrilyn Sohn. In other words, this singer is always at her best when she’s…well, just being herself!
See more at www.GerrilynSohn.com.
