DIVA TALK: Judy Kuhn's Songbook Debut; Five Year Thoughts and More
By Andrew Gans
JUDY KUHN
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JUDY KUHN I attended the 10 PM performance of Judy Kuhn's American Songbook concert at Lincoln Center this past Saturday. Kuhn, who has garnered Tony nominations for her work in Chess, Les Miserables and She Loves Me , presented an evening entitled "The Singers: Contemporary Interpretations." Dressed in black pants and a flowery top, the ever youthful Kuhn began her show with "I Don't Want to Grow Up," a Tom Waits tune that set the tone of the evening, which included several obscure tunes and, unfortunately, none from any of Kuhn's various theatre outings.
Kuhn, I feel, possesses one of the finest voices the musical theatre has ever produced. It's a rangy instrument that is equally comfortable belting Broadway pop ballads — Chess 's "Someone Else's Story" or the title song from Rags — or singing higher soprano works like She Loves Me 's "Ice Cream." Not only rangy, Kuhn's voice is an extremely rich, vibrato-filled tone that flows out of her with seemingly little effort. I find her chest/belt tones most particularly lush and often quite exciting.
Although Kuhn didn't offer any of her own theatre "hits," she did perform several songs by theatre writers, including two Harold Arlen classics, "Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home" and "Come Rain or Come Shine." The charming Kuhn seems a bit less comfortable on these jazzier standards than she does on the ballads. In fact, when she just stands still or sits and delivers a story song, she is thrillingly focused and often quite moving. I particularly enjoyed her delivery of Jeff Blumenkrantz's "Departure," a setting to music of an Edna St. Vincent Milay poem. One of my favorite tunes of the evening followed "Departure," David Cantor's "Last Go 'Round," a witty tune about a woman who has lived many lives and has, perhaps, finally found her true love ("I've been everything from Pope to petty crook/It seems I'm several centuries older than I look/When I go this time I'm finally off the hook/I know my words astound/But I swear I'm not unsound/It's now or never darling/For this is my last go 'round").
Kuhn also offered a particularly sweet rendition of Adam Guettel's "Baby Moon," which was first recorded by Tony winner Audra McDonald. Kuhn prefaced the song with a story about her seven-year-old daughter who, as a baby, often screamed when her mother tried to sing her a lullaby ("The higher I sang," Kuhn explained, "the louder she creamed."). Now, Kuhn happily confessed, she recently overheard her daughter tell a friend that Britney Spears is only her second favorite singer. "She didn't actually say who was her first," Kuhn joked, "but I can hope."
Kuhn followed "Baby Moon" with a lovely, heartfelt delivery of Billy Joel's "Lullabye" and concluded her evening with a belty take of Laura Nyro's "And When I Die." She returned with a beautiful medley of Richard Rodgers' "My Heart Stood Still" and "Lover." Kuhn seemed to enjoy her evening, and one only hopes this will be the beginning of another facet of her career, concert/cabaret performer. But, Judy, next time, have pity on your theatre fans and include some of your Broadway hits!
Kuhn's repertoire for her American Songbook debut follows:
RECENTLY SEEN : I greatly admired Jason Robert Brown's Broadway debut, Parade , which had an all-too-short run at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theatre. I thought Brown's Tony-winning score was beautiful and with a bit of tweaking — perhaps removing or reconceptualizing the role of the reporter and streamlining it to one act — the show could have been a hit. So, I was quite excited to see his latest offering, The Last Five Year , which is currently playing Off Broadway's Minetta Lane Theatre. I'm also a big fan of song-cycle musicals: Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tell Me On a Sunday/Song & Dance remains one of my favorite ALW scores and shows, so I'm always interested to see a new production that is told entirely in song.
I find the concept of Last Five Years quite intriguing, having a couple relive their five-year, ill-fated relationship from opposite directions. Jamie (Norbert Leo Butz) sings about the couple's union from the moment they meet until they break apart, and Cathy (Sherie Rene Scott) belts her songs, which begin with the separation and go backward in time to the initial meeting. Lately, I find — with musicals anyway — that I'm either taken in by the first number or I never get completely absorbed by the action onstage. And, with Last Five Years I was completely captivated by Scott's delivery of "Still Hurting." I did find that it took me awhile to warm to Butz, but by the end I was completely captivated by both of their stories. Butz and Scott — who possesses a thrilling belt — offer terrific performances, vocally and acting-wise, and Brown's writing continues to impress, the most gifted composer-lyricist of his generation. Thankfully, Sh-K-Boom Records has recorded the 90 minute musical, which shouldn't be missed by diva fans. Continued...
