The Songs of Kander and Ebb at The Keep, Guildford.
Star rating: Four stars ★ ★ ★ ★
Fasten Your Seatbelts’ series of cabarets honouring great American musical theatre songwriters continued with a tribute to the work of John Kander and Fred Ebb, whose creative partnership resulted in some 20 shows and a plethora of accolades across four decades, including the immortal Cabaret and Chicago.
Resisting the temptation to trot out the Kander and Ebb classics, the evening incorporated contributions from a dozen or so different musicals from Flora the Red Menace to The Scottsboro Boys, distributed evenly between the six singers. While Cabaret nonetheless figured prominently in their set, with a total of five songs (against just one from Chicago), none had featured in Bob Fosse’s iconic 1972 film.
Stephanie Napier expertly realised, in equal measure, the comedic nature of ‘Sara Lee’ (from the revue And the World Goes ’Round) and the suggestive overtones of ‘Don’t Tell Mama’ (Cabaret). Sensitive, contemplative numbers were ably performed by Nate Rogers-Branch and Maureen Rejali, while Elliott Griffiths’ money notes in ‘Dressing Them Up’ (Kiss of the Spider Woman) nearly brought the house down.
The ensemble songs were similarly commendable, ranging from the incrementally quicker ‘Coffee in a Cardboard Cup’ (70, Girls, 70) to the show-stopping ‘Thataway!’ (Curtains), led by a charismatic performance from Pippa Winslow. Musical director Ian Reilly again undertook sterling work with his pre-recorded piano accompaniments, and ensured slick transitions between numbers.
Paul Rogers-Branch’s informative compering, complete with the obligatory mention of Liza Minnelli, established a welcoming tone for the evening. Also appreciated was the provision of a set list and performer biographies for the benefit of the audience, a valuable (yet often overlooked) inclusion for events of this nature.
Given a larger company than Fasten Your Seatbelts’ previous cabaret featuring the songs of William Finn, this one was more ambitious, with greater use of the singers (albeit mainly in unison) as backing vocalists for one another in the solo numbers. The addition of duets such as ‘The Grass is Always Greener’ (Woman of the Year) and ‘It Couldn’t Please Me More’ (Cabaret) represented another new direction, and one with much potential for future expansion.
With standing room only on the packed ground floor of Guildford’s The Keep, it must have been particularly challenging to work in such a confined performance space. Not only must it have felt that there was nowhere to hide, but the microphones were so tightly lined up next to one another that sometimes they seemed to inhibit the singers’ armography.
Proving that life is indeed a cabaret, Fasten Your Seatbelts’ comprehensive coverage of Kander and Ebb’s output ensured that the audience left both entertained by, and newly educated in, their music. Even the one concession to familiarity, the title song for Martin Scorsese’s 1977 film New York, New York, was presented in an upbeat multi-lingual version, yielding a performance the likes of which had never been heard before.
Fasten Your Seatbelts’ next cabaret, dedicated to Maltby and Shire, will take place on 25 June.
Christopher Wiley
Readers may also be interested in:
The Songs of William Finn – The Keep, Guildford – Review
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