Review: SHAINA MURPHY'S THE MANY FACES OF LOVE Succeeds at Diving Into the Surface of Love at NextStop Theatre

"Love is rare. Love is strange." -Michael Feinstein's "Old Friend."

It is indeed and Shaina Murphy, who recently appeared in NextStop Theatre's production of City of Angels and starred in RCP's Mary Poppins, showed that love comes in all shapes, whether it is a cup of coffee or your first crush, during her one night cabaret show, The Many Faces of Love at NextStop Theatre. In The Many Faces of Loves, Murphy, accompanied by Jim Van Slyke on piano, weaves small anecdotes of her own encounters with love along with an array selected love songs. Although the cabaret show began with a bit of a rocky start, Murphy was able to pull through with her fluid voice and her ability to convey emotions with a remarkable energy during the songs.

Murphy opened the show with a combo of "You are My Sunshine" and "Love Changes Everything," which seemed to be more of a warm-up compared to the other songs in the show. However, she promptly recovered with rendition of Georgia Stitt's "My Lifelong Love," which was selected to highlight the childless innocence of loving a first crush. Murphy sustained her momentum after "My Lifelong Love" with a mashup of songs about New York City including "I Happen to Like New York" by Porter, "What More Do I Need?" by Sondheim, and "N.Y.C." by Strouse. Murphy's own experiences with New York City seemed to drive her to sing her heart out during this mashup. The Teenage Years Mashup consisted of spinets of songs, such as "I Hate Men" by Porter and "It's My Party" by Gore. This mashup wasn't the best of the night as the quick back and forth left one trying to keep up with the transition from song to song. However, it certainly left one in a dizzying state that reflected the hormonal confusion which is the teenage years. Love doesn't always have to be serious. Murphy showed that love can be humorous though songs such as "Coffee Break" by Loesser from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, "Air Conditioner" by Christine Lavin, and "I Reallly, Really Love You" by Scott Burkell. She thrived during these humorous songs with her comic timing, wild facial expressions, and animated voice. These songs certainly appeared to delight the most of the audience, who was laughing along as she progressed through those humorous songs. The most two of the impressive songs of the night did not even have "love" in their titles. Those songs are a goosebumps inducing "Gravity" by Sara Bareilles and "Old Friend" by Ford and Cryer.

Besides the musical interludes, there was a bit of narration from Murphy. The narration included small glimpses into Murphy's perspective on love and her experiences with loving not just people, but places and things. However, the story telling only skimmed the surface of what could have been a depth of selective and detailed personal stories. Murphy mentions that she lived in New York City for most of her 20's and 30's before she goes into the New York mashup, but she doesn't go into detail about at least one personal experience that she had living in New York City. She mentions in her narratives at the beginning and the end of the show that love isn't always just for one's partner, but it could be for a child or parent. There are plenty of songs in the Broadway realm about the love between parents and children that could have been chosen to be on the song list.

Despite the need for the improvement of the personal narratives and perhaps a song or two about the relationship between parents and their children, Shaina Murphy was able to belt out some impressive numbers about love.

Shaina Murphy's The Many Faces of Love, part of NextStop Theatre's Summer Cabaret Series, was July 30, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. at NextStop Theatre. The series concludes with Broadway Babies on August 6, 2016 at 8:00 p.m. at the NextStop Theatre in Herndon. For more information about NextStop Theatre's Summer Cabaret Series, click here.

Photo caption and credit: Shaina Murphy (pictured). Photo courtesy of artist and provided by NextStop Theatre.