Review: Adriane Lenox A Force Of Nature With THIS IS MY LIFE at The Green Room 42

At the end of her birthday concert, THIS IS MY LIFE, Adriane Lenox remarked that she had a slight struggle while deciding whether or not to do a concert on her birthday because she was born on September 11th, a day that carries a lot of emotions for everyone.  But she further posited that she hoped her birthday concert might, next year, give attendees some happy associations with the date.  There is absolutely no question in this writer’s mind that, come next September, the audience that was lucky enough to be at The Green Room 42 on 9/11/2026 will have some truly great, smile-inducing memories.  It was a birthday party to end all birthday parties - and there wasn’t even a cake!  There was just a great actress telling the story of her life in song, in speech, and alongside some of her nearest and dearest, both on the stage and off. 

For her generous eighty-minute cabaret concert, the veteran actress guided her audience through major events in her life, ranging from early auditions, advice from representatives and mentors, big breaks, setbacks, friendships made, love, marriage, baby carriage, and one of the most impressive show business dynasties around.  Indeed, husband Zane Mark was the THIS IS MY LIFE Musical Director, and daughter, Crystal Joy, was a guest artist (one of several truly special guests), so the family love was well represented throughout the night, and after listening to La Lenox talk about herself and her life, it is easy to see why she is so very beloved.  It goes beyond the talent that we see when we go to an Adriane Lenox show, whether it’s a musical, like AFTER MIDNIGHT, for which she received a Tony nomination, or a play, like DOUBT, for which she took home a Tony Award.  There is no doubt, at all, that this is a talent to be admired, but when it comes to a cabaret and concert situation, one where the intimacy of the small space demands an opportunity to know who an artist is, and what they are about, Adriane Lenox did that thing that all artists must do, but not all can.  She went up on the stage and opened a vein.  There was no filter, there was no coy disguise, there was no pretense - there was Adriane Lenox.  Hallelujah. 

First of all, Adriane Lenox is one of the funniest people on earth.  She’s not up there doing the comedy thing; she’s not setting up jokes and hitting you with a punchline - she is just naturally funny, and few things will draw an audience in (or, really, just draw a person in, on stage or off) faster than natural humor.  Adriane Lenox is like a humor slot machine where you put in your quarter, hit three of anything, and laughs come out.  And they’re all genuine.  She tells her stories, she lets you in, she makes you laugh.  The stories are real, they bring you to the artists, and they are woven around extraordinary music.  And, speaking honestly, the musical programming was actually a little on the scant side.   Ms. Lenox opened her show with an excerpt from “The Way We Were” that made you wish for the entire composition, and she closed with the long version of “I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together” (everyone knows that there’s more to the song than what Carol Burnett sang on the show, right?), and between these two little ditties, there were only ten songs, and one of them was a truncated number from Dreamgirls, not the whole piece.  However, the number of numbers performed in THIS IS MY LIFE didn’t matter because the quality of the offerings was so exceptional.  Take, for instance, the aforementioned number from Dreamgirls… it was the fight scene “It’s All Over” - the notorious “Where’s my dress?” scene, and it brought to the stage a full cast of actors to play it out, and when Adriane ended the scene, she garnered screams of laughter by simply singing Lorrell’s part, “Oooooh, nooow,” then cutting it short with, “That’s all I got.”  Screams of laughter.  And the actors playing the scene with her?  Aisha de Haas was the evening’s Effie White (an alum of the German production), Deborah Burrell-Cleveland played Michelle Morris, the role she originated on Broadway, and the OG Curtis Taylor Jr. (and Tony Award winner for the role) Ben Harney.  Come on, now.  This is how to do cabaret.   But please don’t think that Adriane Lenox stopped there, because when the time came to talk a little Color Purple (Lenox played Shug Avery in the World Premiere), the guests to join the birthday girl for a rousing “Push Da Button” were Brandon Victor Dixon, the original World Premiere and Broadway Harpo, and Angela Robinson, the standby for the OBC’s Shug Avery.  It was a raucous and exciting segment of her show, complete with on-stage dancing and laughs galore.  These sections of her musical memoir were thrilling, not just because of the starry quality of the guests, and not just because these are world-class entertainers, but because everyone was having the time of their lives - and because of that, so did the people in the seats out front. 

But a cabaret artist does not thrive on special guests alone - a cabaret artist gets you in the palm of their hand by doing that which Adriane Lenox did when they are standing in the center spot, solo: take your breath away, make your heart beat faster, and draw smiles and tears at the same time.  Miss Lenox checks off all the boxes.  Whether having some jaunty fun with “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Right Myself A Letter” from her first Broadway show Ain’t Misbehavin’ or touching hearts with the sweet “When She Loved Me” from Toy Story 2 (which she sang just because she likes it), Adriane Lenox is a right proper cabaret storyteller, presenting musical monologues that act as windows into the journey on which she is taking her audience.  That audience, by the way, was an active character in the THIS IS MY LIFE story, thanks to the fact that many of the people in the room are either fellow actors or fellow people of color.  One of the reasons I have spent so much of my time as a cabaret journalist covering black artists is because I love the relationship between these artists and their audience.   Our black brothers and sisters get so much support from their friends and family, from their community; it is such a joyful thing to see.  Every single time I go to review a black artist, or a group show filled with black artists, the room is at capacity with friends and family and fans who want to support, but who also wouldn’t dream of missing a chance to see their loved one in action, and that love and support lends itself to the ability to give back the energy they are getting from the stage.   This is the primary purpose of performing in a cabaret setting - actually being WITH your audience, literally being able to reach out and touch them, being able to leave the stage and walk to their tables, and having them reach out and touch you back.  On more than one occasion during the THIS IS MY LIFE show, the audience didn’t just react with energy and applause, even conversation - they reacted with song.   There was a full-on choir during Adriane’s performance of the Anita Baker song “Same Ole Love,” and Crystal Joy had forty-plus back-up singers in four-part harmony during “Dancing In The Streets,” the result being that those of us who were sitting in the audience were enveloped by all that glorious music, and all that generous love.   The audience was a part of the experience - it was elating.  By the time Adriane Lenox got to her finale, an appropriate mash-up of “Here’s To Life” and “This Is My Life,” there was no way to leave that room without a smile on your lips and a song in your heart.  This show wasn’t just a perfect example of how to do cabaret; it was a perfect example of why people do (or should do) cabaret and why people go see (or should go see) cabaret.  It was one of the best shows of this or any other season - a genuinely special night, centered around a genuinely special woman.  I think it can be safely said that, next year, on September 11th, all of the fine folks who were in attendance for THIS IS MY LIFE will take a few moments out of their day of remembrance to reflect on the joy of the concert and the gratitude that Adriane Lenox was born, and that she shares her gifts with the world.

The THIS IS MY LIFE band was Musical Director and Pianist, Zane Mark; Pianist for specific numbers, Gabriel Charles; Drummer, Martine G. Mauro Wade; and Electric and Acoustic Bass, George Farmer.

Adriane Lenox is on Instagram HERE.

Find great shows to see on the Green Room 42 website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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