Review: Ari Axelrod Brings All He's Got To The Westbank Cafe

I have seen three different incarnations of Ari Axelrod's A CELEBRATION OF JEWISH BROADWAY, each time with different and extraordinary results. It is, though, a very specific cabaret show with a very particular theme. So, when I heard that Mr. Axelrod was doing a set of dinner music at The Westbank Cafe, I knew I had to go because I wanted to see what else Ari does. To date, the dinner music series at the Midtown Manhattan restaurant has been a fascinating study in artists conforming to their surroundings, with some of the acts arriving with a setlist and a sense of humor, and others showing up with a show to do. Neither option is wrong because whatever every artist chose to present was authentic to who they are, what they wanted to give the eatery crowd, and what they felt the opportunity offered. With his offering at The Westbank, Ari Axelrod has proven himself to be a force with which to be reckoned... but come on now... everybody already knew that.

In two hours last Saturday afternoon, Ari Axelrod presented two one-hour sets of music that already make a perfect one-man show. It may not have been Axelrod's intention to perform a cabaret act but that's what he did. The natural showman didn't bother to just bring his supremely gifted Musical Director, Mike Stapleton, and a stack of sheet music to sing - he sat down at a table and mapped out a route, from start to finish, creating highs and lows in the storytelling, constructing brief conversations to have with the audience between numbers, ordering up impeccably chosen numbers to end each act, like "Being Alive" and "Taking The Wheel", as well is bang-on act openers like "Everybody Says Don't" and Axelrod's personally mashed up "My Favorite Things/What a Wonderful World" to open the show. The truth is plain as the air we breathe: it is not possible for Ari Axelrod to just stand and sing. Where Ari arrives, a story awaits telling.

To that end, Mr. Axelrod is committed to every moment during which he is on a stage, whether it is an actual stage or a corner of a restaurant where somebody put some lights and plugged in some amps. Whether talking about his unfulfilled desire to play Tevye or singing an incredibly personally-informed "I'd Rather Be Sailing", Ari is incapable of giving anything less than everything he's got, in the name of making his audience feel every last emotion he's got. The passion on display when Ari's in the room will make a person cry, and though ballads are where he lives, his work with comedy borders on a take-no-prisoners mentality, clearly on display with his "Adelaide's Lament" - not a number one expects to see a boy do in a dinner music set. But then, one wouldn't expect to hear a man sing Lizzie's "Simple Little Things" from 110 In The Shade during a dinner music set.... In falsetto... but that's Ari Axelrod. He doesn't wear other peoples' suits when he comes to work: he cuts his own.

Axelrod is more than a performer, he is a director, a teacher, and a musician, and any time you walk into a room where he is performing and see his conga, you know it's going to be a good day, and though his conga-infused "Ain't No Sunshine" got the audience sighing in their seats, his Hebrew-to-English "Bring Him Home" brought the entire restaurant to absolute silence - not even the sound of cutlery on ceramic could be detected as this man too young to play Valjean gave an unsuspecting audience reason to dream of a day when he will. The entire program created to entertain some mild-mannered diners was one rich reward after another, performed for tips in a charming atmosphere lacking in any theatricality, save for those provided by Axelrod. But if there is justice in the world, cabaret gods, or even just a glimmer of hope, these two sets will be turned into a club act titled ARI'S ARIAS and it will be available to all cabaret aficionados at Mr. Axelrod's earliest possible convenience because this simple dinner music set is poised to become a love letter to the art of cabaret.

The Westbank Cafe is offering Dinner Music every night the restaurant is open. For information on dining and on the music series, visit the Westbank Cafe website HERE.

Visit the Ari Axelrod website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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