Review: Kelli Rabke Makes Music and Magic With TINY GIANTS at The Green Room 42

In a clear case of good things being worth the wait, Kelli Rabke debuted her show TINY GIANTS Friday night at The Green Room 42. The show subtitled PETITE POWERHOUSES FROM GARLAND TO GAGA was due to premiere in October of 2020 but got sidetracked by... well, everybody knows what it got sidetracked by. Anyway, after a one-performance tryout in a New Jersey theater over the summer, Rabke and GIANTS took a well-deserved bow on Forty-Second Street, enjoying one of the most earnestly earned standing ovations a performer, performance, or program could ever hope to achieve. In short: Kelli Rabke has created a perfect work of cabaret and concert artistry.

There are different types of cabaret artistry: some people go avant-garde, others play the aesthete, and there is always a happy chancing-upon of something poetic and pretty. The artistry of Rabke's latest production is some kind of magic conjured by a keen eye for what the public will want to see and hear, combined with a dedication to quality... quality in the performance itself, but also in the material being presented. Let it never be said that Kelli Rabke is not one of the best singers in the business of live entertainment; one of the petite powerhouses herself, Ms. Rabke has created a musical showcase that shows off the fact that she can sing anything. Correction: ANY THING. Through painstakingly detailed research to find just the right material for her tribute to the women of song who stand no taller than five-foot-two, Kelli has started with an Ace in the hole, by way of source material that is tried-and-true quality, from the compositions to the crooners. Building a club act on that foundation gives Ms. Rabke room to move, a place to stretch, to grow, to shine, all of which she does in Tiny Giants.

Working in a loose kind of chronological order, Ms. Rabke covers the accomplishments of women like Linda Ronstadt, Elaine Paige, Dolly Parton, Bernadette Peters and nine other singers, including the two ladies mentioned in the show title. Easing from rock and roll to country, from Broadway to the movies, the lion-maned redhead honors the legends she has come to spotlight by being true to their sound, all the while honoring herself by sacrificing none of her own individuality. Kelli Rabke remains intact and visible, glorious in her empowerment and sisterly in her ardor. Using a script immaculately created with her splendid director, Mark Waldrop, Rabke speaks about each of the Tiny Giants for just the right amount of time before moving into the song she has chosen to represent them - sometimes the song you imagined (or hoped) she would choose, others a wonderful Easter Egg of a surprise that ends up better than what you had imagined. The chatter also steers clear of the "history lesson" vibe, not just due to the meticulously crafted script, but mostly because Kelli Rabke is one of the most personable people an audience could hope to have up on a stage, telling someone else's stories.

And the stories don't stop when she segues from patter into song... that's when they take flight. Within the walls of TINY GIANTS, Kelli Rabke's acting is showing - this is the benefit of having a concert performer who is also a Broadway actor. Whether performing some Pat Benatar rock and roll or some Edith Piaf chanteuse, Rabke is never out of the moment, never out of the story, and never out of the character. Like a one-woman variety show, Kelli puts on each character and wears her until the final notes from the instruments fade with the lights, returning to the stage Kelli Rabke. It's an impressive talent that one doesn't get with every club and concert performance, but it would appear to be the only way that Rabke knows how to do it, the lucky beneficiaries of the inclination being the people in the seats out front.

The luck doesn't stop there, though. Both the audience and Kelli are the beneficiaries of the presence on the stage of three musicians whose work is beyond compare. Kelli mentioned during the set that she won't do a show without Sean Harkness - a wise move because Sean Harkness makes any show better - but she should also never do a show without backup singer, soloist, duet partner Stevi Incremona. With Stevi's sonorous singing and Kelli's clarion control, every note either woman sang was a moment of musical magic, particularly when the ladies were joined by musical director John Fischer for some of the most heavenly harmonies this side of The Andrews Sisters. And Mr. Fischer? A treasure. He has Kelli's back the entire time, providing her with arrangements that suit her needs as an actor while delivering unto the listeners eye-popping enjoyment, and never once do his eyes leave her - this is musical support at its most palpable. It must be said, though, that the highlight of the evening was the duet between Rabke and Harkness of an original arrangement for voice and guitar of the Gloria Estefan pop classic "Words Get In The Way" ... ok, it's one of two highlights because, late in the show, the entire company brought the house down and the crowd to a frenzy with some Stevie Nicks by way of "Rhiannon" - a moment that defies description, alone worth the price of admission.

Although TINY GIANTS has only been scheduled for the one performance last week, there is no doubt that Kelli Rabke will be doing it again because it is the perfect show for any cabaret, club, or concert venue. It is also the perfect way for audiences to get to spend some quality time with Kelli Rabke, a fixture in the group concert scene who should remain a part of that family, so long as she continues to play out on her own, thus placing her in a solo spotlight that she so richly deserves.

Find other great shows to see at The Green Room 42 HERE.

THIS is the Kelli Rabke website.

Kelli Rabke gets a five out of five microphones rating for performing her entire show without the use of a lyric sheet, tablet, or music stand.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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