BWW Reviews: Crowd-Pleasing Revue Celebrating the Songs of CY COLEMAN Sets Off Fireworks at 54 Below

Three of Cy Coleman's Broadway leading ladies invite you to a celebratory shindig buoyed by talent, palpably warmed by affection. Sometimes orchestrated as a harmonizing girl group and at others in distinctively different solo turns, Lillias White, Cady Huffman, and Randy Graff offer a banquet of Coleman's oeuvre in the 54 Below revue, My Guy Cy, which opened Friday night (and played again the following night). Arrangements by various musicians are texturally piquant, showcasing uncommon skill when interweaving songs. Direction (from vocalist Will Nunziata, who has a second flowering career) is fluid, deft, and winning.

Bump-da-da-bump-da-bump "Hey big spender" the ladies begin, well, not so much ladies here. From the get-go, embodying taxi dancers (Sweet Charity), the performers show individual personality. White's (photo) come-on roots in her hips, Huffman's in her shoulders, Graff's in her eyes. This show's take is mischievous rather than jaded. "Big Spender" segues organically into "The Best is Yet to Come," then ski lifts into "Hey There Good Times." A well constructed sequence.

White's unhurried "Where Am I Going?" (Sweet Charity) with wistful flute, then mournful sax, builds inexorably as that incredible voice rises from fathomless depths (featuring Chris Reza on reeds). Huffman arranges herself sassily atop the piano to perform "No Man Left For Me" (The Will Rogers Follies) in easy ragtime with a wah-wah sound. Her vocal sashays, luxuriate. Graff's "One Summer" is lighter, tentative.

Unexpectedly, Musical Director/Pianist Eugene Gwozdz sings a charming rendition of "Real Live Girl" (Little Me). Sweet and nebishy, lyrics emerge as they're written, line break for line break arriving as if the singer were enmeshed in awkward disbelief. Graff offers "It Amazes Me" caressed by percussive brushes (featuring Jeremy Yaddow on drums), tenderly plucked bass (Adam Neely), and sensitive piano with the kind of occasional flourish one observes in old fashioned cursive.

White's version of "He Was Cool" (Like Jazz) defines saucy. It's a marriage of jazz, gospel and implied bump n' grind. The earthy artist insinuates herself from the bar area though the audience, back to the stage. She expansively squeals, shouts, and kneads lyrics, always in heady control. The word cool may never have been delivered with more syllables, every one "cherce."

Across the room, a spotlight comes up on Huffman (photo) wielding a ukulele. Her plink-plunk interpretation of "Hey, Look Me Over" (Wildcat) employs upper register with sheer oh-my-gosh attitude indicative of the 1920s. A fizzy, fun cocktail. After this, there's a music break one hopes will disappear, assumedly while Huffman puts on cowboy boots. We're then treated to "Never Met a Man I Didn't Like" and "Will-A-Mania," (Will Rogers Follies) in full tilt, feel-good fashion. Gale force vocals never overextend themselves. The actress tells us the story of her first, self conscious, private meeting with Coleman when cast in the show. She appealingly makes fun of herself especially when feigning tap dancing "I'm a terrible tapper and yet I've tapped in four Broadway shows. For this, Tommy Tune (Director) took the taps off my boots." (Huffman's Tony was awarded for The Producers.)

Graff (photo) shares her own personal tale. A college student when she saw Seesaw, the vocalist was taken with the character (Gittel Mosca, a sweet, self depreciating girl from the Bronx.) She began to use "Nobody Does It Like Me" as an audition song. Flash forward to her tryout for City of Angels. When she was finished, Coleman asked whether she knew the very song which she'd abandoned over time. Performing in Angels, for which she won a Tony, Graff realized why. She performs both "Nobody" and "You Can Always Count on Me" (City of Angels), perfectly intertwining the two which are astonishingly alike. Here's where Graff comes alive, finally weighing in with the zesty belt of her collaborators.

White first met Coleman auditioning for Barnum on Broadway. "From the back of The St. James Theater I hear, do you know any circus tricks?" As it turned out, she juggled. Coleman next cast her in The Life which apparently took 10 years to get to Broadway. It was worth the wait, she won a Tony. "The Oldest Profession" (prostitution) is a tour de force. Instantly in pain and in character, she asks a member of the audience to help her off with her shoes and hauls herself onto a stool. The sultry lament is as rich a study in history and temperament as you'll find on a musical theater stage. White stretches lyrics, snaps them back, zig zags, loop-de-loops, and jiggles. The song becomes 'testimony.' Brava.

"It's Not Where You Start, It's Where You Finish" (Seesaw) is an infectiously jubilant encore. The show is a crowd pleaser on all fronts, effectively put together, formidably performed.

Our Guy Cy plays again on at 54 Below on May 20 at 7 pm www.54below.com/