Feature: The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude - Day Twenty-Nine - The Artist

The Days Of Cabaret Gratitude

Day Twenty-Nine:  The Artist - Tony Yazbeck

Did everybody see the play The Prince Of Broadway?  I should actually be a little more specific and say the musical The Prince of Broadway, but, to me, everything is a play, whether it has music or not, whether it’s at the opera, the ballet, the cabaret, or the Upright Citizen’s Brigade - to me, everything is a play.  And when I saw the play The Prince Of Broadway something wonderful happened to me… well, two things, actually, and they happened because of Tony Yazbeck.  The Broadway star and Tony Award nominee did “The Right Girl” from Follies and he did it the way I had always seen it in my head, incorporating dance, the way I had read Gene Nelson did it… but he did it with tap dancing, which is his specialty.  It was the first time I had ever seen the iconic Sondheim number done the way I felt it, in my heart.  The other thing that happened is that Tony Yazbeck performed “This Is Not Over Yet” from Parade.  Now, I have a confession to make: when I saw the original production of Parade, I did not like it.  I didn’t get it.  It took me years to get it, to come around, as it were, to hear that music, and a big part of that was seeing Tony Yazbeck play that number in The Prince Of Broadway.  He made me see and hear things in that character’s journey that I had not, previously, observed.  To that end, Tony Yazbeck changed my life that day - twice - with his artistry.

Tony Yazbeck brings that same artistry to the cabaret and concert stage every time he puts up a new show.

Tony Yazbeck is looking to tell stories.  He wants to tell stories, whether he is using words, music, song, dance, poetry or prose.  Each time that Tony puts up a club act, he digs deeper than is actually necessary to create a club act because, let’s face, it, when you’re a big Broadway star you could just do a set of songs and the fans will turn up and tune in.  But Tony wants more.  Tony digs deeper.  And when he has uncovered the story that he wants to tell, he drafts it into (guess what) a play.  And then he takes that play and he makes it accessible to his audience while making it the most artistic venture possible, in order to feed the soul.  In his most recent club act at 54 Below, he invited the astonishing Morgan James to sing while he carried along a dialogue with her… with his feet.  As back and forth the two musical storytellers went in their conversation, she with music and he with movement, there was a discernible exchange of energy, and a palpable telling of a story.  He followed up that number, in his second act, with a similar back and forth with Andrew Nemr, just two mates having a conversation (literally talking about their relationship) while tap dancing in a kind of counterpoint - not a competition, mind you, but a conversation.  Tony brings the people into his show, using either his anecdotes or their physical presence, and he paints pictures with emotions drawn out by a ballad, a beat, a slap, flap, and a ball change.  It is art personified, and never was it more powerful than in his first outing of 2023.

Tony’s fall show was all about joy.  Tony’s winter show was all about recovery.  And even though everybody loved the fall show, this writer who, daily, lives inside of every emotion on the spectrum, thought the January show to be one of the most artistic creations of cabaret and concert of all time.  Speaking honestly and frankly, Tony talked of trauma, of sadness, of darkness, and of recovery.  With a small cast of musicians, Tony stripped down his show, rolled up his sleeves, pared it down, got real, and got to work, again incorporating dance into the storytelling, and telling his truth.  It was raw and it was real - it was like beat poetry soldered with modern dance and molded into musician theater innovative and interesting.  It was thrilling and emotional and artistic and elevating, and it could only come from the mind of Tony Yazbeck, a man on a quest to connect, to communicate, using the craft of entertainment to bring people together.  It was, in a way, like going to church.  But, then, the theater is a temple of art, a church for the artists of the world and the devotees of their work.  And whether he is testing the waters with an innovation that will appeal to those with a lot of emotions or playing with sexy standards, beautiful ballads, and tapping terpsichore, Tony Yazbeck is a force of nature with his eye on the prize that is art, in all its forms.

That is what an artist, pure and plain, excellent and fair, does.  And that is Tony Yazbeck.

Read the Broadway World Cabaret review of Tony Yazbeck's winter 2023 show HERE and of his fall 2023 show HERE.

Tony will appear in a solo concert  in Mamaroneck at the Emelin theater on December 1st.  Ticket link HERE. 

Tony has another solo concert in Philadelphia at the Rittenhouse on December 11th.  Ticket link HERE. 

Tony is directing Children of Eden on February 18th At David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.  Ticket link HERE.

Tony’s pronouns are he/him/his.

Tony can be found online at the following links:

Website:  HERE 

Instagram:  HERE 

Facebook:  HERE  

Twitter:  HERE  

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