Review: Alexandra Silber & Friends Make A Wish & Transform I WISH Into THE ANGELA LANSBURY POWER PLAYLIST LIVE! at 54 Below

Heigh-Ho, My Merry Rainbow Tribe! Bobby Patrick, your RAINBOW Reviewer back YET again. Grabbing that silent T in cabareT to bring you all the Tea!

OH, I know, I know! It seems mind-boggling to have Bobby back in the reviewing saddle TWICE in less than a month, but sometimes blessings abound my angels… they just abound, and the one thing that can get Bobby out of the old reviewer's home (in Englewood, NJ) are the bountiful talents of one Alexandra Silber (Fiddler on the Roof, Indecent). So… Al brought a revised edition of her extremely popular I WISH series to 54 Below on Monday night, gave it the old “Treguna Mekoides” incantation, and transformed her standing residency in a centenary tribute to her #1 muse with THE Angela Lansbury POWER PLAYLIST LIVE! Now, not a show goes by without La Silber giving some loving mention to her hero, but since the Dame’s 100th is in October, it seemed more than fitting to do an entire evening’s entertainment highlighting her treasure trove of musical moments. Lansbury’s life and career were that of a master reinventor, from early movie STARDOM with an Oscar nomination at 20 and another at 21, to Broadway S-T-A-R with 5 competitive Tony Awards® and a lifetime achievement medallion, to a household name solving mysteries for 12 seasons on MURDER SHE WROTE. That tenacity and longevity are what have given Al the credo she lives by, “It is never too late, and you are never too old to make something spectacular happen in your life.” All of that hopeful, ebullient energy is what Silber brings to the 54B stage every show, but for this special edition last Monday, she brought extra helpings.

The numbers that specifically featured Silber’s hosting and singing talents were all quite wonderful and included kicking off with a kick-A$$ Angela Mega Medley that included songs from BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS, THE KING & I, and, of course, MAME. Later in the program, she killed it with her rubber-faced (and body), clowning around with talented Broadway musical marrieds Loren & Kelly Lester on TOGETHER, WHEREVER WE GO from GYPSY (Angela’s 3rd Tony®), and then touched everyone when she sat down and sang a wonderfully heartfelt AGE OF NOT BELIEVING from BEDKNOBS… Other highlights included Ellen Harvey (Currently CABARET’s Fraulein Schneider) belting out a perfect THE WORST PIES IN LONDON from SWEENY TODD, gifted young performers Noah Marlowe - singing gorgeously in the high countertenor range - and Mia Pinero, whose equally gorgeous soprano bell tones made Bobby’s ears buz and the water in our glass ripple, on the very grown up SEND IN THE CLOWNS, by the end of which Bobby’s note on the program read “Children no more,” and legacy performer Ramona Mallory, who worked with Dame Angela personally in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, brought her own rapturous soprano and a great deal of dramatic UMPH to Jerry Herman’s AND I WAS BEAUTIFUL from DEAR WORLD. And speaking of Jerry Herman, Lady Silber left the all-important penultimate slot and final tribute to Dame Angela to her (and our) old friend, the incomparable Lee Roy Reams, who may have needed a small step to get up onto the piano but, once seated on the grand, he belted out MAME’s IF HE WALKED INTO MY LIFE TODAY, and showed that even a lady in her 80s can still hit a home run.

That’s where we will leave you, dear ones, with only this to say about this one-of-a-kind evening: if you were there, you can say you were there, and if you missed it, well, you really missed something wonderful. Hopefully, as October draws near, with the lady’s actual birthday, there will be more tributes around the city to her inestimable (what? Bobby still knows words?) talent, but kicking it off with THE Angela Lansbury POWER PLAYLIST LIVE! is another jewel in Al Silber’s I WISH crown, which gets a full…

5 Out Of 5 Rainbows

Hosted and conceived by Alexandra Silber 
Musical direction by Drew Wutke

Produced by Jen Sandler

THE Angela Lansbury POWER PLAYLIST LIVE! Featured:

Major Attaway (Disney’s Aladdin, Little Shop of Horrors)

Sara Gallo (Titanique, 1776)

Ellen Harvey (Cabaret, The Phantom of the Opera)

Jeremy Konopka (Woman of the Year)

Kelly Lester (Cabaret)

Loren Lester (Cabaret)

Ramona Mallory (A Little Night Music)

Noah Marlowe (The Book of Mormon)

Mia Pinero (Sweeney Todd, West Side Story)

Tony Award® nominee Lee Roy Reams (42nd Street, La Cage aux Folles)

Daniel Yearwood (Sweeney Todd, Hamilton)

Al Silber's band are Elmo Zapp on Bass/Cello, Shawn Dustin on Drums, Amy Griffith on Reeds, and Drew Wutke Musical Directing from the Piano.  THIS is the only photo Little Bobby could get of Amy, but we got one!:

Keep an eye on 54B’s Calendar for all the upcoming entertainment they have for 2025 (https://54below.org/), especially Alexandra Silber’s I WISH: THE ROLES THAT COULD HAVE BEEN

Follow Alexandra Silber On Her Webby: HERE 
And her IG: HERE 

All Photos By Yours Truly, Bobby Patrick