Review: Ava Locknar Takes 54 Below Bow With MODERN BOMBSHELL

Singing actress Ava Locknar made her 54 Below solo show debut last Tuesday night with a musical cabaret titled MODERN BOMBSHELL.  Led by the guiding hand of award-winning director WILL NUNZIATA, Ms. Locknar has created an economic club act that introduced her to 54 Below patrons with a properly structured script delivered in properly timed fashion (65 minutes, perfect cabaret length!).  Statuesque and stylish, the raven-haired beauty kicked off the proceedings with a star move: entering through the house.  Suspended on the highest heels on earth, the generous train of her beaded gown trailing across the parquet floor, Ava Locknar exuded confidence and charisma, all the way from the front door to the stage, where Maestro Joshua Turchin and a fine band provided boisterous and bolstering accompaniment.  There, in the center spot, the light gleaming off her black satin opera gloves, Ava Locknar warmed herself in the glow of the lights and basked in the warmth of appreciation from an audience, there to be entertained, appropriate, since an early number in the evening was “Let Me Entertain You.”   The effect was magnetizing.  You can’t look away, Locknar’s mere presence in the room demands that you look at her… but it isn’t just about the fashion or the face - Ava Locknar has skills.

With her director, Ms. Locknar has crafted a piece of cabaret entertainment that doesn’t just showcase her talent, it is a piece that showcases her life, her history, and her dreams.  Singing songs that range in genre from The Great American Songbook to Broadway to Top Forty, Locknar delivers monologues that relate to her own life experience, including her love of the bombshell as an entity.  On display during these musical numbers is evidence that she has had vocal training that can lend itself to all of these genres, though there is one type of music that seems to suit her sound and her aesthetic like one of those sateen sleeves she peeled off during the famous song from GYPSY.  Locknar acquits herself nicely with songs like “The Man That Got Away” and “Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered,” and she proves she has comedic tendencies with a “Jolene” parody and a surprisingly perfect “Adelaide’s Lament” (surprising in that she is too young to play Miss Adelaide but, clearly, understands that which is needed to put across the story).  But the moment that Ava Locknar started singing the radio hits, her vocal quality transcended to a new level.  There is a rich, clear, almost ethereal quality to her voice when working with the songs of ABBA, Lady Gaga, and (guess who?) her mom, Victoria Shaw.  Indeed, Ava’s performance of Victoria’s “I Love The Way You Love Me” (with Chuck Cannon) was the unquestionable highlight of the night (along with a gorgeous rendition of the Jule Styne/Comden and Green classic “Being Good Isn’t Good Enough").  The lady gives every appearance of having a sharp understanding of modern pop music and how it should be performed.  That doesn’t mean that Ava shouldn’t sing the classics and the showtunes because it clearly brings her joy, and she has been trained to do it - along with the comedic chops seen through the Guys and Dolls number, Locknar gave a powerful blue ribbon rendition of “The Winner Takes It All” (again, a character she won’t play for decades but will, definitely, play one day).  But while focusing on her work in musical theater, one might offer that she continues to lean into compositions created for EPs, CDs, and Spotify.

One might also offer that the cabaret Freshman return to the drafting table with her script.  You see, there’s something missing from Modern Bombshell, and there is a strong chance for crystal clarity, here.  After her hour-long cabaret concert, the audience left the club with a lot they had learned about Locknar.  We knew that she comes from a show business family, that she has trained as a performer, even some of the plays she has done in the past.  We knew that she likes bombshells and that her favorite bombshell is Rita Hayworth.  What we didn’t know, what we didn’t learn, is:  what is a Modern Bombshell?  Why does Ava Locknar like bombshells?  Why does she want to be a bombshell?   What are the elements about herself that make her a bombshell?  And (again) what IS a Modern Bombshell?  Having no previous experience of Ms. Locknar or her work, it was her title that got this writer in his seat at 54 Below.  It’s a great title.  It grabs you and makes you want to go to the show, makes you want to know about the Modern Bombshells of the world.  All it would take is a staff meeting, some meditation on the topic, and some heartfelt explorations and explanations, and a cabaret show that is, currently, a show about a young artist starting out in the world will become a cabaret play that says something about women, about this particular woman, and about the power of the Modern Bombshell.  Trust me, if there is anything we have learned from Ava Locknar, at this early stage of her game, it is that she has the talent and the tenacity to take Modern Bombshell to the top.   When she gets there, the view is going to be unique to herself, her story, and her artistry, and that's where cabaret lives.  This is a fine start to both Ava Locknar's career in cabaret and concert, and Modern Bombshell.

The Modern Bombshell band is Ezra Kessler on Drums, Aron Cecares on Bass, Betty Kean on Woodwinds, and Musical Director Joshua Turchin on Piano.

Find great shows to see on the 54 Below website HERE.

Ava Locknar has an Instagram page HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher