Review: Christine Andreas S'WONDERFUL Aptly Named at 54 Below

Last night I took my girlfriend to see the new Christine Andreas show at 54 Below.  She had never seen Christine before and was very excited.  During the show, more than once, my girlfriend became emotionally overcome - to the point where a lady sharing the table with us handed her a packet of tissues to wipe away her tears.  Whispering my thanks to the purveyor of the tissues, she said to me, “She’s magical.”  When the program was completed, my girlfriend turned to me and said, “She is bewitching.”  One cabaret show, one table, two women, both with the same estimation of Christine Andreas:  she has magic inside of her.  Of course, this is not news to me, for I have loved Christine Andreas since I was sixteen years old.  I was teaching myself about the American musical theater by reading books and buying cast albums when I spotted the cast recording of Oklahoma! in a record shop.  If I’m being honest, I wasn’t interested in Oklahoma! but the Hilary Knight album cover art demanded that I buy the record album, and that is where I fell in love with Christine Andreas, partly because of the surreal quality of her singing voice and partly because of the way she said, “I thought you was somebody” and “Gracious… hm, wha’d I wanna do that fer?” and what followed was a succession of acquisitions of Christine Andreas cast albums and, eventually, vocal recordings.  So, while I have known the magic of Christine Andreas for forty-five years, my girlfriend has only just discovered it, some twelve hours ago, and one of my favorite things in life is watching other people fall in love with an artist whom I adore.  But, truth be told, last night I watched an entire room of people fall in love with Christine Andreas, whether for the first time or the forty-fifth.  It was, indeed, magical.

The new Andreas/Silvestri show is titled S’WONDERFUL, and the reason I list it as an Andreas/Silvestri show is because Christine is up on the stage, once more, with her full-time Musical Director and full-time spouse, Martin Silvestri, and although Marty (as Christine calls him) doesn’t speak up very often, his presence on the stage is ever-present.  The duo is a twosome, and although her name is above the title, his support (both musically and spiritually) is always in the room and always powerful.  It is a musical marriage and a real-life marriage with extremely satisfying results (also, when he does talk, the banter, the quips, and the playful nature of their union is delicious).  For the S’WONDERFUL show, Marty is a buoy, lifting our genial soprano and aesthete high up in the air for all to see and hear, in all her conjury, and it is a seamless night of entertainment, emotion, and intellect, which is rather par for the course with Christine Andreas.  At the start of the salon, Christine announced, simply, that they were to present some of their favorite songs (“Well, my favorites…”).  That allows an artist a lot of freedom during their act, but to the trained eye, there was nothing random about the programming.  For instance, Christine’s opening number is “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever,” but it’s not just the Lerner and Lane song she is singing; it is the stunning arrangement she sings on her debut solo album LOVE IS GOOD (one of this writer’s favorites, ever).  It is thrilling to hear the recording reenacted live, in person.  Indeed, Love Is Good is well represented during S’WONDERFUL (thank goodness) with equally thrilling performances of “Cover Me” and “Love Don’t Need a Reason,” both performances unquestionable highlights of the night.   Do you know what else is well represented during the S’WONDERFUL SHOW?  Marty.  That song I just named, “Cover Me,” was written by Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins, as was “Learn To Dream,” another evening highlight.  It would be rare for Christine Andreas to do a club act and not sing her husband’s compositions; it is through his work that they met, in the first place, but even though it is sort of Christine’s spousal duty to sing his songs, it is her duty as an artist to sing them because they are sensational.   Martin Silvestri and Joel Higgins write wonderful songs that should be sung, and they should be sung by a lot of people.  “Learn To Dream” was a complete surprise to me, an absolute eye-opener of delight, and a magnificent new piece to learn about.  As a matter of fact, the lady at my table, the one with the tissues, turned to look at me, nodding her appreciation of the tune, as Christine took in the grateful applause from the 54 Below crowd.  Christine Andreas may be the premiere interpreter of the Silvestri/Higgins catalogue, but other artists need to be getting some of these songs into their repertoire.  

A Broadway veteran, naturally Christine was likely to throw in some of the works of our Broadway greats, and she chose wisely, picking songs originally sung by women she would have played (and probably did, at some point), women like Annie Oakley and Nellie Forbush, and her ability to inhabit the characters who sang these songs, and the character OF the songs, is one of the reasons she is one of our great cabaret artists.  You have three and a half minutes to give your audience the essence of Forbush and Oakley, as well as the essence of Christine, and that, she does, and with vocal perfection.  She sets ‘em up, and she knocks ‘em down, whatever the material or the decade.  Note the emotional depth that she brings to Billy Joel’s “Two Thousand Years” and the lush layers she gives to Marty’s mash-up of two of Mancini’s most famous compositions.  And a person could find themselves truly transported back in time during a World War II segment featuring two of the greatest songs to come out of that era - and I know you want me to tell you what songs, but I can’t.  For the benefit of the people who will attend tonight’s show (or livestream), I have to abstain because it is only fair for the audience to have that moment of recognition, that audible sigh that is inevitable when you realize that she is about to sing THAT song.  I must allow Christine to take the audience on that emotional journey, so, no spoilers here, friends, though Andreas aficionados will be pleased to hear that there is discussion and music centered around the European continent (with impeccable accent work), and, while there is very little political talk, Christine’s stunning encore will leave your mind and heart (and funny bone) working in real-time, regarding these real times.  

Before entering the club last night, I told my girlfriend that all of Christine’s shows have a theme of some sort.  Maybe it’s something French, or perhaps it’s about the divas, or it could be about Broadway.  As a writer, as an artist, as a storyteller, it is vastly important to Christine that her shows have an anchor, a foundation.  After the show, I asked my friend if she recognized Christine’s theme, and she looked at me, maybe a little reluctantly, and said no.  So I told her:  it’s Christine.  Christine is the theme of S’WONDERFUL.  She is singing her favorite songs and she is talking about her favorite people… not all of them, obviously.  But Christine tells heartfelt and personal stories about her mentor, Dina Merrill, and about her Legs Diamond co-star, Peter Allen.  She talks about her parents, Marty’s parents, and their lives.  She features two (breathtakingly arranged) songs written by her longtime friend Hal David, finishing by blowing him a kiss, up in heaven.  Christine Andreas is sharing herself with us.  With each new song and every new story, she allows us into her life, into her mind, into her heart, and she allows us to know her a little bit more.  She allows us to see her and Marty and their personal magic.  She allows us to see many of her multiple facets, as a woman, as a mind, as an artist.  And to these cabaret-saturated eyes, that’s really s’wonderful.

Christine Andreas S’WONDERFUL plays 54 Below tonight, October 18th, at 7 pm.  Tickets can be accessed HERE.   The livestream link is THIS ONE.

Visit the Christine Andreas website HERE.

Marty and Christine are presenting a new show THE BEAT OF A WANDERING HEARtat the Laurie Beechman Theater next month, beginning November 11th.  Information and tickets are HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher