Review: Dorian Harewood & Co. Rock 54 Below With SONGS FROM THE BRILL BUILDING

Pop music hits from the 1950s and ‘60s were on the menu on Feburary 25, along with the tempting food and drinks at 54 Below, when Dorian Harewood presided over a nostalgia-tinged dive into material associated with a certain legendary Manhattan address where composers and their partners in rhyme toiled over their pianos and industry bigwigs made decisions.  Songs from the Brill Building was a rosy ride down musical memory lane that began at that storied building. Actually, it took up two buildings near each other. And they were just a stone’s throw away from 54 Below –that is, if you have a really strong throwing arm that could throw a stone about five blocks south and slightly eastward of the nightclub on West 54th Street. But we’re not here to talk about stones; we’re here to talk about rock. 

Harewood, who began a bit shyly and then opened up, was center stage, but by no means alone at the party-like presentation. Projecting the impression of a genial, generous gentleman very happy to share the spotlight and his lasting affection for the chart-toppers with the audience – some of whom smilingly mouthed remembered lyrics and nodded to the beat.  He had two terrific, lively female back-up/harmony singers on the move and in the groove on most numbers (Steffani Bennett and Lorriane Ferro) and two other strong female solo singers in guest spots: Julia Roome, alumna of the TV competition “The Voice” and powerhouse Sharon Catherine Brown. The latter was a showstopper, accomplishing the rare feat of getting a huge round of applause for the very first note she sang! (It lasted for a jaw-droppingly very long time.) The song was “Hound Dog.” In some numbers, band  members chimed in, too.  And quite a driving band it was – including guitarist Tony Daniels, the musical director, drummer Greg Germann, bassist Eamon Rayhn on bass, and keyboardist Gabriel Aldort.   

The agenda was clearly not to reinvent, reinterpret, or revamp what many remember and relished from records and radio, down to the details of instrumental figures and vamps in classic arrangements and the echoed words or syllables chirped by back-up singers of the day. Examples: those distinct bursts of “ah-oooh” and echoed words from the lyric when it came to “(You Make Me Feel Like a) Natural Woman” in the Aretha Franklin recording or the rhythmic filler “come-a, come-a down dooby-doo down down” in Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” Grinning wasn’t hard to do. 

Songwriters represented more than once were Neil Diamond, and the teams of Burt Bacharach & Hal David, Jerry Leiber & Mike Stoller, and Carole King & Gerry Goffin.  The goofy but zingy “Love Potion No. 9" worked its happy magic.  An emotional highlight that felt most invested and involved was “Make It Easy on Yourself,” with a fond nod to singer Jerry Butler, who’d recorded it back in 1962 and died a few days before this one-night-only presentation.

Songs from the Brill Building was a return of sorts to pop music for Mr. Harewood. (most frequently working as an actor in film and TV), who’d recorded some singles and an album of self-penned numbers decades ago; this parallels his return to Broadway last year after a 45-year absence (!) in The Notebook.  It was nice to discover that I’d been assigned a table shared by two women (both retired singers) around Dorian Harewood’s age and who’d known him in, respectively, their high school and college days and had vivid memories of him. 

A portion of the proceeds benefited families affected by the recent California wildfires in conjunction with CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort). The star’s comments about the impact, including losses of the homes of his own friends and family brought a sobering note to the proceedings, appropriately acknowledging the devastation, along with gratitude for those who helped.  

As the material was sung and played with vitality and joy, honoring and digging the way it sounded when new, the walls of the showroom of 54 Below seemed to rock — as one imagines happened in the old days in the Brill Building when the halls were alive with the sound of music.

Follow Dorian Harewood on Instagram here to learn more about the singer.