Review: Lucille Carr-Kaffashan Breezes into Don't Tell Mama with New Show BREATHE

Award-winning cabaret artist Lucille Carr-Kaffashan has returned to her customary artistic home, Don’t Tell Mama, with a new show, and, in complete Carr-Kaffashan fashion, it is an erudite and entertaining program filled with layers and nuance, pondering and wondering, and an exploration that goes deeper than one might expect when buying a ticket to a musical cabaret.  Even when creating one of her popular tribute shows that focus on the music of an artist or an era, it is clear that LCK is a research nerd who loves the digging and the discussion that goes into her scripts, but when engaged in the act of creating a show that necessitates research in spherical directions, Carr-Kaffashan really has a chance to get her nerd on.  Such is the case with her new show BREATHE.

Offering the subtitle SONGS OF HOLDING ON AND LETTING GO, Breathe debuted May 21st at Don’t Tell Mama, and The Brick Room was so full that the DTM staff had to put in an extra chair here and an extra table there, and that full house was replete with respected members of the community, including the Grande Dame of Cabaret herself, KT Sullivan.  That is a pretty impressive feat for a cabaret artist - just ask the nearest performer in cabaret and concert and they will tell you that the hardest part of the job is getting bumms in seats, luv (best said with an English accent) but Carr-Kaffashan is an artist of such high esteem that the seats are filled, every time.  Breathe is a fine example of why those seats are full because even though the theme is wide, even though it is broad, it could even be considered vague, the key to LCK’s greatness is that she is sophisticated enough NOT to pander.  She is eloquent enough NOT to explain.  She simply comes out and sings a song or two, introduces the theme of holding on and letting go (a heady, yet emotional, topic), and then lets her audience glean what they will from her presentation.  You get to decide, either by virtue of your intellect or your instinct, what you take away from the rhetoric, from the lyric, from the musical monologue, from the actor’s intention.  Lucille puts the story before you and you take from it what you will.  That is the manner of the elegant artist when creating the ultimate experience.  It is clear that she has asked herself, “Why are you telling this story, Lucille?  What does it mean to you?” and then kept that reasoning inside of herself, with no need to break it down for the audience.  As long as those answers lie inside of her, each story (including the entire story arc of Breathe) has intention; then it is time for the people in the seats out front to use their minds and emotions to decide what the story means to them.  That’s worldly storytelling.

Musically speaking, Breathe is a deliciously eclectic collection of compositions that showcases Carr-Kaffashan’s wide tastes in music, but also her versatility as a singer.  Performing songs from the Great American Songbook, the legitimate musical theater, the Top 100 (in varying genres ranging from country to pop), and independent songwriters, LCK (kind of) shockingly nails every note.  She has right proper training as a singer, she has that luscious alto rumble, and she has sweet soprano soars; nothing sounds forced, ever, and every single pitch is landed - an important thing to note when observing that she is a cabaret singer performing everything from Judy Collins (“My Father”) to Kenny Rogers (“The Gambler”), from Irving Berling (“Let Yourself Go” AND “Let’s Face the Music and Dance”) to Lady Gaga (“Million Reasons”).  Every single one of these songs and genres, Lucille lands without breaking a sweat.  And, it has to be said, she’s just so cool.  I mean, Lucille sings “The Gambler,” for crying out loud!  Who sings that song anymore?  Lucille Carr-Kaffashan does, and she aces it.  She is singing Miley Cyrus, for crying out loud!  And she slays while she plays.  This is the essence of Lucille’s coolness - she is picking material that might daunt other singers, applying it to one of the most original ideas for a show, and then hanging that material on an impeccable script, some of which veers into the general topic of her theme, and how all human beings cope with holding on and letting go, and some of which becomes very personal, with references to the experience of leaving for college, from both her and her parents’ points of view, and her father’s relationship to music.  LCK deftly decides when to keep her dialogue abstract and accessible to the masses, and when to make it intimate so that the audience can experience the thrill of being let in.   She is a true troubadour, and she is working with an exquisite band that supports the storytelling nature of her work.  Musical director Jeff Cubeta has gone above and beyond in creating astonishing arrangements that provide Lucille with opportunities to tell the story in both her own way and an original way.  The treatments for “Flowers” and “Landslide” are next level, and (honestly) that’s just naming two cuts where the Cubeta genius is showing - the entire evening is an exercise in originality.  Working with Lucille and Jeff are the masterful and marvelous Don Kelly on Drums, and the exciting and electrifying Matt Scharfglass on Bass.  The trio is one that Lucille should lock down for all her shows, for they are with her every step of the way, as is, clearly, director David Hilder, who has guided her away from any sort of superfluity.  For the entire performance, she remains grounded and in her space, open and welcoming, but focused and infallible.

Among the evening’s highlights are the title track, “Breathe,” which perfectly suits the LCK aesthetic, a performance of “What Was I Made For?” that provides Carr-Kaffashan with opportunities for serious interpretation and vocal prowess, and a section in which Lucille and Jeff seamless segue from “Million Reasons” to “Flowers” and “The Heart of the Matter,” all the while keeping Lucille’s acting of the stories front and center.  This troubadour is telling tales, not just standing in the light singing notes, and it’s like that from lights up to lights down, the whole hour.  Also worth mentioning in the highlights paragraph are two performances by those aforementioned independent songwriters, and it isn’t just the showcasing of independent songwriters that makes it a highlight, though that is a part of it, because the independent songwriters of the industry should be placed in the light as often as possible.  LCK wisely chose two vastly different tunes, the first an epically comedic and epically titled Christine Lavin song truncated as “Regretting What I Said” (the full title has 97 words), and the second a tender ballad by Meg Flather named “Hold On Tight” that acts to send the audience home with hope.  It’s always a good day when a singer plays a song by either Flather or Lavin, and it need surprise no one that the artist that is Lucille Carr-Kaffashan would choose to showcase both women in her show about holding on and letting go because all three women are Mistresses in the art of storytelling.  But Breathe does contain some surprises, and that is because Carr-Kaffashan and her team know how to craft a cabaret show so that the audience gets a little bit of what they expected and a little bit of something new.   That’s BREATHE, and that’s worth seeing.  The good news is that you can see Breathe at it’s second listed performance on May 29th at 7 pm.  That’s today, so HERE is the link for tickets, just in case it’s sold out again.  Worth seeing.

Get tickets to the 5/29 performance of Breathe HERE

Find great shows to see on the Don't Tell Mama website HERE.

Visit the Lucille Carr-Kaffashan Facebook page HERE and Instagram page HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

More on Don't Tell Mama

Upcoming Shows

Richard Rodgers Tribute Cabaret

6/9 - 6/9/2026

PROJECT 2026: BLUE TSUNAMI!

6/13 - 6/13/2026

Recent Articles

John Philip to Present POSITIVITY REIGNS...SAY YES! at Don't Tell Mama

5/27/2026

Interview: Laurie Krauz Talks SETS_V3 at Don't Tell Mama

5/26/2026

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Revival of a Musical - Top 3

1. Ragtime

35.4% of votes

2. Chess

30% of votes

3. CATS: The Jellicle Ball

19.8% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats