Review: Macon Prickett Lights The Candles With HELLO, MACON! at 54 Below

Cabaret’s Master of Madcap, the eternal optimist Macon Prickett, has returned to the nightclub stage with a new show, and it is one that fits, to the letter, his attitude and aesthetic.  For his Freshman outing, the big-voiced boy from 54 Below played a series of shows titled MACON: HIS OWN WAY!, all about his life, his adventures, his people, and his music.  For his Sophomore showing, though, he has turned his attentions outward to someone he loves and admires, albeit someone he has never met, and, in the process, exposed some vital elements about himself.  This go-round, you see, is a tribute to the Broadway composer whose work resonates most closely with Macon’s heart.  Heart being the operative word, naturally, the subject of the show HELLO, MACON! is none other than the OG optimist himself, Jerry Herman.   Speaking personally, when I heard that Macon Prickett was doing a Jerry Herman tribute show, my immediate reaction was simply, “Of course.”  Of all the people working in cabaret and concert today, Macon is the most obvious choice (after Lee Roy Reams) for a Jerry Herman show.  In fact, Macon is the only one (after Lee Roy Reams) that I want to see do a Jerry Herman show.  He knows the material, he understands the subject, and he has the vocal goods to carry it off.

People talk about how simple and straightforward Jerry Herman’s songs are, and that’s true to a point, but it isn’t an absolute.  There are themes in Herman’s works - love, hope, the human condition, humor, glamour, and the art of survival.  You know the bit in The Grand Tour when Jacobowsky refers to “my eternal optimism”?  That’s every lead character Jerry Herman wrote.  Mame Dennis tells Patrick to open a new window, Dolly Levi insists that tomorrow will be brighter than the good old days, and Zaza pronounces it’s time to open up your closet.  These characters aren’t just fighters; they aren’t just champions; they are warriors.  Macon Pricket embodies these qualities, right down to Mame’s flashy wardrobe.  One must be able to represent Herman’s philosophies, as expressed in the lyrics, but one must also be able to do some pretty heavy lifting vocally - there is some range to these compositions, and there is a lot of emotion through which one must sing.  Don’t be deceived by Jerry Herman’s style - it takes work to do this material justice.

Enter Macon.

And enter, Macon did, complete with overture and bugle - at least, I think it was a bugle… I couldn’t tell from where I was sitting.  Macon, who loves an entrance, usually enters at the bar because there’s a small set of stairs and a bannister, and what gay male can resist a rail and some steps?  The theater was stuffed with friends, family, and fans (including an impressive list of celebrity guests), and from my seat I couldn’t see what instrument Macon was playing during opening number “It’s Today,” so it may have been a bugle; it could’ve been a kazoo.  The effect worked, whatever it was.   “It’s Today” really was Prickett’s only choice, as openers go, because 1) it sets the scene right and 2) Macon’s mentor, Marilyn Maye, has made that number a staple in her own catalogue over the years (I was, frankly, surprised Macon didn’t include Marilyn’s arrangement).  It was as it should have been.   After this explosive opening number, though, Mr. Prickett abandoned Mame (save for a big medley at the show’s close) and focused almost all of his efforts on Hello, Dolly!  That’s ok.  It is.  It’s ok.  Hello, Dolly! clearly holds a great deal of gravitas in Prickett’s life, so he would, natch, want to spend a majority of his show talking about the play, while presenting songs like “Put On Your Sunday Clothes” and “Before the Parade Passes By” (he even includes “Elegance,” which is pretty famously acknowledged as having been written by Bob Merrill, but it’s an important part of Hello, Dolly, so we can let it be).   But even though the balance of spotlight is maybe a smidgen Dolly-heavy in HELLO, MACON!, there is gold to be mined in Prickett’s play.

For his generous eighty-minute Jerry Herman show, Macon does a noteworthy deep dive into Herman’s personal story - and that could have gone badly in another artist’s hands because the last thing you want your tribute show to sound like is a lecture in Musical Theater 101 at NYU.  This is, after all, an entertainment, and it has to be entertaining.  Fortunately, Macon is an entertainer, and he delivers his fact-packed monologues in his own syntax, in his own speech patterns, in his own speed (which we will address later), and with many Macon-asides (these are a key to the success of any Prickett show).  He’s not up there reading the stories; he has learned them, and he is telling them in the same way that my brother can recite sports scores or that my husband can wax poetic about Gilbert and Sullivan.  When a person is in love with their subject and can’t wait to talk about it/them, these history lessons become a pleasure to behold.  Macon is just such a pleasure.  He has Herman’s biography as a prop to refer to, and to occasionally read quotes and passages, but he is doing the talking, and that’s a good thing, whether discussing Herman’s childhood, his beloved mother, his beginnings in architecture, his mentorship from Frank Loesser, or just serving up show biz history, like the fact that “Love Is Only Love” was discarded from the play Mame before landing in the film Hello, Dolly!  (Ok, we all knew that already, but if one person in the audience learned that on October 10th, it's a win.)  Prickett’s talkie bits were all good and all well delivered, even in their loquacity.  And his musical segments were equally good, even if some of them need a little focus.  (This is where we are going to talk about Macon’s speed.)

The hummingbird has the fastest metabolism of any living creature.  According to the internet, its resting heartbeat is 615 a minute.  I think Macon Prickett’s resting heart rate might be 614.  He is so excited to be here, on this earth, in this city, in this business, and on the 54 Below stage, that he is a literal bundle of energy up there, and it is amazing.  His energy and ebullience are infectious - they are part of what makes him lovable.  But they also get the better of him at times.  During his October 10th performance, it seemed like his brain was working faster than his tongue could ever hope to operate, and he had stumbles in his script and his lyrics.  He acknowledged that he might have spent more time learning his lyrics, and he made fun of himself for messing up (always have a sense of humor about yourself, in life and in cabaret).  But I don’t think he forgot any lyrics - I think he couldn’t get the words from his brain to his lips fast enough.  And when he was in the middle of his speeches, he was trying so hard to get the words and the facts out that it became difficult to listen as fast as he was talking.  It wasn’t a problem for the audience because it was actually entertaining to laugh with him when the bumps in the road offered more opportunities for asides - and everyone at the club already knows the words to every song he was singing, so it was all good.  It’s just that, were Prickett to take a few breaths and slow down a little, HE might enjoy doing his shows more (the speed thing has come up in some of his Macon: His Own Way shows - this is not an isolated incident).  If he works with a director (none is listed on his personnel sheet), they might have a formal discussion about addressing this matter.  (If he doesn't work with a director, maybe he might give Faith Prince a call.)  Because he has a good - no, a great thing on his hands with his Herman show, and he needs to move it forward into other seasons and other clubs around the country.  It is a solid concern in its script and its musical offerings, once the structure of the script has some tightening to let some of Jerry’s other shows in, and once the pace can be slowed down.  A calmer attitude served Macon in the extreme at his opening night, which is why all of his strongest moments came in the ballads.  He does a genuinely lovely “It Only Takes A Moment,” the aforementioned “Love Is Only Love” was an evening highlight, his “I Don’t Want To Know” showed colors of his abilities previously unseen, and both “Look Over There” and “I Don’t Want To Know” were unquestionable triumphs.  When he slows down, Macon shows a serious ability at interpretation and acting.   Of course, there was some good acting going on in the uptempo “Wherever He Ain’t/So Long Dearie” medley, but angry songs are great at getting a Thespian in the light; and although there is no other emotion than joy in the “Sunday Clothes/Elegance” medley, it was great seeing Prickett and special guest Robbie Rozelle bring their best Cornelius and Barnaby energy to the stage, and Rozelle matches Prickett in the joy market - they are a viable pairing for potential future show #bighint.  Mind you, there was no acting needed for the evening closer, “I Am What I Am,” because Macon Prickett does not embody a character when playing this song.  This is his song.  It is his anthem, it is his life, and it should appear in every show he ever does because this is one of the most personal, most original, and most authentically felt performances of the great song, ever, alone worth the price of admission.  With each new production, Macon Prickett is making his way deeper into the guild of cabaret artists, and his Jerry Herman show is going to lock it down for him (by the way, he needs to hang on to Musical Director Canaan J. Harris, who really has his back) because it's a show that clubs will book and people will go to, for we need a little Jerry right this very minute, and Macon is the ideal Open Window to bring him back where he belongs.

The Hello Macon! band is Thomas Carley on Bass, Ben Golder-Novick on Reeds, Nathan Repasz on drums, and Canaan J. Harris conducting from the piano.

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

Find Macon Prickett online HERE.

Robbie Rozelle plays 54 Below on November 30th - information and tickets are HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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