Review: Michael Kirk Lane Goes Heartfelt In RIGHT WHERE I BELONG at The Laurie Beechman Theatre

Michael Kirk Lane has returned to the Laurie Beechman Theatre.  He won’t be at his one-time podium, acting as host - that shift has been covered, and nicely so; just now, Michael is up on the stage.  And the MAC-Award winner for Male Musical Comedy isn’t doing a comedy show.  Neither is the Director of Cabaret Programs for 92NY School of Music giving a lecture on how to do cabaret.  This appearance at The Beechman is all about Michael Kirk Lane’s softer side.  It’s about NYC, it’s about life, it’s about heart, it’s about humanity, it’s about family, it’s about community, it’s about cabaret, and it’s about time we saw this side of Michael Kirk Lane.  

RIGHT WHERE I BELONG is an apt title for the new Lane show because he is, indeed, where he belongs, whether in reference to this show or his life, which is what MKL is showcasing here.  This is his story, and although there are laughs aplenty throughout the seventy-minute program, there aren’t yucks.  We all know bits and pieces and pockets of Michael’s trajectory and personality.  Over the years, we have been given glimpses into his devotion to the more whimsical side of life and show business, but this play in a cabaret doesn’t feature a puppet, a Muppet, a Fraggle, or a theme song to a Saturday morning cartoon.  There are no props, no sight gags, and no toys.  The pictures are being painted with words carefully constructed in Michael’s own syntax, and the story is being hung on songs suiting his personal style.  And the singing is sweet and pretty and overcome with emotion and honesty.  Frequently, when a performer is a clown (and even though MKL is all respectable now that he is a walking TED Talk of club performing, he started out as, and always will be, a clown), sometimes it’s easy to forget that they really and truly can sing.  Michael Lane is a trained musical theater performer with vocal abilities that range from belting to crooning, from sighing to swooning, and those abilities are in the center spot from tip to tail of Right Where I Belong.  There is plenty of musical theater in Lane’s musical cabaret, but Broadway of today isn’t the same as it was, so the Lane voice gets to go bright on the Kander & Ebb numbers and bold for Menken and Ashman, but when applied to Joe Iconis and Jason Robert Brown, Lane leans into a more folky, ballad-y lane, which need surprise nobody, since his opening numbers both come from the country catalogue.  Who knew Michael Kirk Lane listened to country music?  Who knew Michael Kirk Lane could sing country music?  Well, he can, and it works.  Mind you, everything here works, and it is due, in no small part, to the two artists chosen to guide Michael in this oh-so-important return to the nightclub stage.

With Michael on the boards at the Beechman is one of the cabaret industry’s most prolific and profound musical directors, Yasuhiko Fukuoka, who has deftly orchestrated Lane’s eighteen or so compositions so that they fit who he is and what he is saying.  As a trained vocalist, Michael would seem to have no restrictions, but to the trained listener, there may appear to be some, for Fukuoka and Lane have judiciously selected places throughout the show when the notes Michael is singing are not the notes we are used to hearing.  Melodic lines and high notes have been adjusted to suit limitations this writer did not think necessary - but Yaz knows best, and the adjustments have proven interesting, in some cases so interesting that they bring a new vision and aesthetic to compositions that might have become a bit rote in one’s musical memory.  Michael’s versions are rich and new and, at times, delectably surprising.  Adjustments have also been made to the lyrics of the Stephen Sondheim song “Glamorous Life” (written for the film version of A Little Night Music) in order to make more personal the story Lane is telling, rendering the performance one of the evening highlights.  In Michael’s hands, the somewhat epic number frequently covered by a famed recipient of six Tony Awards becomes brand new and all his own.  During this show, the pair of musicians has landed Michael in a sweet spot, both vocally and theatrically.  

Also sweet and theatrical is the Lady standing beside Michael in this effort, whether in person or by Zoom, which Michael confessed is how his last few rehearsals have been conducted.  Lane’s director for the outing is Tony Award-winning Broadway icon Faith Prince, whose recent New York residence was abruptly cut short when the feel-good show of last season, BOOP!, was tragically and unreasonably shut down (I could write an entire article on that travesty), sending Prince back to her more regular home, which is not here.  In spite of the time change and the distance, Prince has led Lane down the path of proper cabaret, helping him to construct a script that flows seamlessly in and out and around not only songs but stanzas, for maximum storytelling.  The Broadway royal has also guided Michael into a wonderful economy with the stage - there is only essential movement, here, nothing extraneous that distracts from the impact of Michael’s story.  The Beechman is big enough to get a lot of bumms in seats, luv, but it’s also small enough for Michael to reach every watcher from center stage, downstage left, or the bentside of the piano.   He has the luxury of being still when needed, and in a ballad-heavy show like this,  stillness is essential, and La Prince knows it and passed it on to Michael, so that he can pay close attention to the story, to the words, to the emotion.

Don’t panic at that ballad-heavy remark.  It’s not a sad show.  It’s a story show.  It’s Michael Lane’s story show, starting with his dreamy-eyed arrival in New York City nineteen long years ago, right out of college, passing through the destruction of his life and his dreams, touching base with the rebuilding of that life and the discovery of new dreams, shining a light on a landing in a new home, career, and family of choice, and emerging triumphant, an award-winning artist and lauded educator.  Naturally, such a story requires some introspection, some looking back, some vulnerability, all of which Michael handles with ease and sincerity.  It is a story that will resonate with anyone who has come to New York with a dream or anyone over the age of twelve because we all take, from time to time, a minute or two (or seventy) to reflect on that place from whence we started, and the path we took to get to where we are.  Nostalgia rules supreme, especially when the final message is one of hope, as it is here.

And speaking of hope, one of Michael Kirk Lane’s highlights at last night’s premiere of Right Where I Belong is the Jason Robert Brown song “Hope” - whether it is acting, authenticity, or a combination of both, you can actually see the optimism in Michael’s glistening baby blues as he gazes up into the stunning light grid of the new Beechman.   Other highlights throughout the performance include the Avenue Q song “I Wish I Could Go Back to College,” an original composition by Elizabeth Sullivan titled “Where My Picture Hangs on the Wall,” a touching “52” by Joe Iconis, and a Muppet-related song, the title of which I will not say, for the benefit of future audience members who might sigh the way I did, upon hearing the opening three words.  In fact, fans of the Lane brand will be pleased to note that, although this, Lane’s sixth solo show, leans into heartfelt and touching, there is a little Seuss, there is some Disney, there is some Muppet movie, and there is some Sesame Street (and, last night, there was an original Fraggle in the house!).  There is also much hilarity, by way of tales told of the night Liza Minnelli did some redecorating at Don’t Tell Mama, the backhanded compliment Chita Rivera paid Lane, one night at The Beechman, and all of the other mishegas and madness that happens when one works in cabaret.  And, these days, Michael Kirk Lane doesn’t just work in cabaret, he IS cabaret.  He is one of the industry’s most beloved performers, he spends his year educating others on the history and the creation of the art form, and on his nights off, he can be found out front, cocktail in raised hand, cheering other cabaret artists on.  He is, indeed, right where he belongs, performing his most personal show to date.  This writer’s advice?  Get there to see the next performance on September 16th.  Michael will sing happy, he will wax poetic, and he will make you laugh - what more could you want from a right proper cabaret in the heart of the city where dreams (even the ones you didn’t know you wanted) come true.

RIGHT WHERE I BELONG will play The Laurie Beechman Theatre on September 16th at 7 pm.  THIS is the ticket link.

Michael Kirk Lane has a website HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher