Review: Pier Lamia Porter Stakes Her Claim With THE HUMBLING OF ME... PLUS 40 at The Green Room 42

You know those fail videos that are so popular online?  Crossfit fails, gym fails, cooking fails, coffee fails.  There are fail videos of every kind, and people flock to them on Instagram and TikTok.  Imagine a collection of fail stories, only, instead of hair fails and skateboard fails, it's audition fails.  And instead of your telephone or tablet, you're watching the fail stories in a nightclub.  And instead of a filmed fail, you're watching a musical cabaret.  Well, that’s just what happened on August 17th at The Green Room 42 when Pier Lamia Porter made her New York City solo show debut.  Those who know Ms. Porter from her producing credits at 54 Below or her numerous appearances in 54 Below staff shows may be scratching their heads right now because HOW could Mia Porter (her more regular moniker) not have a solo show credit under her belt?  Well, these things happen.  Many people wait a while before taking the leap into the solo show waters - let’s be honest, that scene’s scary.  And expensive.  And exhausting.  The solo show thing is a huge undertaking, and it’s not for everyone - sometimes it takes a big event to bring a person to the center spot of a cabaret stage.  For me, it was a life-threatening hospital stay that got me onto the cabaret stage, where I plan not to go again.  For Pier Lamia Porter, though, it was her 40th birthday on August 17th - the VERY day!  (The date, by the way, plays into why the 54 Below Deputy Programming Director was at The Green Room 42, and not her usual cabaret haunt - the 54 Below Sings Shuffle Along show had already been booked, and Mia's heart was set on performing on her D.O.B.)  But whether she is playing 54B, TGR42, or any other club in this or any other city, on August 17th, Mia Porter proved to herself and a nearly completely sold-out audience that she belongs on the stage.  She could chose to cut and run, the way I did, or she might opt into becoming a cabaret artist on the stage, as well as behind the stage, but the truth cannot be denied:  Pier Lamia Porter has got the goods.  THE HUMBLING OF ME… PLUS 40 may have been her birthday show, but it was we, the audience, who went home with the gift, and the gift was the eighty minutes we spent with her.

For her special event cabaret, Ms. Porter brought absolute authenticity to the room with stories about her life, her life as a black woman, her life as a black woman who is an artist, and the crazy quilt of auditions that humbled her out of the light of the actress and into the life of the producer.  The foundation of the program was Porter’s willingness and ability to be completely herself, which included heavy-duty doses of honesty, vulnerability, and humor.  Without these essential qualities, a show like this could come of as either cringey or kvetchy, neither of which entered the proceedings, at any time.  Porter seems either unwilling or unable to be anyone or anything other than exactly who she is, as evidenced by the multiple times she broke from her script to ad-lib a comment, a witticism, or an entire anecdote, and that is precisely the thing that draws a performer to an audience, makes that audience fall in love with them, and leaves the people sated and elated, as they leave the theater.  With this foundation laid, Porter was able to storm the stage with the ferocity of a singing actress capable of singing opera (the branch of show business where Mia got her start), musical theater (the lane of The Biz that yielded the most audition fail stories), and pop music (which Porter mixes up in wonderful ways).  The Humbling Of Me was, though, not entirely musical entertainment, as the topic at hand would indicate - there was a bounty of storytelling built to amaze, amuse, and illuminate.   Porter most definitely brought her A game, along with a huge script.

As the evening kicked off, I noticed something that didn’t bode well for the performance.  There was a music stand poised dangerously close to the mic stand.  When that is the scene on the stage it means one thing and one thing, only: the artist will be leaning on a script or a tablet, resting crutch-like on the stand.  They aren’t memorized.  Readers who have followed my writings these last seven years will know that artists reading their script or their lyrics is something I will not endorse, cannot abide, and, at times, will refuse to review.  The sight of the music stand on the stage heavied my heart, and, indeed, I was to discover that Mia had a tablet on the stand (cleverly disguised by a composition notebook tablet cover), and that she would, regularly, pop on her (super chic) eyeglasses and read directly from the tablet.  I admit to having had downcast eyes and a couple of sighs… but as the night progressed on, it became clear why the composition notebook was necessary.  Mia Porter has a lot to say, she has a lot of script, and it is all exceptionally well-structured.  Aside from the audition fail stories (many of which were recounted without reference to the book), Porter had passages of her script that cast a light on her experience as a woman of color working in the opera world and, then, the musical theater world, and the bias and prejudice she encountered in both corridors - and not just due to her sex or the color of her skin, but also with the cross-pollination of working in two different worlds of entertainment, an industry that is rife with big personalities and behind-the-scenes drama, not to mention pre-concieved notions on what roles a black woman should and should not/can and can not play.  This is important stuff, these are points of view we need to hear, and they are stories she deserves to tell.  The script for THE HUMBLING is voluble but not verbose, and if Porter needed some notes to get the exact wording right, if she needed a cheat sheet in order to make sure none of the points got lost, it was alright with me.  Having recognized the importance of the podium, I was able to let go of the balloon, relax into my seat, and enjoy every bit of the show.

And it was a show to enjoy.

The audience at THE HUMBLING OF ME… PLUS 40 cheered loud, they cheered long, and they cheered to the point where Mia Porter was in tears.  To do one’s debut show to a full house that ovates your every move is a wonderful thing that not every artist experiences.  Mia Porter was in the zone, and it showed.   Every move, from changing out of pumps and into boots after five numbers (and joking about it) to requesting the waitstaff bring her some honey with which she could soothe her throat with periodic honey breaks, had the backing of the crowd.  Every musical performance, from a dramatic but restrained “Kiss of the Spider Woman” to a scintillating r&b treatment (by Brandon Jackson) of “I’m Your Baby Tonight” showcased Porter’s versatility and ability.  Back-to-back performances of “Violetta’s Excerpt” from Pretty Woman to “Privilege To Pee” from Urinetown demonstrated Porter’s skill at turning on a dime, vocally, thus landing high notes of the operatic nature and power notes of the Broadway genre, with resounding success of the excitingly powerful kind.   With “No One Else” from Natasha, Pierre… Porter brought her acting chops into the room, and for Frank Loesser’s “Can’t Stop Talkin’” she showcased precision diction for lightning-fast lyrics.   And for each of her musical numbers, she had a tale to tell, be it an audition fail story or a life lesson story, and, through it all, she was nothing but natural, resonating of real, and absolutely authentic.  This was a debut for the record books, and even though every single number was a winner, it should be said that Mia’s early-in-the-show eye opener was the rangey “The Witch” from Big Fish, and the end-of-act one-two punch of “Easy As Life” from Aida and “Your Daddy’s Son” from Ragtime left the audience overcome with emotion and overwhelmed with applause.   There is proof positive that Pier Lamia Porter is a performer, and one with whom to be reckoned.  She is a force of nature, overflowing with unbridled joy for the duration of the performance - an emotion that transitioned with ease onto every member of the audience, for each person this writer passed on the way to the door, after the lghts came up, was smiling the smile of someone happy they had left the house that night and gone to see the humbled rise to the occasion.

Mia Porter was backed-up exquisitely by the following musicians:   AJ Jagganath on Guitar, Criston Oates on Bass, Brandon Jackson on Drums and Jason Wetzel, musical directing from the Piano.

Find great shows on the Green Room 42 website HERE.

Pier Lamia Porter is on Instagram HERE and Facebook HERE.

Photos by Stephen Mosher

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