Review - Ben Cherry Hates New York... But Loves It, Too

As much as I enjoy listening to some Kander and Ebb anytime, it's very refreshing to see a young performer do a complete show about New York without hearing that all-too-familiar vamp. Making his cabaret debut with a one-night gig at The Metropolitan Room, Ben Cherry shows himself to be an engaging performer with an attractive light baritone, but more importantly, displays a knowledge of the necessities of cabaret performance that often eludes beginners in the field.

In I Hate New York... a love story, Cherry is the picture of fresh-faced exuberance, looking like a character out of Babes In Arms with his sweater vest, white collar and big toothy grin. The look effectively brings us back to another time when he tackles the rhythmic frenzy of Irving Berlin's "Manhattan Madness" or settles in for a tender rendition of Bernstein/Comden and Green's "Lonely Town."

I was impressed with how he played all angles of the room and apparently put a lot of thought into personalizing each song with his patter. Partnered with the fluid interpretations of New York cabaret mainstay Sheldon Forrest at piano, there are plenty of fun moments with silly numbers like Harry Warren and Al Dubin's "She's a Latin From Manhattan" and Charles Strouse's (he wrote his own lyrics for Mayor) hilariously nasty, "You Can Be A New Yorker, Too."

Jaunty numbers like Michael John LaChiusa's "See What I Wanna See" and Stephen Sondheim's "What More Do I Need?" are done with charismatic confidence and Cherry's skills as a lyric interpreter are put to fine use in ballads like Maury Yeston's "Bookseller In The Rain" and Peter Golub and Mark Campbell's "I Miss New York."

But the problem with presenting a 19-song program about New York is that for nearly a century lyricists have been expressing similar sentiments about Gotham. There are only so many times you can hear songs about how the city is dirty, noisy and impersonal but full of adventure, rhythm and colorful characters without wanting a little more variety. By the time we get to songs 15 & 16, where Cherry is combining Stephen Schwartz's "West End Avenue" with Sondheim's "Another Hundred People," the evening has begun wearing thin.

But if the show itself can use some structural rehashing, this cabaret debut was a good one. With the experience necessary to help his presentation seem more organic, Ben Cherry could be one to watch for.

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