Review: New Voices 10 showcased amazing local talent.

The Host with The Most: Brandon Ivie at New Voices 10

Wunderkind Brandon Ivie is a Gregory Award winning powerhouse in the world of Seattle Theater Land with a string of impressive credits including his own Contemporary Classics Theater Company and upcoming gigs working on the Seattle premiere of The Drowsy Chaperone at Seattle Musical Theatre and the Broadway premiere of Catch Me If You Can. But, he also takes the time to focus his attention on showcasing OTHER people’s talent with his twice a year event, New Voices that features the work of new songwriters working in the musical theater being sung by both experienced and novice local musical theater performers. His 10th installment was held Monday night at ACT’s Falls Theater as part of their “Central Heating Lab” program and it was subtitled as “The Best of New Voices” and featured encore performances from the previous nine installments of the series.

The evening got off to a bit of a rough start by starting nearly 25 minutes late, but the charms of Mr Ivie as the evening’s host managed to erase most of my grumpiness at the tardiness; he’s a funny and charming guy with natural ease on a stage. He was also aided by the strong musical performances of the backing musicians led by Musical Director/Pianist R.J. Tancioco and the performances of the 30 or so singers onstage, among them, some of the biggest stars on Seattle musical theater stages. Any concert/show that features the likes of Anne Allgood (Candide/A Christmas Story), Billie Wildrick (On The Town and just about everything else at the 5th Avenue), Nick Garrison (Hedwig, Cabaret, the upcoming Jesus Christ Superstar at Village Theatre), Brandon O’Neill (the upcoming Guys and Dolls at the 5th), Don Darryl Rivera (Man of LaMancha), and Kate Jaeger (Evil Dead: The Musical) among your line-up, means you’re in the Big Leagues. There was enough musical power on that stage to run Hanford.

There were amazing performances to be sure and the opening song by A Christmas Story composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, was “Be My Friend (The Facebook Song)” and as performed by Lindsey Hedberg, Ryan McCabe, Erin Sprow and Connor Russell was a crowd favorite. (But, this crowd loved EVERYTHING; they were all obviously huge fans of musical theater and/or friends/fans of the performers and they were well liquored as well…) Other numbers that received big reactions:

“Random Black Girl” from Homemade Fusion by Michael Kooman and Christopher Dimond, performed by Antonia Darlene brought the house down and the radiant Ms Darlene was a sexy hot blast of soul after a number of rather vanilla ballads. The audience was ready to snatch her up and take her home, she was so good.

Act One ended with “Reach the Sky” by Bobby Cronin, performed by Brandon O’Neill and Act Two with “The Goodbye Song” by Joe Iconis, performed by Nick Garrison, both numbers with Lindsey Hedberg, Ryan McCabe, Erin Sprow and Connor Russell in background, and both were fierce, rocking (well, musical pop rocking) up tempo finales to their respective acts and a smart way to end them, on a edgier note with big, rock style theatrics and both ably performed by Mr O’Neill and Mr Garrison. (Tonsorial Note to Mr O’Neill: not loving the Bieberesque hair. It looks dumb on Justin Bieber; you’re far too good looking of a man to waste your precious full bodied hair years on bad do’s. You deserve better hair.)

“In Short” from Edges by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, performed by Don Darryl Rivera and “The Sensitive Song” from COPS The Musical by Laurence O’Keefe, performed by Brandon Ivie were both hilarious numbers about relationships with “Devil Women” gone wrong, but personally I wouldn’t have included both songs in the same showcase. Separately they would have been fine, but together at once, it comes off a tad bit misogynistic. The only way it would have worked, is if you had had an appropriate “Asshole Boyfriend” song to balance it out. But the performers were excellent with Mr Rivera getting so into it, his glasses went flying off his head. Also a musical comedy goldmine: Nick DeSantis performing the homo-riffic “Way Ahead of My Time” from The Taxi Cabaret by Peter Mills. Mr DeSantis not only displays mad singing skills and mad comedy skills, he also busts a mean move.

But, comedically, the highlight for me was Kate Jaeger and her over the top and into the stratosphere performance of “I’m Not Pregnant” from R.R.R.E.D. by Katie Thompson. Ms Jaeger’s comic sass combined with her throaty growl and her skills as a performer put this into the Hall of Fame for me. Someone write this woman a musical showcase starring all of her amazing talents…do the world a favor and GET. ON. IT. Oh, and maybe write a duet for Ms Jaeger and Mr DeSantis. Awesomeness.

One critique…but, it’s kind of a big one. The numbers/performers I just mentioned were the best of the evening and if you noticed, they were all either “rockin'” songs or comedy songs. The majority of the non mentioned songs, were of the ballad variety, both romantic and comic, and for the most part, they were all prime examples of the WORST in contemporary musical theater song writing, in my opinion. I’m taking about the non-song song. It consists of some orchestral noodling in the background, consisting of a few bland chords repeated ad nauseum while the singer talk/sings a litany of woes/jokes. “I went to Prom and my boyfriend died and then this happened. And that happened. And, I recite some more plot. And the song ends.” Those aren’t songs. It’s barely music. I have no musical talent, and I can write one of those songs. It’s lazy and dull and untuneful (yes, I invent words) and many, many new musicals feature this awful trend, especially the horrible “Let’s turn a hit movie into a musical!” musicals and no one leaves the theater singing any of their songs because the songs suck. Let’s go back to writing a catchy tune and adding some clever lyrics to it, that GO WITH THE TUNE and we’ll never speak of this horror again.

But, not all of the ballads were awful at New Voices 10. I did enjoy “Perfect” from Edges by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, performed by Jennifer Paz and “I’m Not Waiting” by Andrew Lippa, performed by Kirsten Helland. They both had some beauty to the music and the lyrics and both were expertly performed by Ms Paz and Ms Helland. I am not anti-ballad, just anti-boring ballad.

It was a swell evening, and despite Mr Ivie’s increasingly busy schedule, I hope there’ll be more New Voices to showcase in the future. And a new musical for Kate Jaeger and Nick DeSantis…or, just a revival of Sweeny Todd for them to do.