By Andrew Poretz . . .
Gay Marshall, a gamine firecracker of a singer and storyteller, brought Back on Boogie Street to Pangea for three shows. The Cleveland-born, Francophile singer — her husband is French and she had a large bottle of Grand Marnier liqueur on the stage — has the phrasing of a Frank Sinatra and the indomitable spirit of an Edith Piaf. Like Sinatra, she has the unique ability to sing with conversational phrasing while simultaneously being musically and rhythmically true. Her Piaf vibe made it unsurprising to learn later that Edith Piaf has been something of a guiding star for Ms. Marshall; she has performed Piaf’s music for years, and even recorded an album of them in 2008. The singer clearly has the soul of a poet, which makes an album and evening of Leonard Cohen songs a great fit. In fact, her marvelously curated 2020 album of Cohen songs and poetry, Back on Boogie Street, won a well-deserved Bistro Award. On the second night of a three-show return engagement, Ms. Marshall essentially performed the album live for an intimate Pangea crowd, weaving in Cohen songs, poems and spoken-word pieces with her own stories and anecdotes. The star enchanted and informed with much humor and deep understanding and it would be fair to say she touched, moved and inspired. Now that’s a cabaret show.
The singer, with stellar accompaniment by musical director and pianist Ross Patterson, and bassist Tom Hubbard brilliantly filling in for Don Falzone, sheepishly admitted she had little familiarity with Leonard Cohen’s work before his 2016 death. She has since done a deep dive into all things Leonard Cohen. She acknowledged cabaret legend Steve Ross for gifting her a book of Cohen’s poems, Book of Longing, which ultimately guided her in crafting the project.
Dressing in black from head to toe gave Ms. Marshall a somber, ethereal affect, offset by her ready smile and twinkling eyes. Her opening song was “Back on Boogie Street” (written with Sharon Robinson), the show and album title, here played as a slow, jazzy rhumba that was as much a writer’s declaration as a passionate exhortation from a philosopher.
So come my friends, be not afraid, we are so lightly here
It is in love that we are made, in love we disappear
From the “Who Knew? Department,” Ms. Marshall revealed that Leonard Cohen tried his hand as a standup comic early in his career, and wanted to be a country and western singer. This jarring image worked well as a chaser for Ms. Marshall’s gender-bending rendition of “I’m Your Man.” When she sang “Famous Blue Raincoat” and recited the poem “The Great Divide,” the Sinatra comparison came to mind. Sinatra recorded a surprising, underrated album of Rod McKuen songs and acted-out poetry, A Man Alone, in 1969. Ms. Marshall’s black fedora only accentuated that comparison, though it was not a conscious choice.
Ms. Marshall stated that as a young boy, Cohen “hungered for a poetic voice.” He found “permission” to find that voice in the work of poet Garcia Lorca, and adapted a Lorca poem into “Take this Waltz.” (Interestingly, Cohen used the waltz tempo often in his compositions.) This song also bears some melodic kinship to Cohen’s most famous work, “Hallelujah,” a song not part of the album. Although Cohen was Jewish-Canadian, many of his songs, including “The Sisters of Mercy,” beautifully sung here with a recitation of the poem “Lorca Lives,” have an Irish feel, even without an Irish flute. Cohen had quite the affinity for Ireland, and lived there for five years late in his life.
A bonus track of sorts was a richly textured arrangement of “One of Us Cannot Be Wrong,” an early Leonard Cohen waltz originally recorded with just a guitar and a handful of chords. Ross Patterson brought great tension to the many major and minor key changes of the composition, which served to underscore the song’s message.
Ms. Marshall sang “Everybody Knows” (written with Sharon Robinson) as more of a rocker than the famous Cohen recording. Cohen’s voice, by the time he recorded this song, had gone from baritone to bass, and his mantra of “everybody knows” juxtaposes wry, funny observations of the realities of life. With the star’s great timing, the humor was delicious.
Everybody knows you’ve been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Before her first encore song, Ms. Marshall brought up the lack of “Hallelujah” in a Leonard Cohen show. Admitting the song is simply so overplayed and over-recorded that it seems nearly a cliché, she sang, a capella, a short and very funny “Hallelujah” parody that addressed this “elephant in the room.” This was exactly what was needed, and was a welcome surprise.
Saturday, June 4, 2022 will mark the third and final performance of Back on Boogie Street. For more information and reservations, visit http://www.pangeanyc.com/show/cabaret-room-back-on-boogie-street-with-gay-marshall-songs-of-leonard-cohen-700pm-3/. Learn more about Gay Marshall at http://gaymarshall.com.
Gay Marshall – May 31, 2022
Back on Boogie Street
Pangea
Musical director and pianist: Ross Patterson
Bass: Tom Hubbard (substituting for Don Falzone for this performance only)
All songs and poems were written by Leonard Cohen. Only collaborators are mentioned above.
