By Andrew Poretz . . .
“Dying is easy.Comedy is hard”— so go the supposed last words of Edmund Kean. In Out of the Eclipse, Canadian-born performer Joanna Gleason speaks and sings of family, death and love. In her hands, the comedy is easy.
Ms. Gleason is perhaps best known for originating the role of the Baker’s Wife in Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods, for which she won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1988. Ms. Gleason has returned to Feinstein’s/54 Below for a two-night reprise of Out of the Eclipse, the show she first presented at the venue in 2019. The star wrote the show,—a deeply personal, autobiographical musical exploration of her relationship with her elderly parents, who died within four months of one another—in 2017. Ms. Gleason’s father was the hugely famous game show host, Monty Hall, of Let’s Make a Deal for some 28 years. She does not mention her parents by name, save for a “Mr. Hall” late in the show, nor was the title of the game show, which she has told an interviewer was to allow audiences to relate more personally to the funny parental anecdotes, rather than make it into a memorial that would cause people to picture her famous father. Whether or not one has ever heard of Monty Hall, audiences will walk away from this show with a deep sense of who Joanna Gleason’s parents were as people, and how they shaped her values.
While her voice is still strong at 72, and her singing is quite good, her writing, warm humor and storytelling skills are the backbone of this show. That said, the star has the assistance of the superb musical director and arranger Jeffrey Klitz; along with the backup band she put together for this show, The Moontones, fronted by a Modernaires-style vocal trio (Christiana Cole, Christine Cornell and Michael Protacio), whose close harmonies gave the show an air of 1940s musicality.
The Monotones started the evening off with “Sermonette” (Jon Hendricks and Cannonball Adderley), and Ms. Gleason’s funny monologue set the tone. Dressed entirely in black, as was Ms. Gleason, the rendition prompted the star to say that the “Joanna Gleason Sermonette was like going to church,” though she is Jewish, as were her parents. In fact, when two of the Moontones joined her for a yodel on “Will There Be Any Yodeling in Heaven,” she related that her dad said, “Jews don’t yodel!“
Ms. Gleason’s affection for the Yiddishisms her parents often spoke were reflected in the beautiful Yiddish song “Oyfn Pripetchik” (M. M. Warshawsky) that was meant as a child’s lullaby. Singing in Yiddish with a cello, after discussing her father’s death and spirituality, it was a stunning piece of musical theater. Yet the reveal of the lyrics’ dark meaning and allusions to death were quite funny, largely thanks to her deft timing and delivery.
Another show Ms. Gleason starred in was Nick and Nora, a legendary Broadway failure of 1991 (71 previews and nine regular performances) that turned the 1940s Thin Man movies into a musical. The hiring of actor Chris Sarandon was a life changing experience for them both, as the stars fell in love and were married several years later. In a wonderful surprise, Ms. Gleason called her husband to the stage, where they sang an a capella duet of “True Love” (Cole Porter) from High Society and “All Through the Night” (Jules Shear). For the curious, a video of the entire show is currently available on YouTube.
Joanna confessed to feeling lost after her parents died in 2017, and used “Lost In the Stars” (Kurt Weill/Maxwell Anderson) to take the audience into her world. The gorgeous harmonies of the Moontones gave the song an ethereal quality.
To close the show, Ms. Gleason sent The Moontones off, and sang, with just Jeffrey Klitz on piano, “Who Knows Where the Time Goes,” a metaphor of a title that seemed to bring everything together. An encore would have been superfluous.
Out of the Eclipse is a funny, poignant, and compelling show with crisp writing and impeccable comedic timing by Ms. Gleason. In fact, she has the timing of an assured standup comic, with outstanding setups and callbacks. With the help of terrific musical arrangements, accompaniment and excellent work by The Moontones, the show hit all its marks, emotionally and musically. Brava!
Joanna Gleason’s “Out of the Eclipse” was performed May 30 at Feinstein’s/54 Below (254 West 54th Street, between Broadway and Eighth Avenue). www.54below.com
Photos: Diane D’Angelo
