Cabaret Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
On February 22nd, last week, some three months prior to the next Mother’s Day, Tony Award winner Stephanie J. Block performed a solo show titled The Mother at the 92nd Street Y’s Kauffman Concert Hall. This versatile actress and singer has been a Broadway staple for twenty years, appearing in such musicals as The Boy from Oz, Wicked, The Pirate Queen, 9 to 5, Anything Goes, The Mystery of Edwin Drood and Falsettos. Her last appearance, in Into the Woods, closed a year ago, too long ago for my taste—an assessment I think the sold-out audience at 92Y would agree with.
The band consisted of Block’s longtime musical director Ben Cohn on piano, with Dillon Kondor on guitar and Allison Seidner on cello. The arrangements were all top notch and the musicality flowed with a grace befitting Block’s tremendous instrument. Having first heard her sing in 2001 while taking part in a six-person workshop of the future blockbuster Wicked (she was the first person to sing Elphaba’s songs), I can say unequivocally that her natural gifts have only improved with time.
The idea of centering her show on motherhood was a salute to all the different types of mothers that have nurtured Block in her life and career. She began by paying tribute to Chita Rivera, a mentor who passed away last month. The story she told about the time when they were in The Mystery of Edwin Drood together, a dozen years ago, was touching and a testament to the kind of person Rivera was and that every actor who knew her looked up to. It had to do with a looseness backstage among the well-knit company that was exuberant and spreading perhaps a little too much joy to the work onstage. Rivera sat her down and, in the best way possible, told her, “clean your house.” What she meant was, that as the lead in the show and the person taking the last bow, it was Block’s responsibility to keep order and set a solid example. “Clean your house,” Rivera repeated to her. Block spoke of being humbled, and the lesson it taught her. Certainly a mother to look up to.
Block’s own mother was represented in story and song, as were her two mothers-in-law by marriage to her husband, Sebastian Arcelus, who recently played opposite his real-life wife in Into the Woods. She called out to New York City as a mother (opening as she did with Kander and Ebb’s “City Lights”) and spoke of another mentor in the Chita Rivera-mold: Dolly Parton, with whom she worked on 9 to 5. She even sang a duet with Parton of her classic “I Will Always Love You” (hooray for the technology working beautifully).
Works by Jule Styne, Stephen Schwarz, James Taylor and Brandi Carlile were also represented (Carlile’s “The Mother” gave the show its title). Those hoping to hear her recreating numbers from Wicked or The Cher Show may have been disappointed, but she did offer a rousing rendition of “I’m Breaking Down” from Falsettos. It stopped the show as easily at 92Y as it did at the Walter Kerr eight times a week in that splendid 2016 revival.
This summer, Block will be starring in a new West End production of Kiss Me, Kate, a perfect role for her vocally, physically and comedically. I may just have to consider a trip across the pond to see what she comes up with. Though performer that she is, I can’t imagine any sort of disappointment or that she won’t totally succeed.
Stephanie J. Block’s “The Mother” played the Kauffman Concert Hall at the 92nd Street Y (1395 Lexington Avenue at East 92nd Street). www.92ny.org
Photos: Joseph Sinnott
