Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Review: Robert Breig makes every moment count in his Peter Allen tribute

Let me make a confession here. Pretty much everything I know about the late Australian singer/songwriter Peter Allen comes from listening to the original Broadway cast recording of The Boy From Oz, the 1998 musical bio of Allen that used his own songs to tell his story. So Making Every Moment Count, Robert Breig's Allen tribute show at the Blue Strawberry last Saturday (January 4th), wasn't just a satisfying cabaret evening, it was educational as well.

Robert Breig
Photo:  Chuck Lavazzi
That's because Mr. Breig, whose work I have admired for many years, put together an intelligent and well-crafted script. The result, combined with Rick Jensen's artfully constructed medleys and solid arrangements, was a compelling hybrid of "tribute" cabaret and theatrical biography that gave a vivid sense of the dramatic arc of Allen's life.

Peter Allen's songs, as Mr. Breig noted, tend to be autobiographical, often very specifically so. That was most apparent in the opening number "Tenterfield Saddler," which is essentially the story of Allen's early life and family origins. Mr. Breig sang it simply and quietly, under a pin spot stage left. Then: a bump in the lights, a switch to a dynamic performance of the up-tempo "Not the Boy Next Door," and the story of Allen's metamorphosis from small-town boy to international celebrity began in earnest.

Every song choice in Making Every Moment Count highlighted a different aspect of Allen's life and work and did so in a way that made it easier to appreciate both the frenzied, show biz public figure-portrayed so well in Mr. Breig's focused and energetic "Continental American"-and the emotionally troubled young man behind it. The darker side of Allen was captured vividly in the "Night Life Medley," which combined "I Could Really Show You Around," "I've Been Taught by Experts," "Six-Thirty Sunday Morning," and "New York I Don't Know About You." That last song also featured an ingenious bit of staging in which Mr. Jensen sang the number with a credible sense of world-weary regret while Mr. Breig simply listened and reacted as though he were a customer at a late-night bar-or maybe Allen's other self, reacting to his disillusionment. Either way, it was theatrically apt and probably one of the many signs of director Lina Koutrakos's sure hand.

Rick Jensen and Robert Breig
Photo: Chuck Lavazzi
In fact, many of the most powerful moments in the evening came from songs that spoke of Allen's inability to make the human connections he needed. A medley of "Back Doors Crying" and "I Honestly Love You" addressed that most directly, as did the big, heartfelt rendition of "You and Me (We Wanted It All)." Placing that one right after a forceful performance of the snarky "break up" song "More Than I Like You" was a particularly effective way of highlighting Allen's emotionally contradictory nature.

Making Every Moment Count was largely a ballad-driven production, but even so, there were plenty of upbeat moments like "I Go to Rio"-part of a "Hits Medley" that included "Arthur's Theme" (from the 1981 Dudley Moore comedy film Arthur)-and "Everything Old is New Again." The show's title number was particularly inspiring, sung as a duet with local singer/actress Deborah Sharn.

Deborah Sharn and Robert Breig
Photo: Chuck Lavazzi
Perhaps the biggest factor in the success of Making Every Moment Count, though, was Mr. Breig's clear and consistent emotional commitment to the lyrics of his songs. If a performer knows what a particular lyric means to them, that conviction will come across to the audience and make the song truly live on stage.

That's an essential component of cabaret. Sure, Mr. Breig is a strong singer, but it's more important that he knows what the songs mean to him. This was most apparent in the closing number, "I Could Have Been a Sailor," which Mr. Breig introduced by noting where his life had both overlapped and differed from Allen's. With its speculation on the road not taken, this song was the point at which the lines blurred between Peter Allen and Robert Breig-or anyone else who has ever wondered how his or her life might have been something other than what it was, no matter how gratifying that life has been. That gave the moment serious emotional impact.

There was also a non-musical reason to love Making Every Moment Count: Mr. Breig donated all the proceeds from the show to kangaroosanctuary.com, an organization in Alice Springs, Australia, whose mission is "to educate and encourage people to rescue and care for kangaroos and other wildlife and animals." With Australia suffering through an unprecedented fire season, their work is more vital now than ever.

Shows continue at The Blue Strawberry, St. Louis's only dedicated bar/restaurant/cabaret showroom. Check their web site for details.

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