Cynthia Clarey had a successful career as an opera mezzo, yet she’s savvy enough to transition to cabaret without playing to the balcony. Neither gesture nor evangelistic volume exaggerate. In fact, she vibrates with intensity. (Today the vocalist is a contralto with, I’m told, range comparable to a male baritone or tenor, as she sings comfortably and frequently in the octave below Middle C. )
Peppered with historical reference, this is a personal show with universal message: the end to bigotry and prejudice. Bigotry is a conscious choice to hate something or someone and think oneself to be superior, while prejudice is a preexisting feeling, instilled before knowing the person or thing in reality.
“My people came to this country in shackles and though you can’t see them, they’re still there…Through it all, we’ve had our music and our faith…” she begins. Spirituals “Lord How Come Me Here” and “Steal Away” are gorgeous. Predominantly a capella with well placed emotional warble and outstanding phrasing, they get under one’s skin like stealth missiles. A rendition of the iconic “Strange Fruit” follows replete with mournful hum. (Abel Metropole aka Lewis Allen) The performer is an actress. Fury, impotence and despair are borne by particularly low, resonant octaves.
Inspired by a police brutality incident witnessed by one of its songwriters, 1971’s “What’s Going On?” (Renaldo “Obie” Benson/Al Cleveland/Marvin Gaye) is answered with the rap “I Don’t Know” written by the artist and identified as “my granny rap.” Though effectively accompanied by bongo drum, vocally spiking selective words would make this more affecting.
“It’s All White with Me” (Sandy and Richard Ricardi’s parody lyrics to Cole Porter’s “It’s All Right with Me”) carries an unexpected punch: I willed up a wall to keep the wrong sort out/And I’ll make you pay for it too…It’s hyper Conservative and frighteningly on target. The program offers a well chosen response, “See Me As I Am” (Harriet Reynolds): I laugh and love and cry just as you do…Delicate piano buoys passion as it symbiotically shifts with every vocal change. This is a proud plea, not cowed.
Sam Cooke’s “A Change is Gonna Come” emerges eyes closed, nodding in agreement. Head tips back, hands fist, Clarey sways as if channeling. Her grit and sand voice adds pith. Please, please, please, please, please she intones, knees slightly bending under the burden.
Released in 1985, “We Are the World” retains impact and sonority. (Lionel Richie/Michael Jackson-benefitting Ethiopia’s famine) Menzie tellingly echoes lyrics. A missed opportunity to get the audience (very like a flock) to join in a chorus. “…there are more drugs, more police brutality, there’s more war on each other…When are we going to learn?!” she rhetorically asks. Bob Russell/Bobby Scott’s “He Ain’t Heavy” is delivered with soul and purpose.
An encore of “Ol’ Man River” (Jerome Kern/Oscar Hammerstein II) starts up an octave descending to the level with which we’re familiar. The difference adds immeasurably.
I’m confused by inclusion/placement of several songs. The choice of beginning with Luther Vandross’ celebratory “Brand New Day” contradicts an evening that speaks to frustrating lack of change. Irving Berlin’s (beautifully arranged and performed) “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” sounds like “fiddle while Rome burns” resignation, not at all the show’s message. Director/MD/pianist/vocalist Beckie Menzie’s solo “I Was Here” (Lady Antebellum) lands oddly as sung by a White woman in this context. Is it meant to suggest witness?
Cynthia Clarey’s regal presence and individual likeability are as compelling as her phrasing, investment, and, of course message. (She hopes to take this show to schools.) A sense of inclusion suffuses. Excluding my queries, the powerful evening is well sequenced and introduced. The artist employs her unusual voice to best advantage. (I’d love to hear her sing Motown). Direction is subtle, accompaniment rich without taking over. With luck, she’ll be back in New York (from Chicago) repeatedly in years to come.
Cynthia Clarey
Bridge Over Troubled Waters
Beckie Menzie – Diretor/MD/Piano, Vocals
Irwin Berkowitz – Percussion
The Laurie Beechman Theater
407 West 42nd Street
