CHICAGO - MIDWEST CABARET REVIEWS

FOILED AGAIN PERFORMS OLD BLACK MAGIC AT SPEAKEASY SUPPER CLUB

Reviewed by Carla Gordon

Foiled Again is an energetic cabaret trio consisting of Allison Bazarko, Rob Lindley, and Anne Sheridan Smith. Their salute to the music of Harold Arlen, titled Old Black Magic, is a lively tribute. As solo artists these young vocalists are entertaining, yet remarkably different. Allison brings mainly jazz approaches; Rob takes the cabaret or musical theater road (with those precious crystal consonants so foolishly overlooked in too many cabaret deliveries); Anne delivers in the night club vein. Such different styles make for interesting variety. It is, however in the trio numbers where this group especially shines. Allison's arrangements and the clean close harmonies recall the Andrews Sisters, but sexier. In "That Old Black Magic," when the lyrics go "round and round" the singers' voices do as well communicating the sensuality of that tune. The arrangement enriches the spell the lyrics weave.

Rob Lindley's interpretation of Arlen's beloved "If I Only Had A Brain," took us to a place the Scarecrow never did. In a Rob's light, this tune is about a real human perceiving he "isn't good enough." Don't we all have those days when we perceive our heads are "full of stuffing?" In Rob's reflective and rewardingly understated delivery, the "brainless" speaker of these words is any of us longing to be worthy of the love and respect of someone we desire. Of course, the words still make us laugh, but now we are relating to them all the more.

Anne Sheridan Smith can belt with the best of them. Nevertheless, her show highlight was the quiet "Happiness Is Just a Thing Called Joe," made famous, as Ann reminds us, by the late Ethel Waters. Ann respects Arlen's bittersweet lyric. The table may be bare, but with the right partner, yes, every day can glow like Christmas.

Near the end of the show, Allison Bazarko brought us a multi-layered jazz interpretation of "One For My Baby". Unlike the bartender in that tune, we are not so anxious for the dialogue to close.

Piano accompaniment by Dan Stetzel and bass by Geoffrey Lowe provided the trio with the right support. Several arrangements took advantage of voice/bass trades or underscoring often enabling the vocalist to reveal sweet moments of simple truth in the lyric.

The show was performed at SPEAKEASY SUPPER CLUB. Relatively few cabaret aficionados are aware that this off the beaten path club exists. Financed by Michael Feinstein, among others, Speakeasy's cabaret room is lovely. It's small enough for the intimacy of cabaret yet large enough to hold audiences sufficient to trade energy with performers. The food is classy, but pricey for a Chicago neighborhood. However, this is a BYOB club. (One can hear cabaret for cover charge only.) The unobtrusive wait staff was decanting everything from champagne to the bottle of Jack Daniels for the couple sitting to my right. Let's hope Speakeasy presents more than its current occasional offering of cabaret performance. It would be good to see this lovely club engaged as regular cabaret venue. Right now, it's just dating.

SPEAKEASY SUPPER CLUB is located at 1401 West Devon, Chicago, IL - 773-338-0600.

Copyright, 2005 by Carla Gordon

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