Small-Town Girl Makes Good, Laughing All the Way
K T Sullivan at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel.
By STEPHEN HOLDEN
New York Times
Published: September 21, 2007
The journey from the sticks to the Broadway stage is a pilgrimage that has been made by countless performers. But no one in recent memory has turned it into the kind of thrill ride that the singer K T Sullivan makes of it in her new cabaret show, “Autumn in New York.”
As she travels in song from her rural hometown, Boggy Depot, Okla., to Manhattan, Ms. Sullivan evokes the mythical distance between polar dream worlds. The naïve show-business hopeful who begins the journey is given voice by two songs from “The Fantasticks”: “Try to Remember,” in which she looks back wistfully, and “Much More,” in which she dreams of going to town “in a golden gown.” The sophisticated urban malcontent her alter ego recognizes but refuses to become is evoked in songs by Stephen Sondheim (“Who’s That Woman?”) and Noël Coward (“World Weary”). It is a persona Ms. Sullivan would rather laugh at than embrace.
“Autumn in New York” is Ms. Sullivan’s 10th appearance at the Oak Room at the Algonquin Hotel and her first in several years without another singer by her side. With Tedd Firth on piano and Steve Doyle on bass, and directed by Eric Michael Gillett, this show is Ms. Sullivan’s great leap forward as a soloist.
Where most performers turn their show-business histories into self-serving tales of triumph leading to disillusion and finally to wisdom, Ms. Sullivan has no pretensions to being a sage. A sexy, wide-eyed comedian with a semi-operatic voice that is in the best shape I can remember, she is having a ball. Instead of sadder and wiser, she is happier and wiser.
An early segment covers Ms. Sullivan’s less-than-triumphant brushes with Broadway (she appeared in George Abbott’s “Broadway,” “The Threepenny Opera” with Sting, and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”) and culminates with a cheerful reading of excerpts from “No Turn Unstoned,” a collection of damning theater reviews put together by Diana Rigg.
The show’s centerpiece is Ms. Sullivan’s hilarious take on “World Weary,” which had me laughing out loud on Wednesday. “I want a horse and plow/Chickens too/Just one cow/With a wistful moo,” moans the self-pitying urban night crawler who narrates the song. You wonder what Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie, today’s contemporary equivalents of Marie Antoinette playing a milkmaid, might make of it. Ms. Sullivan makes it sidesplitting.
K T Sullivan continues through Oct. 13 at the Oak Room of the Algonquin Hotel, 59 West 44th Street, Manhattan; (212) 419-9331.
KT SULLIVAN: Autumn in New York
By Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
September 18, 2007
Autumn, spring, whenever, there is no doubt that KT Sullivan loves what she is doing. Every detail shines with care, her gowns, her accompanists, and her delivery of songs. Listen to her medley of Another Op'ning', Another Show and There's No Business Like Show Business. Show biz may not be easy – "you're broken hearted but you go on " – but with Sullivan, you believe her when she sings, "You wouldn't change it for a sack of gold."
This feeling of being exactly where she wants to be at this stage of her life ruminates through Autumn in New York, KT Sullivan's tenth show at the Algonquin Oak Room. This time Sullivan is solo, backed by Tedd Firth on piano and Steve Doyle on bass. She chooses a generous selection of theatre songs, some she performed on the big stage, others add to the tale of just a little girl from Boggy Depot who lands on the New York stage. Although Sullivan keeps patter to a minimum, she is inspired enough by the sentiment in Irving Berlin's Well of All the Rotten Shows (Face the Music), to include a light-hearted reading of unflattering theatre reviews from No Turn Unstoned.
Sullivan mingles witty and sparkling tunes with older and wiser, brought to a peak with Noel Coward's World Weary. Her enunciation is clear, her soprano voice clear, and her interpretations well thought through. She includes lovely melodic tunes like Will You? by Frankel and Korie from Grey Gardens, Adam Guettel's Dividing Day from The Light in the Piazza, and Jerry Herman's poignant And I Was Beautiful, from Dear World. Colored Lights (Kander/Ebb) from The Rink and Try to Remember (The Fantasticks by Schmidt/Jones) evoke nostalgia with a mere twinge of lament. From Threepenny Opera by Weill and Brecht, Sullivan takes on the gritty lyrics and realism of Barbara Song. She is spirited with Who's That Woman?, Sondheim's Follies' rueful recognition of passing years and has fun with a song cut from Applause by Strouse and Adams, called Smashing New York Times. September Song by Weill and Anderson, is just facing Life.
Regret has hardly a role in Autumn in New York. Sullivan has an upbeat, driving energy that does not wallow in sentimentality, and Eric Michael Gillette directed a show that illuminates the Sullivan spirit for music and performing.
Autumn in New York with KT Sullivan runs from September 18 through October 13.