The Triad New York, NY
Contact: beatrice@empktmedia.com
Web: dawnderow.com
Players: Dawn Derow, vocals; Ian Herman, piano, musical director; Karen Mason, guest artist; David Sabella, director.
Themed shows can be tricky sometimes, especially ones that focus on a single composer or artist. Often, they consist of stringing together a group of songs with a sprinkling of patter in between without any particular focus. This was not the case with Sing Happy: The Wonderful Women of Kander & Ebb, Dawn Derow’s recent show celebrating not only the works of Kander & Ebb, but specifically the women that were the featured heroines in their music. Spanning the 1960s through the 1990s with songs ranging from shows like Cabaret, Woman of the Year, Kiss of the Spider Woman, to Funny Lady, Derow captures the mood of the various eras through costume, staging, and choreography while effortlessly weaving in anecdotes from her own life.
Kicking off the set with “Don’t Tell Mama” from Cabaret, Derow, in full Sally Bowles regalia, moves through the song embodying her essence while ironically drawing comparisons to 1930s Berlin. Recounting her tomboy days in “One of the Boys,” from Woman of the Year, Derow shares a story from a visit to Westpoint and the pushup contest she challenges the cadettes to. As she gloats, “I came out on top.”
Operatically trained, Derow has the ability to sing in genres from jazz to cabaret to pop which has given her the foundation to master this challenging repertoire. With a nod to Kristin Chenoweth, she showed off her operatic coloratura soprano in “Two Little Words,” from Steel Pier.
Later in the set, as if one diva was not enough, Derow invited Karen Mason (Mama Mia, Sunset Boulevard, and The World Goes Round), for a tour de force duet complete with humor and good-natured ribbing.
At one point, Derow leaves the stage, re-appearing in a hooded raincoat, donning an Eastern European accent and we hear the haunting “I Don’t Care,” also from Cabaret.
Reflecting on her various performances; “Producing my own shows gave me the freedom to sing the music I truly love and keep growing as a performer and producer,” she says. “With 'Sing Happy,' I’m creating and performing my first revue devoted entirely to one songwriting team—the legendary Kander & Ebb.”
Entertaining from start to finish, Sing Happy is brimming with exceptional music and a well-thought-out presentation.
