Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – “Hadestown” stars Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney show off their distinctive personalities in their respective cabaret acts

• By drediman
• August 31, 2021
• No Comments

I recently had a chance to get to know Eva Noblezada and Reeve Carney – the two fresh-faced stars of Hadestown – better via their respective cabaret acts at the Green Room 42. Their shows literally arrived at the Midtown West cabaret club (both have regularly appeared at the venue) literally just days before the Tony-winning musical resumes performances at the Walter Kerr Theatre on September 2. A romantic couple onstage and off, these intriguing stars have taken advantage of cabaret’s unique ability to allow them to let their guards down and intimately reveal their distinctive personalities, which often get masked in full musical theater productions.

REEVE CARNEY
The Green Room 42

Perhaps the more opaque of the two performers is Mr. Carney, whose stage work also includes originating the role of Peter Parker in the notorious behemoth Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark. I’ve never totally warmed to his acting skills (he seems a tad wooden in his book scenes), so it was a pleasant surprise to discover, in his strange and wonderful show (RECOMMENDED) – which straddled cabaret and rock concert – the compelling man behind the soaring Thom York-like instrument. Indeed, Mr. Carney revealed a surprisingly quirky personality and a taste for emotionally wrought alternative music that I found utterly intriguing. Armed only with a guitar and a loop machine, Mr. Carney displayed the full range of his astonishing musicianship and exhibited full commitment to his richly textured songs, which unfolded with patience and sensitivity (shades of the White Stripes were abound). Additionally, his geeky-cool banter was a winning counterpoint to the show’s ravishing, full throttle vocals and mesmerizing, organic jam sessions.

EVA NOBLEZADA
The Green Room 42

Ms. Noblezada has made a career (so far), to great acclaim, out of starring as doomed ingénues in Broadway and West End musicals (e.g., Kim in Miss Saigon, Eponine in Les Misérables, and now Eurydice in Hadestown). As such, it was a great treat to finally see her out of that mold and in a drastically different light at the Green Room 42. Indeed, her cabaret act (RECOMMENDED) revealed an outspoken, independent-minded woman that’s in stark contrast to the vulnerable damsel-in-distress characters she’s played onstage. Despite being deeply entrenched in Hadestown rehearsals, Ms. Noblezada was in great voice the evening I saw her, performing an eclectic set of songs that she simply enjoyed singing. Apart from the musical theater power ballads we know she’s capable of nailing, it was fun to see her let her hair down and tackle a more pop oriented, riff-infused song list, which actually suits her gleaming voice quite well. Overall, the show felt as laid back as hanging out at a friend’s place, complete with candid, unfiltered musings (learning of her complicated relationship with Miss Saigon, the show that emphatically established her as a leading lady, was particularly fascinating).