Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Cabaret roundup: Ushering in the holidays with NICOLE HENRY at 54 Below and JAMES BARBOUR at Birdland

• By drediman
• December 15, 2022
• No Comments

This past week, I ushered in the holiday season by indulging in a pair of shows at two of Midtown’s premiere cabaret clubs. Here are my thoughts on them.

NICOLE HENRY: WHEN I THINK OF HOME
54 Below

First up was Nicole Henry, who played two nights at 54 Below last weekend. Backed by a wonderful four-piece band, Ms. Henry — looking more gorgeous than ever — was a pure joy from start to finish. Entitled When I Think of Home (RECOMMENDED), her current holiday show is inspired by the notion of home and what it means to her, especially during the holidays. Over the course of the evening, the glamorous vocalist regaled the audience with stories from her childhood and young adulthood, as well as the music — which vacillated between R&B, jazz, and disco — that she associates with those periods in her life. It’s been a few years since I’ve seen Ms. Henry, and I’m happy to report that her voice remains a smooth and supple instrument. As always, she has a natural knack for musical phrasing, and possesses the ability to robustly accelerate in power when the occasion when calls for it (giving us shades of Whitney Houston). Throughout, she enchanted the audience with her easy, cool banter, which was charisma incarnate. For her encore, she sang “Home” from The Wiz (the evening wouldn’t have been complete without it!) with class and heartfelt emotion.

JAMES BARBOUR: ANNUAL HOLIDAY CONCERT
Birdand Jazz Club

Then on Monday, I had the opportunity to attend James Barbour’s annual holiday show (RECOMMENDED) at Birdland Jazz Club. For its 15 anniversary iteration, the Broadway veteran (who has starred in such shows as The Phantom of the Opera, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Assassins, and The Secret Garden) made the one-night-only concert available to a wider audience via live-streaming (the proceeds of which went to charity). Like Ms. Henry, Mr. Barbour looked and sounded fantastic, albeit belting a more traditional holiday set (“Silent Night”, “O Holy Night”, etc.) than Ms. Henry’s more holiday-adjacent song list. A highlight of the jovial and refreshingly laid-back evening was a hilarious but heartwarmingly immersive rendition of “Twelve Days of Christmas” that required the voluntary but drunken participation of the enthusiastic audience. Over the course of the evening, the Broadway star invited a number of surprise special guests, including fellow Broadway thespian Phillip Boykin (a Tony nominee for Porgy and Bess), Broadway producer Dale Badway, and newcomer Sarah Ambrose. Wonderfully accompanied only by piano by Rachel A. Kaufman, a fun time was had by both audience and performers alike.