Marissa Mulder: Shelter from the Storm

Marissa Mulder

Shelter from the Storm

Metropolitan Room, NYC, July 20, 2017

Reviewed by Peter Haas for Cabaret Scenes

It seemed an unlikely combination: Marissa Mulder singing the songs of Bob Dylan. Mulder: tall, red-headed, with a lovely soprano voice enhanced by a warm, winning personality. Dylan: once a rumpled chronicler of social unrest, now an elder statesman of folk song and winner, last year, of a Nobel Prize in Literature for “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

Yet Mulder chose this musical adventure—and it worked beautifully. The show: Shelter from the Storm, a mini-parade of Dylan’s better-known output, performed with sweet simplicity and quiet passion as she added to Dylan’s songs with her own appealing style and sparkle. Backed by only two musicians—Mike Rosengarten, creator of the evening’s musical arrangements and performing on guitar and harmonica, and Mike Lunoe on assorted percussion—the singer held her audience riveted to center stage.

The songs were classic Dylan. They included “The Times,They Are A-Changin’’’;  ”Shelter from the Storm”; a moving rendition of “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright”; ”Mr. Tambourine Man”; and a spirited take on “I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight,” the last including a kazoo break by Rosengarten. Other numbers included “Masters of War,” with its undercurrent of Dylan’s rage at international conflict; “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall,” with guitar and kazoo accompaniment; “Like a Rolling Stone,” which Dylan had performed as he first moved from using an acoustic guitar to playing an electric one; “Tomorrow Is a Long Time,” a lesser-known love song; and “My Back Pages.”

Along the way, Mulder interrupted the music to offer a brief background on Dylan’s career, telling of his early move from his native Minnesota to New York’s Greenwich Village folk music scene and his rising popularity. Then it was back to music as she completed the show with “Forever Young” and—of course—“Blowin’ in the Wind,” with the audience joining in.

This show played to a sparse summertime house; it deserves a new, longer run and a wider audience.  

Tags: A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, American Songbook, Blowin in the Wind, Bob Dylan, Broadway, Broadway Musicals, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, CD, Clubs, Composers, Don't Think Twice It's Alright, Great American Songbook, Greenwich Village, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight, Jazz, Jazz Singers, Jazz Vocalists, Like a Rolling Stone, lyricists, Marissa Mulder, Masters of War, Metropolitan Room, Mike Lunoe, Mike Rosengarten, Mr. Tambourine Man, Musicals, Musicians, My Back Pages, Nightclubs, Nobel Prize in Literature, NYC, Peter Haas, Popular Song, Revues, Shelter from the Storm, Show Tunes, Singers, Songbook, Standards, Supper Clubs, The Times They Are A-Changin’, Tomorrow Is a Long Time, Venues, Vocalists

Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional