Brian Lane Green, Lee Lessack and John Boswell: 3 Men and a Baby…Grand
Brian Lane Green, Lee Lessack and John Boswell
3 Men and a Baby…Grand
Metropolitan Room, NYC, November 19, 2014
Reviewed by Peter Leavy for Cabaret Scenes
It was as much a reunion of three old friends as it was a delightful hour of cabaret. Brian Lane Green, Lee Lessack and John Boswell created 3 Men and a Baby…Grand way back in 1998, and coming back together to do the show was an event they clearly enjoyed as much as anyone in the audience. I remember Lessack’s original description of the show’s origin. It germinated, he claimed, during a conversation with Boswell, who said, “If we do a show together, and nobody comes, at least we’ll have each other for company.”
The show is homage to Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack cronies, featuring such instantly recognizable standards as “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You” and, of course, “My Way.” But the tribute doesn’t fence this trio in, as they include equally enjoyable but less instantly-personally-identified songs from West Side Story, Man of La Mancha and elsewhere.
Each of the three has a busy professional life of his own, making their joint show no easy task to arrange. This quickie tour managed performances in three east coast cities within the week before culminating at the Metropolitan Room in New York. Green, now a New Yorker, stays busy on the musical theater stage (where he was Tony-nominated for Best Actor in a Musical), on television, in the recording studio and on Broadway musicals’ national tours. His “What Kind of Fool Am I?” was one of the show’s highlights.
West-Coaster Lessack was so successful promoting and distributing his own CD recordings years ago, he founded LML Music in 1996, now one of the major sources of cabaret artists’ recordings. In spite of the entrepreneurial tasks, his performing life continues on a full head of steam. He’s collected both MAC and Bistro Awards for In Good Company, his CD of duets with Michael Feinstein, Amanda McBroom, Maureen McGovern and others; to manage a 250-city tour with An Enchanted Evening: The Music of Broadway; and to fill periodic solo gigs around the country. For good reason, Lessack’s plaint of his usually clear voice being hampered by a cold went unnoticed and unheeded by those in the room.
Boswell, who coincidentally won the Frank Sinatra Award for Pop Instrumental Performance while he was a student at UCLA, was the show’s pianist, musical director and vocalist from stage right. He is an active composer with six CDs of his own songs. Clients of his musical direction and accompaniment services have included Judy Collins, Andy Williams, Mary Martin and Bob Newhart, and with Broadway, Off-Broadway and national tour credits as well.
Mea culpa. The show and the shenanigans of the threesome were such fun to observe, that I never did pay sufficient attention to who was standing in for Sinatra, who for Dean Martin or for Sammy Davis, Jr. No one sang holding a cocktail glass in order to make my recollection easier, and performing in blackface went out of style decades ago. My review: The show was a blast.
Here’s a promise. If Green, Lessack and Boswell will bring 3 Men and a Baby…Grand back to New York, I promise the next time I’ll take better notes, even if I’m still having as much fun at their show.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
