Linda Kennedy: Melody/Movement
Linda Kennedy
Melody/Movement
The Gaslight Theater, St. Louis, MO, March 12, 2015
Reviewed by Chuck Lavazzi for Cabaret Scenes
I’ve always maintained that some of the best cabaret comes from singers who also have a solid theatrical background. A well-constructed cabaret act is ultimately a kind of one-act play, and actors have the advantage of understanding the form.
As evidence, I offer Melody/ Movement, the cabaret debut of veteran St. Louis actress Linda Kennedy. From the reverent a cappella version of Cassandra Wilson’s “Sankofa” that opened the show to the jazzy riffs of Miles Davis’s “Seven Steps to Heaven” that closed it, this was an act that consistently engaged and entertained the audience.
That’s a bit surprising, given that the emphasis was on protest songs from the 1960s and 1970s dealing with issues of racial prejudice and injustice. Numbers strongly associated with Nina Simone, like “Revolution,” “Blackbird” and “I Wish I Knew How It Feels to Be Free” were prominently featured, as well as Roberta Flack classics like “Go Up, Moses,” “Compared to What” and the acerbic “Business Goes On as Usual.” All good stuff, but potentially heavy going.
But Kennedy made it all work, largely because she personalized it and kept it tethered to her unique narrative. She didn’t preach, but she did illustrate, and that makes all the difference. And, besides, as she pointed out mid-way through the evening, recent events in the St. Louis area have shown that the issues raised by those songs are, sadly, as relevant today as they were when the songs were written.
With all that as a backdrop, the dramatic highlight of the evening, Jerry Jeff Walker’s “Mr. Bojangles,” took on an added level of meaning. It became a beautiful and moving tribute to all the “down and outers” kicked to the curb by a justice system that all too often seems disinterested in actual justice. I think it’s no accident that the song that precedes it is Cassandra Wilson’s “Justice”: “Give me a bottle of justice,” she wrote. “I hear it sets you free.”
Accompanying Kennedy were pianist Arthur Toney and Jamal Nickels on acoustic bass. Toney was a last-minute substitute for Kennedy’s musical director, who was sidelined by illness, so there was the occasional hiccup, but nothing serious enough to interrupt the flow of the show. For the most part he, and Nickels worked very well together and easily followed Kennedy’s lead.
In her closing credits, Kennedy included St. Louis Black Rep artistic director Ron Himes. Himes has a substantial reputation locally as an actor and director, so I suspect at least some of the sound theatrical decisions in this show can be traced to him.
That’s not to say that there weren’t a few minor issues with the show. Kennedy had not entirely memorized it, which meant she had to frequently refer to the script she kept on a music stand. That, in turn, made it impossible for her to move from her spot at the stage left end of the piano, which made things rather visually static.
Linda Kennedy’s show was part of The Presenters Dolan’s Gaslight Cabaret Festival at the Gaslight Theater in St. Louis’s Central West End. For more information: gaslightcabaretfestival.com.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, Regional, St. Louis, St. Louis Cabaret Reviews
