Joshua Dixon: Fly Up!

Rob Lester | April 9, 2015

Joshua Dixon

Fly Up!

The Duplex, NYC, December 18, 2014

Reviewed by Rob Lester for Cabaret Scenes

“You can’t please all the people all the time”—Ha! In not-always-easy-to-please CabaretLand, Joshua Dixon may prove that wrong, via charm and chops. Cheers to him; here’s to him! (I’m late filing this, but early on joined colleagues and audiences Dixon-debut-dazzled.) MAC-nominated for Fly Up!, he’s also flying high from receiving every other cabaret award presented on stages and in columns. Seen in open mics and group shows, he’s always a highlight lighting up stages with talent and personality, both of which he has in heaps. With Cole Porter’s inviting “Experiment” segueing into the Jefferson Airplane hit “White Rabbit,” he sings with a twinkle in his eye, but, oh, you know there’s way more than meets the eye—yours, that is. Dixon has commanding charisma and chemistry that captivate. He sings like a dream, truly acting his polished selections, although it doesn’t come off as cloaked, clever “acting”; he’s giving, open and open-hearted. The Mormon boy from the choir becomes a boy filled with desire, growing up before our eyes, into maturity with Into the Woods’ Jack’s “Giants in the Sky” and the deft “Cautiously Optimistic” (Scott Evan Davis). This is a songman of quality—and, undeniably, star quality.