Faith Prince

Steve Murray | June 23, 2015

Faith Prince

Feinstein’s at the Nikko, San Francisco, CA, June 19, 2015

Reviewed by Steve Murray for Cabaret Scenes

Musical comedy is a revered genre in both cabaret and Broadway, and Faith Prince is one of its finest practitioners. Offering up a smorgasbord of her career, the brassy and bold Prince opened big with a belting medley of Stephen Sondheim’s desire for fame and fortune, “Broadway Baby” (Follies), and, from her Tony-winning role as Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Frank Loesser’s “Adelaide’s Lament.” Prince has had a very successful career on stage and screen and has worked consistently since moving to NYC in 1981. “The Other Side of the Tracks” from the musical Little Me, and “Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors both speak to the desire to upgrade one’s status, whether it’s finding love or a better home.

Dave Frishberg’s quintessential life-on-the-road song “Sweet Kentucky Ham” and the beautiful ballad “Tattooed Boy in Memphis,” show a soft, reflective side of Prince. The show took off with the introduction of Prince’s family, son Henry on guitar and husband, trumpeter Larry Lunetta. “The Man with a Horn” (Eddie DeLange/Truman Eliot “Jack” Jenney/Bonnie Lake), a moody love song, is tailor made for Prince, who fell in love with the trumpeter while he was in the pit for one of her early shows. She finished the set with Kander and Ebb’s showstopper “But the World Goes ‘Round” before returning to her more humorous side with an encore of Sondheim and Mary Rodgers’s “The Boy from….,” a hilarious parody of the “The Girl from Ipanema.” It’s prime material for Prince and she works her magic in a faux-breathy bossa nova style.

Faith Prince has found a new love in teaching master classes to young students, a position for which she is eminently qualified. Hopefully, she will continue to grace the stage in years to come.

Tags: Adelaide, Adelaide’s Lament, American Songbook, Bonnie Lake, bossa nova, Broadway Baby, Broadway Musicals, But the World Goes 'Round, Cabaret, Cabaret Reviews, Cabaret Scenes, Clubs, Composers, Dave Frishberg, Eddie DeLange, Faith Prince, Feinstein's at the Nikko, Follies, Frank Loesser, Great American Songbook, Guys and Dolls, Jazz, Kander and Ebb, Larry Lunetta, Little Me, Little Shop of Horrors, lyricists, Mary Rodgers, Musicals, Nightclubs, Popular Song, Revues, San Francisco, Show Tunes, Singers, Somewhere That’s Green, Songbook, Standards, Stephen Sondheim, Steve Murray, Supper Clubs, Sweet Kentucky Ham, Tattooed Boy in Memphis, The Boy From, The Girl from Ipanema, The Man with a Horn, The Other Side of the Tracks, Truman Eliot “Jack” Jenney, Venues, Vocalists