Sue Matsuki & Edd Clark: Sue & Edd’s Fabulous Christmas Show
Sue Matsuki & Edd Clark
Sue & Edd’s Fabulous Christmas Show
Metropolitan Room, NYC, July 14, 2015
Reviewed by Peter Leavy for Cabaret Scenes
It’s almost become a New York tradition: celebrating the holidays by seeing Sue Matsuki and Edd Clark’s Christmas show. An engaging pair, their pre-holiday shenanigans have garnered several MAC award nominations and a happily loyal following. But why Christmas in July this year, you ask? ‘Twas because they were recording the show and they wanted it ready early enough to promote their more usual dates in December. And a roomful of people were thankful for it, because their show in the cool confines of the Metropolitan Room provided an entertaining and delectable counterpoint to a hot and muggy New York July evening.
It didn’t take long to get the show out of the gate. The opening medley started with David Friedman’s classic “My Simple Christmas Wish” (“I want to be rich, famous and powerful”) and included a half-dozen immediately-recognizable selections with lyrics custom-tailored to the occasion. Then and there, the evening was worth the price of admission and then some. Before the night was over, the song list had run from teasing to tradition, from Irving Berlin’s “Count Your Blessings (Instead of Sheep)” to a not-too-subtly suggestive Garth Brooks number, “I Know What Santa’s Getting for Christmas.”
There were plenty of familiar songs, but some were new to most of the the crowd. Matsuki’s rendition of a contemporary Paul Rolnick/Jane R. Snyder number, “My Old Family Quilt,” was nostalgic and touching, followed shortly thereafter by Clark’s smartly lampooning version of Wynn Varbles’ “I’d Be Jolly, Too.” For the novelty item “Mele Kalikimaka,” translated as “Merry Christmas,” by Honolulu-born R. Alex Anderson and popularized by Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters in 1950, both the singers and the microphones were adorned with Hawaiian leis.
With few exceptions, the arrangements, handsomely tailored to the two vocalists and the mood of the show, were created by the musical director and pianist, Paul Stephan. He, in turn, was ably assisted by Saadi Zain on the double bass.
After so many years of performing together, Matsuki and Clark take the measure of each other with musical panache, and their duets were admirably handled. On two occasions, they even had an audience sing-along. As Matsuki and Clark closed the show with their wish for the audience, “May Every Day Be Christmas,” one thought struck me, one change they might consider for when they return to the Metropolitan Room with this show in December. That one audience sing-along encouraged in the middle of the program, “Silent Night”—could they save it for the last? On an appropriately cold mid-December night, it would be such a fitting way to close the show and celebrate the approaching Christmas Eve.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews
