Deborah Darr: Auditioning for Life—Broadway and Me!
Deborah Darr
Auditioning for Life—Broadway and Me!
Davenport’s, Chicago, IL, October 12, 2015
Reviewed by Carla Gordon for Cabaret Scenes
Deborah Darr’s very personal Auditioning for Life: Broadway and Me! shares her hit and miss journey to become a successful Broadway singer/dancer. She ended up rubbing elbows with Leonard Bernstein and Hal Prince who cast her as Paquette in Candide in 1974. Beverly Sills cast her in the 1982 New York City Opera production. In 1989, right before she was to star in a new musical, Darr was in a near-fatal motorcycle accident and did not know whether she would walk or dance again. Although she started a new career as a physical therapist, happily her show business career had not ended. In 1994 Harold Prince sought Darr to reprise Paquette at Chicago’s Lyric Opera.
Darr is a big performer. She sings big, moves big and offers a big smile. We certainly sense this Broadway Baby’s determination in her fiery delivery of “Some People“ (Gypsy). Fit and slim with the professional dancer’s obvious grace, Darr is simultaneously sensual and classy as she perches atop Davenport’s baby grand recalling her days as a piano bar chanteuse. She sings “Always True to You in My Fashion” à la Betty Boop, nicely intertwined with stories about listeners ranging from over-friendly conventioneers to important show business movers and shakers. It’s fascinating and fun. Nick Sula provided excellent accompaniment consistently.
While Darr can belt with the best of ‘em, it is when she sings from a quiet, true place, that she engages us best. This may be especially so in a smaller cozy room like Davenport’s. We appreciate this most in her lovely rendition of “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” and James Taylor’s “The Secret o’ Life,” which closes the show in rich reflection.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, Chicago, Chicago Cabaret Reviews, Regional
