Steven Page: Heal Thyself: Past, Present and Future
Steven Page
Heal Thyself: Past, Present and Future
Café Carlyle, NYC, March 22, 2016
Reviewed by Elizabeth Ahlfors for Cabaret Scenes
Steven Page, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter, currently appears at the Café Carlyle with his show Heal Thyself: Past, Present and Future. After years singing in larger venues, Page has no problem settling comfortably into the intimacy of the Café Carlyle, joined by Craig Northey on electric guitar and Kevin Fox on cello.
In the generous selection from his 20-year career singing quirky folk and pop/rock, the show includes some of his current eclectic retrospectives on life from his new CD, Heal Thyself Pt. 1: Instinct. In the late 1980s, Page co-founded the Barenaked Ladies in Canada with Ed Robertson and, while playing songs of irony with driving melodies, they injected snappy quips, establishing a signature down-to-earth aura. At the Carlyle, Page and Northey keep the taste of that signature edgy mix.
Page left Barenaked Ladies in 2009 to be a solo artist, singing and playing piano and guitar, and delving into emotional fears in songs like “No Song Left to Save Me” (Page/Northey), striking with pathos. Songs like “Manchild” (Page/Northey) and “Jane” (Page/Stephen Duffy) expose mid-life apprehension. (“Jane isn’t giving me a chance to be shameful.”)
His voice is robust, but well-controlled for the small room—a space he uses well, keeping good eye contact. At one point, he gives his regards to Broadway with a taste of “Being Alive.” He has an honesty that urges you pay attention to his neurotic free-associating with crowd favorites like “Brian Wilson.” He comes across as a guy you know, and letting listeners get to know him. “You don’t love me anymore,” he sings in his goodbye to yesterday with “Linda Ronstadt in the ’70s” (with Duffy) and recalls “only memories, fading memories/Blending into dull tableaux/I want them back” in the memories of “The Old Apartment” (Page/Ed Robertson).
With catchy melodies and carefully crafted lyrics that only sound casual, Page muses about personal growth and pain, forming a full show worth seeing and a CD to enjoy. Tracing his life, he proves that “No Song Left to Save Me” is probably not quite true for Steven Page.
Category: Cabaret Reviews, New York City, New York City Cabaret Reviews, Regional
