It’s been four years since we last reviewed Hayden Tee when he visited the U.S., and what a difference!  The youthful, likeable Hayden Tee we enjoyed four years ago has matured into a scintillating performer with a golden voice. 

He’s become polished enough to manage a cabaret coup – keeping his audience truly interested in the autobiographical first-half of his show.  Harking back to his small New Zealand town youth, he punctuated his patter with Maori phrases, a song in the native tongue and a vigorous native dance. (Now, that’s something New York cabaret goers seldom get a chance to witness.)

Equally enchanting was Hayden’s ability to rewrite lyrics for his own purposes.  The transformation of Rodgers and Hart’s “Happy Hunting Horn” into an account of a day in the woods with his father, was not only funny, it was moving. He repeated the feat with a riotous “Testimony,” utilizing twelve-step allusions in his confessions to the world that he is an obsessive “Broadway Show Tune Queen.”  Chris Denny’s accompaniment was perfect. In the tech department, J. P. Perreaux adeptly handled lights and sound.

This early January show was an exhilarating beginning to the year.  Hayden set a high standard for others who follow.  He concluded with a welcome announcement: he’s on the prowl for a New York apartment.  It’s nice to contemplate that, after he unpacks, we’ll have more opportunities to catch Hayden Tee in cabaret.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
January 9, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org