Fran Landesman is back in town!!! Under the aegis of Cabaret St. Louis she gave four performances October 22nd through 25th at the Gaslight Theatre to utterly adoring audiences. Ms. Landesman and her husband Jay were the central figures in that astonishing cultural phenomenon called Gaslight Square some forty years ago. They were proprietors of the Crystal Palace, where many of America's brightest young talents made fledgling appearances. A significant songwriter, Fran penned the lyrics to that curious Beatnik musical, The Nervous Set. On stage, she’s a ravishingly unregenerate eighty-one-year-old Beatnik chick. Appearing a little frail but wearing a raucous Iron Maiden T-shirt, she held us in the palm of her hand as she treated us to rich helpings of her poetry and song. Fran never claimed to be a singer and stuck mostly to her poetry. Our own Anna Blair, who has a lovely voice, did much of the actual singing. Ms. Blair, with a natural glow and deeply engaging eyes, can be beautifully warm, as shown in "Tomorrow Never Came," or delightfully playful, as in "Feet, Do Your Stuff." At the piano, Joe Dreyer was elegant perfection itself.
Steve Callahan
Cabaret Scenes
October 22, 2008
www.cabaretscenes.org
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