Dean Regan is a “Method” singer: his concentration is intense and he is an actor drawing from deep inside himself, with each song he does in this show.  His voice is surprisingly supple:  at full voice, big enough to raise the rafters in, say, the St. James Theatre in New York without a microphone. It can also be so quiet you can sometimes barely hear it with a mic.  It has lovely range, with a falsetto that blends into his baritone as one.  And he used it all, plus enough physical energy for a couple more guys.  He is a theater man.  And he told us about it: about being taken to New York, as a teenager, to see his first Broadway musical and getting a backstage tour thrown in for good measure.  And, of course, he was hooked.  After university (UCLA) and a national tour with Pirates of Penzance,  he made it to Broadway with a dressing room window that overlooked the Great White Way itself.

His program was made up of songs from “Old Devil Moon” to “Paper Moon,” from the Ray Bolger-associated “Once In Love with Amy” – with audience sing-along -  to “Ya Got Trouble,” made famous by Robert Preston, with stops for a medley from Man of La Mancha (where he used the microphone stand as his pike) to another medley from Cabaret.  I have only seen one other cabaret performer (Nancy Dussault) who could, without props, physically change him/herself into a character.  As he introduced Man of La Mancha, he, holding on to the mic stand with one hand, slowly aged, shriveled and twisted into the knight.  As he told us about playing The Emcee in Cabaret, he suddenly became the character.  And then reveled in it.  In the medley was a lovely “Maybe This Time.”  He did a touching “Being Alive” (Bobby's song from Company, another part he has played) and so it went, finally closing with “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. His printed material suggests he can sing anything from opera to Broadway to big band to doo-wop.  I believe it!

Jack Moore
Cabaret Scenes
December 6, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org