Jason Graae demonstrated again why he is known as the Edith Piaf of Our Time. We initially heard Jason’s voice coming from inside a locked trunk, raising the question of when will he get over his shyness? This being the Magic Castle, though, and Jason having played Harry Houdini in Ragtime, he did escape from the trunk to face the audience.Taken aback by the packed house, undoubtedly there to see music director Alex Rybeck in a rare California appearance, Jason shined through the song “Popular,” hoping that some of Rybeck’s popularity would rub off on him.

Mirroring sad circumstances in Piaf’s life, Jason, too, was fired as the voice of the Lucky Charms Leprechaun and he touchingly recreated the character for which he is best known. The show finished with him relying on the old cabaret cliché ending—playing David Rose’s "Holiday for Strings” on the oboe. For his encore, Jason donned a Hannibal Lecter mask and lifted that Piaf special material song “I Want to be a Slasher on Broadway.” My colleague Les Traub was too stricken with fits of inappropriate laughter throughout the show to put his Mount Blanc to paper, so I have had to write this review for him.

Walter Windshield
Cabaret Scenes
June 23, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org