Robyn Spangler knows how to keep an audience entertained with her sweet voice and vivacious stage presence.  After a bit of a shaky start in her debut cabaret performance, her voice and her confidence seemed to get stronger as she relaxed a bit as the evening progressed .

She scored her strongest moments on two ballads: “Reflection” from Mulan (David Zippel/Matthew Wilder) — arguably her best number, with a powerful vocal delivery — and “You’re Free, I’m Gone” by musical director and accompanist Todd Schroeder.

This self-described farmer’s daughter from the Midwest used some big-city sass to sell such numbers as “But You Ain’t Getting Lucky Tonight” by Geoffrey Leigh Tozer, and “Hit Me with a Hot Note” by Duke Ellington and Don George — acknowledging she was singing it an octave above her normal range and managing to keep it together to hit an inspiring hot note as the end.

She also displayed her “bad, bad woman” status by advising audience members they had to ask her permission for a bathroom break during her performance  — using it as a running gag throughout the show before the payoff late in the evening when she sang “It’s a Privilege to Pee” from Urinetown (Greg Kotis/Mark Hollman).

Spangler showed she knows how to have fun with a lyric in her opening number, the bouncy "Don't Ask a Lady” (Cy Coleman/Carolyn Leigh) from the 1982 revival of Little Me; and in the uproarious “Menopause Rag” (Mark Winkler/Marie Cain/Shelly Markham) from Too Old for the Chorus.

While her relaxed patter put each song into a specific context, Spangler spent a bit too much time recalling her days as a singing telegram delivery girl — adding a frowsy wig and cowboy hat along with a couple of balloons to boost her figure, which was OK; but she spent too much time dressing up an audience member with equally ridiculous props.  The whole segment could have been cut in half, or cut out altogether, without detracting from the overall show.

Spangler was ably supported by Schroeder; Tim Christianson on bass; Robert Kyle on saxophone and performing a strong flute solo on “Love Potion No. 9”; and added vocals by Wendy Tuttle.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
May 23, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org