XOXOXmas!  'Tis is the season to be jolly.  Stephanie J. Block loves Christmas and she's got the voice to prove it.  Kicking off the holiday season at Birdland, Block, a well-trained actor/singer (Wicked, The Pirate Queen, The Boy from Oz) does not ignore the lyrics in favor of her impressively rangy voice.  Her songs live in the expressionistic school of musical art, full of heat and emotions, concentrating on the story with some lovely tender tones as well as the crowd-pleasing power notes.

Mel Tormé and Robert Wells' "A Christmas Song" was mellow, with just piano accompaniment, then guitar.  Block's voice was buoyant, her communication tender. She admitted that this is the season for her to be sentimental with Hugh Martin's "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas."  This is a song that has seen several lyric changes over the years, and Block selected the Judy Garland version from Meet Me in St. Louis.

The show balanced smoothly between poignant and perky.  Her opening was swinging hard with Irving Berlin's "I Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" interwoven with Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne's "Let It Snow! Let ItSnow! Let It Snow!"  She adapted the Streisand, j-j-"Jingle Bells" (James Pierpoint) rendition with jolting rhythms and racing lyrics.  Block snuggled into a melancholy mood with Frank Pooler and Richard Carpenter's,  "Merry Christmas, Darling," and shared the inspiration in David Friedman's "We Must Be Kind."  Dedicated to her mother, she delivered a gorgeous "Christmas Lullaby" by Jason Robert Brown.  With pianist Domenic Amendum leading a five-piece band, Block deconstructed, "O Little Star of Bethlehem" and invited everyone to sing along with "Silent Night."  Are you surprised that no one took the opportunity to sing along with Stephanie J. Block?

At one point, she stopped the music to read a children's book, The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.  She followed this with Ayrens and Flaherty's "Something Beautiful," referring to a photograph of a tree in Central Park and like the book, it reflects the viewpoint of the tree.

With her good humor, outgoing personality and vocal power, Stephanie J. Block successfully folds theatrical drama into cabaret gemütlichkeit for a tasty musical feast anytime of the year.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
November 29, 2009
www.cabaretscenes.org