As the title suggests, being game is the name of the game: willingness to try, try again—go anywhere, learn any skill. Mission: to audition. Payoff: paying gigs, plum roles. Michael Buchanan can sing high, hot and fiercely. (He makes sure you know it.) He’s coy, cute and charismatic. (I think he knows it.) His determined confidence can border on cockiness, veering into a sense of entitlement. (I don’t know if he has a clue.) Audition stories involve callbacks and calls from his agent and mastering choreography on special wheeled shoes, though fleet feet are not this not-so-much-a-dancer’s forte. I’m reminded of Barbra Streisand’s line dishonestly professing confidence in a similar situation in Funny Girl: “Can I roller-skate?!!” He didn’t get that job but landed in the short-lived Broadway Cry-Baby. He gets muchos juice from that score’s loopy “Screw Loose.” Oh, he belts fearlessly! With plenty of sass, he strikes attitudes and loves the spotlight. What’s underneath the surface? More surface? Singing the tender “I Thought We Were Children” by Hannah Kohl, he reveals some vulnerability and introspection.

NYC is overflowing with young people who are overflowing with singing talent and gals and guys with their eyes on the prize. Savvy Michael Buchanan has voice to burn and a burning desire to show his wares, with a devilish sense of fun. His self-deprecation is an asset that serves to offset his…. or, wait a minute, maybe it’s just part of the act.

Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
April 12, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org