If you’re thinking that a show with Elvis Presley songs will be mostly fluff and strut, think again. There’s a thinking man’s Elvis show. Re-inventing things with the known-to-be-fertile mind of Musical Director Daryl Kojak (who led the instrumental quintet), center stage was the very centered Anthony Cochran. Remarkably intense in his pulled-in, emotions-out way, he’s immediately intriguing and challenging, while engendering empathy with the very first lines of “Are You Lonesome Tonight.” Shadows of lonesomeness hover over “Heartbreak Hotel” as he checks in for more moodiness and turns it into a serious and searing story-song, not a rant or a wallow. Songs are taken apart and put back together to make something new, just as the show’s title, Lives, is an anagram of the superstar’s name. Rarely sounding locked in their era or genre and thereby nostalgia-soaked or trite, the numbers become heavier and hip, all sans hip-swinging or wailing. Too smart to overdo the drama, he leavens the evening with lighter fare (“Polk Salad Annie”), straightforward versions, self-deprecating patter and chatty recollections of growing up in the South with some Elvis-loving family. (However, he should take care not to overdo specifically directing comments to family, friends and employees in the very packed audience as it excludes others.)

Adding especially effective, striking and attractive, judiciously employed back-up/harmony vocals were Margaret Dorn and Tanya Holt. As the recent Terese Genecco/Sean Harkness Presley cabaret also proved, the Elvis songbook is not written in stone—or should I say “rock”? Nice surprise!

Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
April 27, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org