If you’ve seen Brian Stokes Mitchell perform on Broadway, in concert or a cabaret room, you’ve heard him sing most of these songs. His appearances are memorable for many reasons — a majestic, resonant baritone, charismatic personality, impressive acting ability and his contagious delight in what he is doing. And his tall dark looks are no deterrent either. At The Town Hall, Mitchell again proved he is the unmatched matinee idol of today’s theater stage.

What is also to be appreciated is a freshness he injects into his selections, even his most familiar songs. They are never exactly the same, including the familiar trademark theater songs like “The Impossible Dream” (The Man of La Mancha) and a heartbreaking “This Nearly Was Mine” (South Pacific). The intent of these songs remains, the authority of the former and the regret in the latter. What he adds over time is a subtle refinement of the driving emotions, sometimes with timing, perhaps a more casual or more formal reading, or a jazz, rhythmic twist.

With theatricality but without artifice, Mitchell turned to Broadway musical theater, including a spare and intimate rendition of “Soliloquy” from Carousel, a show he has not yet performed. Remembering his first Broadway musical, Oh, Kay!, Mitchell salited the Gershwins with “’S Wonderful,” infused with joie de vivre and softly ending the line, “Just you alone filled me with...” a tender “...aaah.” Rhythmic energy animated “I Got Rhythm” and “Fascinating Rhythm.” Going to the dark side was Mitchell's jivey “Love for Sale,” sleazy and conniving, the pimp offering his wares. Pushing the jazz sensibility, Mitchell, pianist Tedd Firth, Gary Haase on bass, and drummer Clint de Ganon added musical layers to a pairing of “Take the ‘A’ Train” (Duke Ellington’s theme, written by Billy Strayhorn) and Stephen Sondheim’s “Another Hundred People.”

More personal was the gentle “New Words” for his son who was in the audience. For his wife, he scored with a fragile rendition “It Amazes Me.”

Mitchell admitted at one point that he wants to return to Broadway. Whether a musical revival of The King and I, Carousel or any worthy vehicle, he will stamp it with his own authority.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
April 17, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org