A card on every table requesting that you submit any question whatsoever that you would like to ask a lesbian, and noting that it would be answered during the show was the first indication that this was going to be a unique evening. Beth Malone’s happy rendition of Donna Fargo’s hit “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” gave an upbeat beginning to the show, but there would be some mood swings in her story as she took us from age eleven to the present.

That eleven-year-old girl watched The Barbara Mandrell Show with an interest in more than her music, and repeatedly watched the Jodie Foster movie, Candleshoe, with a fascination that extended beyond the plot. From this beginning, she traces her journey through life as a lesbian with all its ups and (going) downs, supplying many of the technical details along the way.

Possessing a powerful voice which she used effectively from “belt” numbers to ballads, Malone delivered a song list of mostly contemporary material, such as John Mayer’s “Your Body Is a Wonderland” and Alan Menken and Glenn Slater’s “The Life I Never Led” from their musical, Sister Act, which Malone starred in during its initial run.

Malone might consider making this journey as a segment of a show rather than the whole evening. Her ability to effectively tell a humorous or touching story through patter or song would enable her to deliver a dynamite show no matter what the material.

Les Traub
Cabaret Scenes
Augsut 28, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org