How would you describe Peter Allen? Let’s put it this way: If Bette Midler had gotten pregnant after a one-night stand with Elton John (hey, it could have happened—maybe) and raised a son in Australia, he probably would have been Peter Allen (okay, they were contemporaries, but you catch the drift). Allen, who died of AIDS in 1992 at 48, was a flamboyant and sassy piano-playing singer-songwriter who was much underrated even at the height of his fame from the mid-70s to the mid-80s. I became a fan of Allen’s music in the ‘70s and was lucky enough to see him perform live four times—at the Copacabana, at Radio City, at Carnegie Hall and when he did his one-man 1979 Broadway show Up in One. Every show was, to use an Allen word, “fabulous” because, on top of his great songs, he was one of the most energetic and entertaining performers to grace a stage.

Allen’s legacy had taken a hit before and after he died, mainly due to his 1988 Broadway flop Legs Diamond and the disappointing 2003-04 musical about his life The Boy From Oz, which starred Hugh Jackman. So last summer I was thrilled to learn a cabaret performer from Australia, Darren Williams, was staging a Peter Allen tribute show at the Metropolitan Room. Darren did such justice to the Allen songbook, I wanted to see how the set had developed when he performed it again this past December, this time at the Laurie Beechman Theatre.

Darren’s take on Peter Allen is entertaining, enjoyable, and reverential, but, for a true fan, a bit unsatisfying, especially in a New York venue. Darren has been doing this show for a few years now and, while I’m sure the biographical structure once worked well (Allen’s start in Australia as part of The Allen Brothers, his friendship with Judy Garland and the brief, misguided marriage to Liza Minnelli, etc.), and is a wonderful way to introduce Allen’s music and persona to audiences outside of New York, it’s time that Darren created a new show structure with different songs to truly highlight Allen’s superb songwriting talent.

Not that the show at the Beechman wasn’t a treat. Jogging to the stage in white boots, and wearing a silver jacket over white leather pants and a white shirt, the handsome Aussie charmed the audience with just enough hip-swivel (on the opener “Not the Boy Next Door”) and pec-flexing (during “Knockers” from Legs Diamond) to capture some of the Allen stage presence. The only thing lacking in the patter was more of Allen’s cheeky, double-entendre humor (the kind that Bette does so well), which probably gets lost when so much of the focus is on telling Allen’s life story.

As a singer, Williams has a stronger voice and more range than Allen did in his heyday and he handled every style of Allen song masterfully (and there were 23 songs), from the plaintive “Harbour” to the aching “I’d Rather Leave While I’m in Love” to the bouncy “Bi-Coastal” to the raucous “I Go to Rio.” He even played the piano to great effect on “I Honestly Love You” and, using a gizmo called a “loop station,” sang with himself on the line “When you get lost between the moon and New York City” that Allen contributed to the song “Arthur’s Theme” for the film Arthur.

But it’s the selection and placement of songs in a biographical structure that prevents Darren’s show from being a true tribute to Allen’s songwriting greatness. A perfect finale number like “Audience” is misplaced at the top of the show. Some of Allen’s lesser melodies such as “All the Lives of Me,” “Once Before I Go,” “Don’t Wish Too Hard” (a big song that doesn’t translate well with a smaller orchestra in a cabaret space) and even “Arthur’s Theme” and “Knockers” could be swapped out for the stronger and quirkier “I Don’t Go Shopping,” “Fly Away,” “She Loves to Hear the Music,” “I Could Really Show You Around,” “Back Doors Crying,” and “The Natural Thing to Do.” In a cabaret show, a great concert song such as “Continental American” loses something when there isn’t a long, driving piano riff, and the wonderfully wistful “6:30, Sunday Morning” loses its power when the cynical “New York, I Don’t Know About You” isn’t linked with it.

In spite of those flaws, Darren’s homage to the Boy from Oz is charming, compelling and captivating. Now it’s time for him to re-imagine this show and make “everything old new again.”

Stephen Hanks
Cabaret Scenes
December 22, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org