Daisy Eagan is many things: a superb singer, a Tony-winning actress, a charismatic personality — and she can talk, too!

In an autobiographical evening that carried Eagan from age two to her current thirty, she sang all or parts of ten songs during a two-and-a-half hour show that concluded with twenty more minutes of questions and answers before she sang “The Girl I Mean to Be” (Marsha Norman/Lucy Simon) from The Secret Garden, which won Eagan a Tony as best featured actress in a musical, at age eleven, in 1991.

The professional and personal disappointments that followed that high point led to Eagan’s conclusion, as indicated late in the performance (much, much later in the performance) that no one knows what’s going to happen in life so we simply need to love ourselves and what we do, and take control of our own lives — a point she evocatively illustrated with “I’ll Take It from Here” (Jonatha Brooke).

So there could have been a very well-defined arc to the show, had Eagan designed it that way.  But she didn’t, choosing instead to give a chronological summary of her life, without shaping it into a cabaret show or theatrical piece. She had indicated before the show that she would be primarily a raconteur, and she was true to her word.  However, give the girl a blue pencil, and her life could make for a powerful show because she’s loaded with talent and has some interesting stories to tell, if she would simply edit her remarks down considerably.

The show opened strongly, with a superbly acted set-up that had Eagan missing her first introduction to the stage but stumbling up there “late,” then spending several minutes rummaging through her purse and pulling out packaged condoms, a dildo, pills, a Tony and more pills before launching into a dynamic version of Stephen Sondheim’s “Broadway Baby” — stopping every few lines to bemoan the state of her life in what she ultimately described as her subtext.

The first section of the show was utterly enjoyable, as she traced her path to the Tony, singing songs she said she sang at her auditions, including a sweet, straightforward “Over the Rainbow” (Harold Arlen/Yip Harburg) and an honest, emotional combination of “Where Is Love?” (Lionel Bart) paired with “Never, Never Land” (Jule Styne/Comden & Green) — accompanied here by Brad Ellis at the piano, though he spent more of the show listening to Eagan talk than playing for her.

Eagan’s life began to change, she told the audience, when her mother died a little over a year after she won the Tony.  At that stage of the show, Eagan’s deepest emotions took over as she tearfully described their final moments together — emotions for which she apologized profusely to the audience for letting her feelings interfere with her performance. Those feelings led to a very moving version of “I’ll Try” (Jonatha Brooke), which included the appropriate lyrics, “Mustn’t let them see me cry/I’m fine.”

But Eagan wasn’t fine, as she told the audience for the next hour, talking about drugs, rehab, broken romances, professional disappointments and an escalating disillusionment with TV work — a section that included “There’s a Fine, Fine Line” (Robert Lopez/Jeff Marx), which she sang in clear tones and with less bitterness, she noted, than the way it was sung in Avenue Q; and “Lorraine,” a song about people who aren’t very well off written by ex-boyfriend Jack Voorhies, who came on stage and accompanied her on guitar.

Having decided to quit acting, Eagan said she recently received a bachelor’s degree in psychology and creative writing and is now contemplating getting her master’s.

The Barre at the Vermont is in the space formerly occupied by the Upright Cabaret.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
July 17, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org