Theme: Songs of bitterness, love gone wrong. Dark and dreary? Shrill sound and fury of a woman scorned? Romantic roadkill overkill? Killer voice? Sometimes. Annie Edgerton puts the “edge” in Edgerton but can be comically blithe or blazing to better the bitter. Tongue in cheek or turning the other cheek, it was a mix. A rowdy crowd hooped and hollered, even throwing the pre-show candy table treats across the room. Canny Annie brashly sassed through “Goody Goody” but elsewhere showed maturely sculpted acting. Examples: Broadway songs of breaking-up and solitude from High Fidelity, Next to Normal, and “Be on Your Own” from Nine. More came from the world of pop, of uneven accessibility, plus attractive material by high octane pianist/Musical Director Steven Silverstein who revs up musical engines, too. Not that Annie needs more fuel for her fires. She can be as subtle as a wildfire sweeping through drybrush.

Irreverent and self-deprecating, animated Annie dwelled on computer dating disasters but softened in a sweet running bit about a crush on a pro baseball player. She offered her own lyrics to “Baby Face,” weaving in an original song, playing guitar: endearing but feeling like a work in progress. Despite the ha-ha approach to revenge and regret, sourness and seething certainly surfaced—but some sensitivity, too. Though by various turns cathartic, comical, crazed or calloused, it only rarely took on the other “C” words—Cabaret and caring—empathy, revealing human beings behind masks. Less might be more—and less exhausting.

Rob Lester
Cabaret Scenes
July 20, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org