Uptown Express mixes it up: rock and roll, Broadway show tunes, dance hits, Top 40 numbers, the American Songbook—a rainbow of music, rich harmonies, smooth vocal stylings, a driving pulse and, above all, an infectious sense of fun. What is Uptown Express?  “It” is a “them”: four singers–Christopher Caswell, John DePalma, David Gurland and Brad Parks–who blend their voices into a single, non-stop, ever-changing confection of sound that had the audience at the Laurie Beechman Theatre beaming, tapping their toes, and raising their drinks in salute.

The show is all music: no patter, no intros, some solos within several numbers, occassional quips among the four men. No choreography, except for gentle shoe-shuffling and knee-bending in rhythm. A uniform look? Forget it: the men’s grab-bag of worn jeans and shirts only accented the “Hey! Here we are!” unslickness of the show, keeping the focus where it belonged: on the music. Credit director Lennie Watts with the honesty of the staging.

Key to the show is  the powerful musical direction, arrangements and accompaniment of James Followell, joined on stage by Dan Gross on drums and percussion and Sean Conly on acoustic and electric bass. It’s the same ensemble that appears on Uptown Express’s just-released CD, Take You There, produced by Paul Rolnick.

The songs? Oh yes. They ranged from standards to more current numbers, including GlowWorm (Mercer), It’s All Right with Me (Porter), Can’t Take My Eyes Off You (Gaudio/Crewe), You’re All I Need to Get By (Ashford & Simpson), Seasons of Love (Larson, from Rent ) Always (by Andy Bell and Vince Clarke, not Berlin) and the powerful new Love Grows Here (Koutrakos/Gross/Perreaux).

At the first-night show’s conclusion, the audience rose in cheers. Somewhere in the dark, you might have spotted this reviewer among them.

Peter Haas
Cabaret Scenes
September 9, 2010
www.cabaretscenes.org