“Undecided” (a song included in a medley) about what to listen to? Here’s the deal – skip the A Train and catch the Uptown Express. In the tradition of 80 years of popular music, Christopher Caswell, John DePalma, newest-member Jaymes Hodges and Brad Parks guarantee a pick-me-up with their close, seamless harmonies and an upbeat spirit.

At the top of their current show, Gotta Be This or That (song by Sunny Skylar), they invite you to “Hurry On Down” (Nellie Lutcher). Once you’re there, you won’t want to leave. Leapfrogging from Billy Joel to Oscar Levant to the Beatles, this crackerjack vocal group delivers the driving energy of “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (with Anyone Else but Me)” (Lew Brown/Sam H. Stept /Charles Tobias) paired with “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” (Don Raye/Hughie Prince). They follow this with the poignancy of Levant and Edward Heyman’s “Blame It on My Youth.”  Just as you’re grooving to the Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows,” you begin toe-tapping back to 1938 with a special Mills Brothers arrangement of “Jeepers Creepers” (Harry Warren and Johnny Mercer), including the trumpet wa-wa mute. There were more than a few people singing along with the Mills Brothers’ biggest hit, “The Glow-Worm” (music by Paul Lincke with Lilla Cayley Robinson’s original lyrics and modern lyrics by Johnny Mercer).

The group adapts the minimally choreographed movements of the pre-‘60s boy groups, well-balanced rhythm and vocals and the polished backup by Musical Director/pianist/arranger, James Followell, Sean Conly on bass and “Smiling” Dan Gross on drums. Other selections include favorites by vocal groups like the Temptations. Also added are new arrangements to hits by solo vocalists like Garth Brooks’s “Friends in Low Places” (Earl Bud Lee and DeWayne Blackwell). John DePalma steps forward with Billy Joel’s “My Life,” Brad Parks delivers Nick Santamaria’s “Morse Code of Love” to a resonant drum beat, and the atmosphere glows with Jean-Pierre Perreaux’s astute lights and sound.

Their encore, “The Best Thing About Me Is You,” (Eric Bazilian/Ricky Martin/Desmond Child/Andreas Carlsson) begins: “Love, equality, justice, innocence, malice, refuge, oppression, freedom, you, me/We're equal.”  Serendipitously, at the same time, it was announced that the same-sex marriage bill was finally signed in Albany.

Elizabeth Ahlfors
Cabaret Scenes
June 24, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org