Demaree Alexander is a singer who has an eclectic collection of vocal styles.  That became rapidly apparent with her second song — a version of “Miss Otis Regrets (She’s Unable to Lunch Today)” (Cole Porter) that had a definite country-and-western twang to it and yet, sung as an up-tempo, worked very well.  So did the song that followed, a rhythm-and-blues rendition of “Feeling Good” (Anthony Newley/Leslie Bricusse, The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd).

Later in the show, a simple, straightforward performance of “Nature Boy”(Eden Ahbez) seemed to allow the audience to share a moment of real togetherness as Alexander showed off her lush vocal instrument and a deep emotional connection to what she described as her mother’s favorite song.  And she demonstrated her full classical range on “The Song That Goes Like This” (Eric Idle/John De Prez, Spamalot )— a hilarious duet with her brother, Braden Danner, who came on stage from the audience to push the over-the-top song over the top, with each trying to out-sing and upstage the other.  Danner, who was in the original production of Nine and played Gavroche in the original cast of Les Misérables, had not sung professionally for more than 20 years, so as funny as the moment was to the audience, it must have been very heartwarming to the two siblings.

However, while the duet was a nice touch, it was representative of one of the drawbacks of the evening — too much reliance on guest stars and other singers to support Alexander and not enough of just Alexander, alone.  Of her 13 songs, only seven featured Alexander singing by herself:  two others featured excellent harmonies from Jessica Buda and Dee Dee Magno Hall; two more songs featured Kevin Odekirk, one of which featured a very brief appearance by Maura Hanlon Smith; one featured just Magno Hall — a very moving performance of “I Know Him So Well” (Benny Andersson/Tim Rice/Bjorn Ulvaeus, Chess) that showed off Mango Hall’s sultry mellow voice; and the other was the duet with her brother.

Alexander certainly has the chops to entertain and charm an audience on her own, with a little less help from her friends.  Besides the outstanding “Nature Boy,” her best solos came on “I Surrender” (Louis Biancaniello/Sam Watters)—in which she used no histrionics but simply sang, and sang beautifully—and her encore, “The Wizard and I” (Stephen Schwartz, Wicked) in which she demonstrated enthusiasm and earnestness in a powerful performance.

Alexander also had a tendency — perhaps prompted by nerves — to let out a whopping “woo!” at the end of a couple of songs, and there was an awkward moment at the end of a pretty version of “Some People’s Lives” (Janis Ian/Rhonda Fleming) when Alexander and Musical Director Bob Remstein simply stopped at the same time before the audience realized the song had ended and started applauding.

Although she failed to ever mention the last names of her brother or Buda, Alexander did give the musicians their full due, allowing each a solo on “L-O-V-E” (Bert Kaempfert/Milton Gabler) —Remstein on piano, Del Atkins on bass and Tom Walsh on drums.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
March 20, 2011
www.cabaretscenes.org