Miranda sings! She also dances, acts, models and does magic — all like a six-year-old who doesn’t realize how bad she really is, though that is exactly the point.

Like a distaff Pee-Wee Herman for a new generation, Miranda is so lovingly nerdy at what she does on stage that it all works for her.  Certainly the young adults, teens and pre-teens — so-called “Mirfandas” — who came to see her show thought so, laughing and screaming at every bad note, every awkward dance move, every pose, every grotesque face and every punch line.

Miranda is the creation of Colleen Ballinger, an attractive woman with a lovely singing voice, who has found a niche — first on YouTube, now on stages around the world — as “Miranda,” a classic class clown who truly believes everything she does is the best it could be and tells her audience so.

Coming onstage as Colleen, she began to sing what she told us was Miranda’s favorite song — Stephen Schwartz’s “Defying Gravity.”  The voice sounded fine, but a few lines into the song, she slipped on large red sweatpants and a striped shirt, pushed her hairline back with bobby pins and completed the transformation by smearing bright red lipstick across her lips.  As she did so, the voice lost its pitch, and Miranda was in the house.

As a regular part of her act, she calls a professional singer on stage to share her vast knowledge of performing.  On this occasion, it was Frankie James Grande, who performed a strong version of  “Too Pretty” (Katie Thompson) before getting demented advice from Miranda:  Did he warm up?, she asked him.  Yes, he replied.  Didn’t sound like it — try going up and down the scale while saying the word “bumblebee”—and instead of some of the naughty words in the song, say “bananas.” And rather than just singing in place, dance around the stage a bit.  “Try all that, or next time don’t sing,” Miranda advised.  Grande acquiesced to all her suggestions — ultimately looking as foolish as he was supposed to.

Also being a good sport was Julie Garnyé, who operates the room.  She duetted with Miranda on “I Will Never Leave You” (Henry Krieger/Bill Russell, Side Show) after being coached how to stand and make strange faces, as Miranda does, and having lipstick smeared across her face.   Garnyé was in top form vocally while Miranda sang way off-melody — a combination both carried off extremely well.

Miranda’s funniest moments, for this reviewer, came with her version of “Cell Block Tango” (Kander and Ebb’s Chicago), in which she sang and slurred bits of lyrics from all six women, and her final song, “Think of Me” (Andrew Lloyd Webber/Charles Hart and Richard Stilgoe, The Phantom of the Opera) — assisted by her brother, magician Christopher Ballinger — who put her neck in a small “stockade” and pushed a sword through the device.  Every time the sword supposedly pierced her vocal chords, she sang in a beautiful voice; every time he withdrew the sword, she reverted to Miranda’s signature off-key style.

Also appearing on stage was Todrick Hall, rapping with Miranda on “Boyfriend” (a Justin Bieber hit by Mike Posner and Mason Levy).  During that number and several other songs featured on Miranda’s YouTube videos, pre-recorded tracks were played over the room’s sound system while Musical Director Alexander Georgakis literally sat on his hands at the piano.  He did provide good accompaniment, however, on songs that were not taken from her videos.

Elliot Zwiebach
Cabaret Scenes
May 5, 2012
www.cabaretscenes.org