Norbert Leo Butz: Torch Songs for A Pandemic

Posted on August 23, 2021 by Alix Cohen in Playing Around

I’m a fan. On Broadway and off (film, concert) there’s no doubt this artist has talent and charisma. I highly recommend his last show at 54Below, Girls, Girls, Girls (now a CD) for thru-line, song choice and performance. The incoherent Torch Songs for A Pandemic, however, contains very little of either subject reference, lurching along as if songs were picked out of a hat.

Butz opens at the piano with lengthy anecdotes about early classical lessons and snippets of songs heard from “the bunker” downstairs where his brothers listened to rock and roll. Eventually we learn he spent seven months of the pandemic in Vancouver, Canada, separated from his family. This leads into a celebration of Canadian artists beginning with the angsty ballad “Gold in Them Hills” by Ron Sexsmith.

Guest Crystal Monee-Hall then joins Butz onstage for songs by two more Canadians. Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” is an unusually smooth arrangement that changes tone from flirty to musing. The voices work well together. A sober “Unknown Legend” (Neil Young) elicits tenuous tribute to single mothers coping during the virus.

Unfortunately lyrics to Peter Gabriel’s (not a Canadian) Afro-Punk “Solsbury Hill” are unintelligible, though music and groove emerge appealing. “9 to 5” (Dolly Parton) a highlight, follows comments on passing a minimum wage bill. Connection may be illusive, but the original arrangement is terrific. Mairi Dorman Phaneuf’s cello adds melodic underpinning. Butz plays resonant guitar.

Fleetwood Mac’s “Go On Your Way” is yoked by “the drama of making that album, Rumors, was like that of the pandemic.” Bruce Springsteen’s “(Looking for) The Heart of Saturday Night” ends the concert.

Butz sings well, clearly exhibiting the heart of a rock n’roller. His energy is unfailingly high. He’s likeable. From what one can hear in duet Crystal Monee-Hall also has a fine voice. The show, however, feels unglued.

Feinstein’s 54/Below presents
Norbert Leo Butz: Torch Songs for A Pandemic
Norbert Leo Butz- Piano, Guitar, VocalsGuest Vocalist Crystal Monee-Hall
Band: Mairi Dorman Phaneuf, Daimon Grant, Adam Deascentis

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About Alix Cohen (1731 Articles)
Alix Cohen is the recipient of ten New York Press Club Awards for work published on this venue. Her writing history began with poetry, segued into lyrics and took a commercial detour while holding executive positions in product development, merchandising, and design. A cultural sponge, she now turns her diverse personal and professional background to authoring pieces about culture/the arts with particular interest in artists/performers and entrepreneurs. Theater, music, art/design are lifelong areas of study and passion. She is a voting member of Drama Desk and Drama League. Alix’s professional experience in women’s fashion fuels writing in that area. Besides Woman Around Town, the journalist writes for Cabaret Scenes, Broadway World, TheaterLife, and Theater Pizzazz. Additional pieces have been published by The New York Post, The National Observer’s Playground Magazine, Pasadena Magazine, Times Square Chronicles, and ifashionnetwork. She lives in Manhattan. Of course.

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