Karen Akers: It’s ABOUT TIME – Outstanding
Secure in a fan base, many veteran performers come to a plateau where they rest on laurels: greatest hits, stylistic formulas, presentations lacking vertebrae or individual discovery. Karen Akers insists on scaling a new mountain. Over the last few years, regal urbanity has given way to personal shows in which the artist’s vulnerability, humor and maturity are shared. Tonight’s sold out venue includes a great many vocalists here to watch an admired peer who has the guts to climb off her pedestal. Akers is no less refined, but rather more accessible; one of us.
“Twentieth Century Blues” (Noel Coward) sung as “Twenty-first Century Blues” arrives on fanned out notes with the tidal power of Gabriel’s horn. Akers assumes the pose. Oh the consternation! “All of us live under the curse of interesting times. Is time our enemy, our friend? Can we make peace with it?…”
The performer nestles into Cyndi Lauper/Rob Hyman’s “Time After Time” with accompaniment like spring rain. Akers rotates, settling on particular faces instead of the common blind sweep. “If you fall I will catch you,” she sings. We believe her. The melody grows increasingly slower, winding down like an old music box.
Irritated, she (ostensibly) answers her cell phone: Hello. No, it’s still not a good time…” A prickly conversation between two distinct characters ensues. Timing is superb. She talks, listens, and reacts. Here’s the actress. At the piano, MD Alex Rybeck seems to lock into her breathing. “I just sang a reggae, rhythm rap!” Akers notes gleefully. (“Conversation on a Cell Phone” – Leon Rosselson) This is the first of several selections delivered with wry aplomb.
In a wonderful “The Shelf Life of Love” (Stephen Lawrence/Mark Saltzman), lyrics complain that what a series of men left in the fridge lasted longer than relationships. How many contemporary artists can successfully embody the words “bemused” or “waggish.” Performance is deft.
“As a mother, I’ve been forced into a particular relationship with time which taught me the present moment is vitally important,” Akers begins with a call out to son Jeremy who surprised her by flying in from the coast. “A Child is Only a Moment” (Earl Brown) in inspired tandem with “Stop Time” (Richard Maltby Jr. /David Shire) emerges with pride, gratitude, and wistful warmth.
“If we can’t stop time, perhaps we can change its colors,” introduces “Les Couleurs du Temps” in English and (perfect) French. Immensely expressive, but not over the top, Akers imbues it with the finesse of an elegy. (Guy Beart/Alain Langner/ English lyric Karen Akers)
Every feeling in “I Loved You Once in Silence” (Alan Jay Lerner/Frederick Loewe) is savored as if tasting wine, rolling it around on her tongue. The whole song is heart wrenching instead of common versions where momentary joy changes its tone. Akers has perspective. Joni Mitchell’s iconic “Both Sides Now” is battle scarred, a state also reflected in Jason Robert Brown’s “All Things in Time: “Maybe it’s just wanting it more/Want it enough, want to begin/Everything in its time…” Her hands fist.
“Selective Memory” (Iris Rainer Dart/Mike Stoller) relates the singer forgetting daily things while vividly remembering “him.” Time plays tricks. Every image is conjured, lit from within as if by a flickering candle. We watch a heart laid bare. Akers pays lip service to nothing. She inhabits each story. Empathy soars.
Brad Ross’s marvelous “Now” affirms her love of live performance in an ironic conversation with a television/film actress touting security and income. The artist rhapsodizes about standing before an audience, each reference a small eruption of happiness. “Look what love has brought to me” sings the encore, “Time and Love and You.” (Lew Spence) Karen Akers’ arms extend, gathering us in.
Sequencing and minimal patter are just right. Eclectic material is well chosen.
Alex Rybeck’s masterful contribution makes a beeline for your heart.
Tom Hubbard reliably enriches.
Director Sara Lazarus illuminates with particularly bespoke skill.
An outstanding show.
Photos by Conor Weiss
Karen Akers: It’s ABOUT TIME
MD/Piano-Alex Rybeck
Bass-Tom Hubbard
Director Sara Louise Lazarus
Birdland
315 West 44th Street
April 24, 2023
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