NiCori Presents: An Evening With… Corinna Sowers Adler and Friends
Corinna Sowers Adler weaves through the room singing a lilting “How Little We Know” (Hoagy Carmichael), her voice as open as her expression. Veering from the host’s usual invitations-to-performing-friends format, Sowers Adler tonight presents artists she, and she thinks we, would like to know better. Each picks from a hat, answering a question in aid of that.
Michael Kirk Lane
Michael Kirk Lane: Who is your mentor and what would you like to say to them? “Jay Rogers, who we lost about a year ago. I think of him with everything I do.” Lane presents two droll songs: “I Went to the Cabaret Convention (But Nobody Asked Me to Sing)” by R.G. Winters (undoubtedly a common dream) and “Try Again” by Joe Iconis. “Someone else’s success is not your failure/Unless it is…” Both are learn-to-roll-with-the-punches songs dedicated to his students. Subtle gestures work well.
Those Girls
Those Girls – Eve Eaton, Rachel Hanser, Karen Mack, Wendy Russell: What’s the hour like before you go on stage? “A ritual of putting our pinkies together, taking a Selfie, eating.” The ladies offer “Patterschmatter” arranged by Steven Ray Watkins, also on piano. On the one hand vocal dexterity and amusing bridges are grand. On the other, songs have zero relationship to each other making the medley meaningless. In appealing harmony, this is followed by Stephen Sondheim’s “Johanna” with a side of the songwriter’s “Pretty Ladies.”
Christine Lavin’s funny “Air Conditioner” arrives by way of Sowers Adler as a palette cleanser. Her confident slip/slide voice and wry expression is extremely relatable.
Hannah Jane
Hannah Jane: What has show business given you and what has it taken away? “An appreciation for people and a little bit of my sensitivity.” Realizing the question’s a bit inappropriate for a 22 year-old, the vocalist is also asked about her mentor. “Meg Flather (beaming from the back), who was the first person to love me as a person, not just an artist.” Perched on a stool, the young artist renders an infectiously hopeful “Willing to Ride” (John Kander/Fred Ebb), then “Maybe it Starts With Me” (Amanda Green) – to an absent father – which is well acted, if a bit too big for the tremulous lyrics.
Larry Yurman, Corinna Sowers Adler, Hannah Jane
Sowers Adler and Jane then duet on the rhythmic “You and Me on the Rock” (Brandi Carlile): “I build my house up on this rock, baby/Every day with you/ There’s nothin’ in that town I need/After everything we’ve been through…” and “On the Second Floor” (Meg Flather): “Details drift/As flowers bloom/In this funny, sunny room/I tell us both a little lie/Before we say goodbye” ably accompanied by Jane on guitar. They’re really good together.
Juson Williams: If you could experience one performance over again which would it be and why? Williams speaks at length about imagining parents he lost while young watching him perform. “I want to pay homage to all the powerful women in the world who had to make a choice,” introduces “She Used to Be Mine” (Sara Bareilles): “She’s imperfect but she tries/She is good but she lies/She is hard on herself…Suddenly he’s quiet and focused. Melisma adds to a vulnerable, gospel quality. Alas, Williams looks over our heads not at us. Elton John/Bernie Taupin’s “I’m Still Standing” is clearly meant to be a sing-along but, except for its chorus, only one person knows the lyrics. This doesn’t stop the performer who manages to get the back of the room to sing its refrain and the rest clapping. Too much awkward effort.
Juson Williams
Our host returns with Paul Gordon’s “The Secret of Happiness, ” a pretty song, prettily performed. Phrasing is splendid. “I’ve discovered,” Sowers sings bowing forward;“all illusions fade,” she continues, hand creating a soft arc…“The secret of happiness is clear/The secret of happiness is near/The secret of happiness is here, “ she finishes, hand on her heart. A lovely way to end the show.
Photos by Nick Adler
NiCori Presents: An Evening With…
Host/Vocalist- Corinna Sowers Adler
MD- Larry Yurman
Special Guest- Steven Ray Watkins
The Laurie Beechman Theatre
407 West 42nd Street
