BWW Reviews: FAITH PRINCE Knows A Thing Or Two About Musical Comedy

Faith Prince has a wonderful gift: she is that rare performer that can make you ache with laughter with a flick of an eyebrow or a scream of a line, then instantly make you sigh with melancholy with a heart-tugging ballad. That Fanny Brice-tinged bravado and uncompromising comedic timing, coupled with a full-bodied, bawdy vocal prowess, is why Ms. Prince's solo cabaret show is an entertainingly exciting live stage experience. The talented, Tony®-winning Broadway star (Guys and Dolls, The Little Mermaid, A Catered Affair, Bells Are Ringing) who also juggles a healthy career in film and television, recently returned to the Orange County Performing Arts Center to close out the Center's 2009-2010 Cabaret series. Her set, which she spoke about in an interview with BroadwayWorld, is a "Best of Faith Prince" showcase, in which she dips into many of her previous Cabaret offerings as well as offer new material that she debuted during the wonderfully zippy hour-and-fifteen minute set. Accompanied only by pianist and musical arranger Alex Rybeck, Prince commanded the stage and enraptured the opening night audience with a heartwarming set of jazz standards, Broadway favorites, rarely heard tunes, and some delightfully droll anecdotes from her career on the stage.

Opening the show with a medley of songs from her biggest, most noteworthy Broadway hits ("Take Back Your Mink," "Adelaide's Lament," and "A Bushel and a Peck" from Guys and Dolls; "Getting To Know You" from The King and I; and "Just In Time" from Bells Are Ringing), Prince sashayed up and down the front areas of the dimly-lit tables and greeted patrons with song and attitude. Here we get improv-ready Prince, a seasoned entertainer with quick witted comebacks, despite a very well-behaved set of front-table guests. Alternating between beautifully-rendered songs and all-too-brief anecdotal gems, Prince showcased exactly why her star turns on Broadway have met nothing but accolades and (award) recognition. Easing in and out of doing "Faith" and "Faith playing Someone Else" seamlessly throughout the performance, she puts in just the appropriate amount of emotion with each composition. Her parody of Cole Porter's "Take Me Back To Manhattan" re-imagined as "Take Me Back To The 80s" is brilliant, which she follows with a tongue-in-cheek "Shy" (from Once Upon A Mattress) proving to all that, despite the song, SHE is anything but...

Her stories follow the same idea... that she is not at all the shy type. Like her idols Lucille Ball and Liza Minelli, Prince did not see herself as another dime-a-dozen wallflower pixie performer but rather a fearless, ribald actress with a penchant for scene-stealing comedy routines. But when she goes into her sweetly beautiful "Somewhere That's Green" from The Little Shop Of Horrors (a role she wanted to get during its origins, but eventually played after Ellen Greene had left the show) she changes the mood of the room so effortlessly that a few patrons couldn't help but get a little teary-eyed. And almost instantly again, she duets with Rybeck in "Suddenly Seymour" right after, donning her role of Audrey's speech inflection to complete the transformation. Her choice of lesser known material (Carol Hall's observational "Tattooed Boy in Memphis," Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg's "Lydia," and the cute "Crossword Puzzle" from Starting Here, Starting Now) allows for a variety that highlights the performer's incredible control over her vocal instrument.

In a touching medley she dedicates to her husband of many years ("Not While I'm Around" from Sweeney Todd and "If He Walked Into My Life" from Mame), we are reminded again why Broadway's performers look and feel so much at home on a cabaret stage. Displaying her acting talent much like all great stage actors, the depth of her emotion during the Sondheim-Herman pairing is heartfelt and palpable. The audience responds well to her inclusion of "Poor Unfortunate Souls" from The Little Mermaid and "Coney Island" from A Catered Affair, two of her most recent stints on Broadway. In tribute to her musical theater muse, Minelli, her "But The World Goes 'Round" is a reverent homage to another female actress she humbly emulates. Fittingly, she ends the evening with "Before the Parade Passes By" from Hello, Dolly! The performance, though stripped down without much orchestral fanfare and the like, gives us a possible glimpse into what Prince may tackle next. (She has expressed a desire to play Dolly Levi in a future revival).

With this amazing cabaret set, Ms. Prince has definitely proven that whether she dons a heavy costume surrounded by million-dollar sets or just a piano, a few glasses of water and a mic, she is in command of a rapt audience. Her standing ovations are well-earned and deserved.

Grade: A

Read Faith Prince's Interview with BroadwayWorld, click HERE. 

Photo of Faith Prince and Alex Rybeck by Mark Ruff/BroadwayWorld.

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Faith Prince performs at the Samueli Theater April 8-11. Showtimes are at 7:30pm Thursday thru Saturday and 7pm on Sunday. Tickets are $72 and are available online at OCPAC.org, at the Center’s Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling 714.556.2787. For inquiries about group ticket discounts for 15 or more, call the Group Services office at 714.755.0236. The TTY number is 714.556.2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, April 10 will be sign-language interpreted.

Ms. Prince will next perform her cabaret show at The Colony Hotel's Royal Room in Palm Beach, Florida. Visit Faith Prince's official site at www.faithprince.com for more information.