What I liked
I’ve been an Allan Sherman fan since the 4th grade when one of my elementary school teachers in Cleveland played the entirety of “My Son, The Folk Singer” during detention because he felt sorry for us. (Dude didn’t quite grasp the concept of Punishing The Delinquents With Detention.) I immediately cajoled my parents into finding/buying all of his albums for me.
I LOVED that Linden broke out some of the rare AS gems in her delightful show! She has a great voice, she’s charming and commanding on stage, that dress she wears is FANTASTIC and she wears it Quite Well people, also loved the set (and the bit with the eyeglasses), and shout-out to Majorie, who does more than just play the piano for the show.I also loved that, during the patter between songs, Linden shared facts about AS life that I didn’t know. Some of these facts are sad, but she doesn’t let them bring us down.
And the audience participation part at the end was AWESOME.
What I didn't like
I didn’t like that I had to bug out fast at show end so I couldn’t wait on the sidewalk for her to come out so I could tackle hug her.
ALSO NO AARDVARK SONG IN THE SHOW?! REALLY???!!! THAT IS MY FAVORITE OF HIS SONGS OUTSIDE OF THE SUMMER CAMP SONG OMGWTF I WAS TOTALLY WAITING FOR THAT SONG AND IT DIDN’T HAPPEN UNFOLLOW!
Kidding! It’s fine that she chose for whatever reason not to include the aardvark song in her show. This is her caberet sharing of her fave AS songs, and it works.
(That said…the aardvark song is one You Reading This Review should find on YouTube if you don’t know it. Or you can just find me at #FringeCentral, wait for me to get a couple few gin & tonics down at Bryan’s Bar, and then ask me to sing it to you and I probably will. I’ll be off tune though. Because, unlike Linden Waddell, I do not have a wonderful singing voice.
My overall impression
Linden Waddell, with assist from musical director/accompanist Majorie Poe & director Janet Miller, has Gifted us with a FANTASTIC, upbeat, hilarious, family friendly caberet-style presentation of Allan Sherman’s work, and you should go see it.
