Review: Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar Throw a Casual Party in Cocktail Attire in ALL FOR YOU at 54 Below

You know you're in for an elegant and lush cabaret evening when you see the stage filled with both a classical string quartet, as well as a full jazz quartet. That's right, eight musicians on the jewel box stage of 54 Below. And that's just what Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar delivered. All For You is a compendium concert of beautiful songs from their Broadway careers, and a wish list of roles they hope to assay in the future. Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow, Hello, Dolly!, Big Fish) and Aaron Lazar (The Light in the Piazza, A Little Night Music, Les Miserables) have taken their chemistry as theatrical BFFs and transformed it into a sophisticated mutual admiration society that is glorious for the eyes and the ears.

It would be hard to think of a Broadway pairing who are capable of such bravura singing and are so at ease in each other's company. The evening they have created is a casual party in cocktail attire. It feels like a throwback to the days of after-show supper clubs where the elite came to meet and mingle with mere mortals. Baldwin and Lazar do serious work with the lightest touch. Above all, it was an evening of unembarrassed passion, songs about love, fulfilled, unrequited, and tragic. Since the stage was packed, the songs frequently spilled into the audience space, which made the proceedings all the more charmingly intimate.

They began with one of the best love anthems of the past decade, Jason Robert Brown's "One Second and a Million Miles" from The Bridges of Madison County, a show the pair performed at the Axelrod Performing Arts Center recently. They, then, sang back-to-back numbers from the shows that brought them each to public attention, Baldwin's "Old Devil Moon" from Finian's Rainbow, and Lazar's soaring "Il Mondo Era Vuoto" from The Light in the Piazza. This was followed by three from the wish list. They gave a vivacious reading of "There Once Was a Man" from The Pajama Game. Kate Baldwin gave a seethingly contained "Could I Leave You?" from Follies, which Lazar contrasted with the stolid nobility of Man of La Mancha's "The Impossible Dream."

They next gave us the treat of an entire music scene, in this case the wryly comic "A Little Priest" from Sweeney Todd. Sticking with Sondheim, Aaron Lazar infused Sunday in the Park With George's " Finishing the Hat' with a philosopher's soul. Kate Baldwin gave a beautifully introspective performance of "You'll Never Walk Alone" from Carousel.

The last section of the concert was all music of Jason Robert Brown, a composer whose music sits in these two fine actors' voices as if he created it for them. They navigated "Falling Into You" and "Always Better" from The Bridges of Madison County with great aplomb. For their final number, they chose Brown's beautiful song about hope and regret, "I'd Give It All for You" from Songs For a New World. If there was a dry eye in the house, they must be made of sterner stuff than this reviewer.

The third character in tonight's concert was the orchestra, which gave such amazing flavor to this passionate evening. Music director Luke Frazier created some fantastic arrangements and orchestrations. His nearly all-string ensemble consisted of Dilyana Tsenova, Tiffany Weis, Jarvis Benson, Sean Neidlinger, Greg Watkins, David Cinquegrana and Dan Berkery. Listening to this chamber orchestra was a delight in itself. Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar continue their run of All For You on April, 13 at 7 pm. Get tickets while you can!

For tickets to All For You and for information on other great acts at 54 Below, visit 54below.com. For more about Kate Baldwin and Aaron Lazar, go to katebaldwin.com and aaronlazar.com or follow them @realkatebaldwin and @aaron_c_lazar on Instagram.

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