"Douglas Ladnier takes more chances than a lottery, but he pays off like a blue chip stock"

[moment2music]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 2:34pm

Douglas Ladnier LIVE TONIGHT @ DANNY'S SKYLIGHT ROOM
9:30 PM
$12/$12

Douglas Ladnier Puts it All Together

Douglas Ladnier takes more chances than a lottery, but he pays off like a blue chip stock; he is, by far, the most audacious performer in cabaret. There is nothing conventional about this remarkable singer, from his exquisitely rangy baritone voice to his own inventive and original arrangements. His new show, titled Root Position (a term denoting where the bass note is in a chord), offers a remarkable demonstration of his vocal prowess coupled with an artistic sensibility so keen, so fresh, so intellectually and emotionally satisfying that you leave Danny's Skylight Room in a state of euphoria.

Most cabaret acts open with a catchy, uptempo number to grab your attention and energize the room. Ladnier, perhaps the most innovative contrarian this side of the Hudson River, opens his show with the melancholy "Nightlife," moodily singing that "The Nightlife's/not a good life/but it's my life." Without pausing to allow for applause, he segues from there into a mysteriously romantic "Moondance" before concluding his opening song cycle of three tunes with a grabber rendition of "Killing the Blues." Finally, the audience is allowed to applaud; and what a thundering ovation that bold beginning deserves.

If you like your songs dark and gloomy, if a mournful ballad with a soulful cry is your musical meat, nobody chews on this material more effectively than Douglas Ladnier. Mind you, he's got a sense of humor, too. Consider what he quite accurately refers to as "the world's only sad sing-a-long." Combining "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" (you could weep at the way he sings it) with a stunningly slowed down version of "You Are My Sunshine," Ladnier has us sing the latter that, in that context, sounds like a sly and sarcastic torch song.

Yet another original coupling involves the famous Disney number "Small World" with an original work of Ladnier's with a political point of view called "The World." Once again, he does something different by slowing down that peppy Disney tune until, in his resonant deep tones, it becomes downright profound. He slices that famous lyric into his own song like a surgeon, creating something unique and powerful in the process.

. . . .this a special show.

Douglas Ladnier appears every Tuesday night at 9:30 p.m. at Danny's Skylight Room through April and May.

~Scott & Barbara Siegel

(full review at talkinbroadway.com)

[moment2music]

Posted: 4/25/06 at 2:52pm

"this guy's melting baritone could single-handedly revive the art of the ballad, the love song and the heart-breaker."

~Rex Reed
The New York Observer