3 Tenors in Search of an Act
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July 28, 2005

The 2005 Bistro Award-winning show "3 Tenors in Search of an Act!" is back at the Hideaway Room @ Helen's on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through August. This latest expanded incarnation calls on shtick from last year's show plus some new material.  Starring Bill Brooks, Edd Clark and Steven Tharp, with Paul Stephan as musical director and arranger, the show is directed by Linda S. Nelson.  With some plum solos, duets, and trios, and a helping hand from Stephan at the piano, the fun show is a blast and could find its way to an Off-Broadway house once some needed tweaking is done.  At times unevenly directed, it has moments of pizzazz and offers an entertaining experience.  However, there are a few clumsy moments when the tenors occasionally work too hard.  That aside, to hear these wonderful operatic voices singing gloriously and mugging with such glee rates a gold star.

John Hoglund
Back Stage
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Steven Tharp, Edd Clark, Bill Brooks
3 Tenors...in Search of an Act! - Expanded Edition

The Hideaway Room @ Helen's - July 6, 2005

There's been a plethora of tenor threesomes around the world the past dozen years attempting to capitalize on the universal success of the original melding of Luciano Pavrotti, Jose Carreas and Placido Domingo. So, when yet another three tenors-Steven Tharp, Edd Clark and Bill Brooks-get together to perform in New York, the question (and the hook for their show) is "What do we do?" For the answer, they turn to their big, bright yellow spoof of the "Dummies" book series, a how-to manual, Cabaret for Tenors, and methodically follow its alleged instructions.

Like its earlier and shorter incarnation at Don't Tell Mama, this new theater-length version of 3 Tenors..., now at Helen's Hideaway Room, opens by alleviating anyone's uncertainties about the tenors' operatic abilities. After doing Verdi justice with a rousing La Donna E Mobile, they turn their attentions to over an hour and a half of repartee, fun, and musical shenanigans. There's an immediate foreshadowing of what's to come with a masterly Gilbert and Sullivan-derived musical exploration of the lives of opera singers, with a succession of cynical lyrics supplied by each of the three and arranged by music director Paul Stephan.

The program is a varied diet, from an infatuated rendition of Heisler and Goldrich's "Taylor, the Latte Boy," to an equally infatuated, but disenchanted one of "How Do You Do Middle Age," a winsome Noel Coward ditty. One of the most intriguing bits is Paul Stephan's Bach piano interlude that evolves into the three tenors singing along, not Bach, but Ave Maria, Just in Time, and Danny Boy, all neatly dovetailed into the same harmonic setting.

If the three were less fun, one might wish they'd spend more time on serious stuff. But who's to care? When their how-to manual states that every show must have a "love medley" the result is a quirky, campy medley of a half-dozen or more love songs. The tenors, however, substitute "lunch" for "love" The result is a rollicking collection of tunes, delivered deadpan, including "I Can't Give You Anything But Lunch," "Bye Bye Lunch," and "Lunch For Sale." As good as it is, it's fortunate the medley doesn't go on longer than it does. Engulfed in raucous laughter, several audience members were having trouble catching their breath.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
www.cabaretscenes.com
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We've had the Three Tenors and the Thee Irish Tenors and Three Mo' Tenors. So how much room is there for three new tenors who've decided to goose their disparate careers by banding together? You'd better make room. Bill Brooks, Edd Clark, and Steven Tharp have found a way to make the Three Tenors conceit fresh and funny. And to do it with trained, reliable voices-and, when they sing together, with ravishing harmonies.

After opening a sellout Don't Tell Mama stint on Giuseppe Verdi's "La Donna e Mobile" and throwing in a few boop-boop-a-doops, they hold up a handbook called "Cabaret for Tenors." (Don't look for it at the Drama Book Shop.) Then they riffle the pages to find out how it's done. They follow the (fictional) advice by including segments like a song in which to share their personal experiences. Brooks does the Marcy Heisler-Zina Goldrich "Taylor, the Latte Boy." (He's not the first fellow to warble the cabaret standard.) Clark does the intricate and hilarious "Crossword Puzzle" (Richard Maltby, Jr.-Dvid Shire).Tharp, with the other two as swaying backups, makes a sweet serenade of John Phillips' "Look Through My Window." But the guys balk at the guide's insistence on a love-song medley. Instead, they splice a few dozen songs, changing the word "love" to 'lunch." This sounds less amusing as described than as heard, but believe me, "The Look of Lunch," "Lunch Changes Everything," and the other altered ditties hit the ear like a Chris Rock wisecrack. Since I'm in the citing-bests mood, I'll call this the medley of the year so far.

There are a few inclusions in the adorable act that are less than great (some love songs later in the set), but the singing is impeccable. So's the musical direction by Paul Stephan and the overall direction, which is currently credited to no one. Maybe the Three Tenors blocked themselves. They may well have, since they all appear to posses strong stage instincts. Incidentally, they lay out their homosexuality in a straightforward manner, so to speak. And given the way things are improving these days, they should have no booking problems because of it. To the contrary, they could be booked immediately into the best rooms in the country for their having found a new twist to something already established as highly commercial.

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(David Finkle is a freelance writer whose theatre reviews have appeared in the Village Voice and the New York Times. He is senior drama critic for Theatermania.com and cabaret reviewer for Back Stage.)
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08/06/2004

THREE TENORS in Search of an Act
By: Philis Raskind

Just when you thought there were enough combinations of "Three Tenors;"... tenors Bill Brooks, Edd Clark and Steven Tharp are providing their winsome, applaudable act during extended dates at Don't Tell Mama's Thursday, August 12th at 8:30 p.m. and Monday, August 16th at 6:30 p.m.

With individual backgrounds in opera, Broadway and the legit stages, they prove their uniqueness and provide magnificent harmonizing. The amalgamation of their voices works beautifully because of the different tonality of each gifted singer.

From a darkened stage in this classic cabaret boite, the piano begins and the lights come up illuminating the back view of three men, dressed in black, turning to face the audience as they open the show with LA DONNA E MOBILE - with a little bebop thrown in….immediately setting the audience up for a less than reverent show. Followed by AH, LEAVE ME NOT, a Gilbert and Sullivan rondelet which introduces the wonderful blending of the three voices. The "tenors" then show the audience a book entitled "Cabaret for Tenors" (not for sale in any stores!) a mythical "how to" treatise on putting together a cabaret show in various steps. Step one "share a personal story" leads Bill Brooks into singing a cabaret bon mot; a Heisler/Goldrich song entitled TAYLOT, THE LATTE BOY. This is immediately followed by Edd Clark's deft rendition of Maltby/Shire's CROSSWORD PUZZLE. Personally, I began to wonder if the show wasn't getting a bit too cutesy at this point but, Steven Tharp changed my mind when he sang LOOK THROUGH MY WINDOW by Phillips. Next was a side splitting medley brought about by not following the advice from the "Cabaret for Tenors" book to sing a love medley. Fortunately Bill, Edd and Steven decided to do a medley about lunch, "You're My Lunch; Stop, in the Name of Lunch; Lunch is in the Air; Lunch Changes Everything; The Look of Lunch", and so on.

The last two numbers changed the tone. MAKE YOUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC tied together the importance of doing your own thing. And the acappella version of Carol Hall's CIRCLE OF FRIENDS is very touching.

This is a show worth seeing more so for Paul Stephan's deft musical direction and arrangements.

The staging was seamless and my guess is that all four (tenors and music director) indeed joined forces to produce this highly entertaining show.

Run; don't walk to don't tell mama...
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Tuesday, November 30, 2004

3 Tenors...In Search of an Act - The Holiday Edition
Don't Tell Mama

Take three tenors with established track records in opera and musical theater, re-position them in cabaret on the petite stage of Don't Tell Mama's front room, and what have you got? If the three have been astute enough, or lucky enough to corral Paul Stephan as their arranger and music director, and the tenors are Bill Brooks, Edd Clark and Steven Tharp, you've got the makings of an enjoyable and charming holiday show.

The vocalists promptly establish their operatic credentials with a bravura La Donna E Mobile as their opener, and almost as quickly put aside the operatic repertoire in order to consult and ostensibly to follow their cabaret how-to manual, Cabaret for Tenors, a big, bright yellow take-off on the "Dummies" book series. Most of the numbers, such as Taylor, the Latte Boy and Bewitched may not be holiday-specific, but there is a handful to justify the seasonal tag. Going on a Date with Santa, and D. J. Bradley's Don't Let Christmas Pass You By fill the bill, and there"s a stirring O, Holy Night encore, but the most holiday-ish aspect of this show is its great good spirits.

If they were less fun, one might wish they'd spend more time on serious stuff. But who's to care? ...It was only the tenors" microphones that kept their songs from being drowned out by audience laughter.

Peter Leavy
Cabaret Scenes
www.cabaretscenes.com