Not even the daunting trek to Queens or a subway ride from hell kept me away from meandlarry, Adam Pascal's concert tour with Larry Edoff. Delays on the 7 train led to the most crowded/uncomfortable train experience of my life, but once I got off the train at Mets/Willets Point, the free shuttle to the theater was incredibly easy to find. The driver was very kind and even called the theater to tell them that there were problems with the subway and to hold the concert.
As you can tell by the photo (credit: Dominick Totino), Queens Theatre in the Park is a lovely space. Events are held all year round and if there is an act performing that you want to check out and you don't live in Queens, I highly recommend making the trip (just check the subway advisories beforehand). But on to the concert.It was a mostly older crowd, with some teens/tweens mixed in. Pascal took the stage alone for the first song and said, "Here is a song from the worst show I've ever seen," and proceeded to sing an innovative version of "Memory" (think Andrew Lloyd Webber with an indie rock twist). I appreciated his take on the song, but clearly he never saw Starlight Express, which is a far worse show than Cats. There were plenty of empty seats in the small space and this did not go unnoticed by Pascal who said, "This is what we call in the industry sparsely attended." He did thank the audience multiple times for being there and he did put his all into the show, but there were some uncomfortable moments like this one, where it wasn't clear if he was being self-deprecating or bitter.
The set list was a mix of original songs (co-written by Edoff) and show tunes. A highlight was the haunting "I Don't Care Much" from Cabaret (Pascal played the final Emcee in the acclaimed production of the show at Studio 54), which then segued into Elton John's "Rocket Man" and back to "I Don't Care Much." It was a better mashup than anything they've done on Glee.
At one point, Pascal said that he gets asked a lot about what it's like to be a Broadway actor. He told a story about he was brought to perform an acoustic set of original material somewhere in Florida and someone in the audience yelled for him to sing something from RENT. When he apologized that he didn't have that prepared, the audience started walking out. "That's what it's like," he said. He then sang "What I Did For Love" from A Chorus Line, so I like to think that he was implying with the song choice that it's all worth it and that he is happy to be known for theater rather than rock (which is where his career began).
He only sang one song from RENT, his "one hit" as he called it, "One Song Glory." For this RENT fan who waited 14 years to hear him perform that song live, it made the subway trauma of an hour before worth it.
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