I’m a New Yorker
The Triad, NYC, September 15, 2018
By Ron Forman for Cabaret Scenes
Cheryl Ann Allen and her husband, xylophonist Ian Finkel, combined to create a one-woman show of songs and stories about life as a New Yorker. Finkel wrote and directed the show and provided eight delightful and often very funny new songs. Allen has a pleasant voice and demeanor and is very adept at telling an amusing anecdote. The show also included two songs that Allen had performed in her Sophie Tucker tribute show. Dan Rosengarden’s accompaniment on piano and occasional solos added to the fun.
The first three songs: “I’m a New Yorker,” “You Have to Live to Learn,” and “Turn Your Cheek Give In” depict the trials and tribulations that Allen went through moving from a childhood in Massachusetts to New York and trying to break into show business. “What’s the Matter with Me” ends with the phrase “Not a thing.” “What Am I Supposed to Do with It” is a hilarious song about the small size of her husband’s member. (It’s OK; he wrote it.) “She’s a Perfect Part of Me” is a warm song about having a daughter. Allen also gave us, in English and German, Meredith Willson’s “Too Soon Old and Too Late Smart,” the first song she performed professionally on stage.
Having done a Sophie Tucker tribute show, Allen included “Some of These Days” and “Last of the Red Hot Mamas” very much in the manner of the legendary entertainer. The closing number, a reprise of “I’m a New Yorker,” ended with her saying “Being a New Yorker is feeling alive, not dead.”
Original version here:
