moe voice cabaret

He came to tell us a story from his life.

It wasn't a long drawn-out tale, from birth to his current age.

That, by the way, is probably between Christina's and the age that Sherrill Milnes was in the Verdi documentary yesterday.

No, this mini-biography dealt with a chapter that began in September of last year.

Ergo, it concerns recent events that have weight heavily with him.

Sure, he sprinkled some comedy into the tragedy; a spoonful of sugar goes a long way to making the medicine go down more easily.

Medicine was certainly on his mind, and he had written this cabaret to serve as a balm for his saddened soul.

In the program, he wrote this note: "It is my hope that in the same way putting this show together helped me get through a tough time, performing it for you might help you, too, in whatever small way."

Billed by the SVF as a concert, "Carlton Moe And Friends" was certainly more than that.

This gave us a man walking us through his loss adjustment process after a heart-wrenching change in his life.

For five and a half years, up to its darkening of the stage almost exactly four months ago, he had been Ubaldo Piangi in "The Phantom Of The Opera".

On Broadway.

Allow that to sink in to the mind's depths, and float back to the surface.

This was a musical which had run continuously on Broadway since 1988, taking an 18-month lull during the pandemic, but then coming back to open arms from audiences at the Majestic Theatre since New York City came back to life in October of 2021.

That was a slow opening, however, and the loss of revenue proved prohibitive; the closing of the show, after its 35th anniversary (January 26 of this year) was announced.

On April 16 of this year, the final show was performed.

No more would he be trodding that stage for the comic character.

No more would he be convening with his cast mates on a daily basis.

No more would he be hearing those songs, singing those lyrics, moving to that music...

that incomparable music of the night.

I know of that great sense of loss of place, of purpose, of history.

Not only are all the duty stations gone that meant so much to me in my twenties, but now even the USN rating of that time of my career is to be eliminated, deemed as antiquated, with a modern rating to take its turn.

Loss of identity.

I have gone through that change, multiple times, as he will, too.

But this is fresh.

He had to make the choice: to wallow in loss, or to move on.

 

I'm glad he had friends there with him tonight, on the stage and in the audience.

Chad Sonka, who he met in school ten years ago, performed a comedic variation on the song "The Confrontation", from "Les Miserables".

The piece, developed when Chad and Carl were students, was between Javert and Jean ValJean, but imitating accents (perhaps one was that of Sean Connery?) that changed the setting to a more humorous one.

I'm thrilled that I have seen that musical this year, so that was fresh for me. 

Carl had led off the cabaret with "Who Am I?", another tune from that same act.

After the bit with his buddy, Carl had talked about the show he had last been in, sharing tales of mishaps (a tangled boat pole nearly knocking out "Christine"), but, mostly, of the curse of the vocal Patti Lupone.

(She may have been in the audience, as her family lives over in Edisto Beach, SC.)

 

When asked during an interview about her least favorite musical, folks expected Patti to say one of those from Andrew Lloyd Webber, as they had issues from twenty years ago.

And she followed through on those expectations.

However, instead of choosing a show which had closed, like "Cats", she had answered with "The Phantom Of The Opera"... thereby jinxing it.

Or that was the lead-in for a funny song from Carl's friend, Leah Huber, who, from her talk with him afterward, seems to be about a decade younger than him.

Together they performed "Move On", from "Sunday In The Park With George", a musical I'm unfamiliar with (though I do seem to remember Bernadette Peters and Mandy Patinkin singing it, at some point in time). 

Very nicely done... and very good advice.

 

At the end of the cabaret of his life, he pulled out one from "La Cage Aux Folles".

What a flashback to my days stationed at Imperial Beach!

Dave and I had gone out to Barstow to visit my high school friend, Josie, then tripped on over to Las Vegas.

That was my first time there and it was dazzling like bright jewels in the black velvet of night laid over the desert.

Definitely one of those crystallized memories for me (smile!).

Anywho... we both liked burlesque and that's why we had been drawn to the live performance of that show at Caesar's Palace.

(As the musical had just opened in August of 1983, which is near the time I would have seen it, it must have been a touring production that I was fortunate enough to catch.

It was also one that set up my love for drag shows, too.)

And what song was it that Carl gave us?

"I Am What I Am", naturally.

Who else could he be?

(smile!)

My many thanks to him for such a wonderful, reaffirming, creation.

I completely loved "The Music Of The Night", even though he had not been the Phantom.

(That's a baritone role, more suited for Chad, and he is a tenor.) 

What a beautiful gift early on in the cabaret.

(I think I understand why he did so.

I think it's for the same reason I sing a lot of what I do at karaoke: I miss those songs and want to hear them out loud, not just on my mental jukebox.)

That song, as well as that entire soundtrack, served me well on so many long trips between Savannah and Tallahassee in the late 1980's.

Then, when Asbury Memorial did their GOB sermon with it, that had made my October!

Plus, "The Phantom Of The Opera" recently thrilled me, live and in person, so there's that.

(smile!)