Night Clubs Reviews

Dec 12, 2006 - The fabulous Faith Prince sings at Reno's intimate Magic Underground Theatre

By By Jack Neal

Vocalist, Broadway personality, and star Faith Prince brought her inimitable talent for song and patter to Reno's Magic Underground Theatre last Saturday (12/9/06).

She was just as terrific up close and in person as her advanced publicity said she would be. The singer attracted a sophisticated audience who knew what to expect, and got it, from a performer as at home at New York's Algonquin Hotel as she was singing in the superb and intimate space that embraced her so warmly in Reno, "the world's biggest little city."

Her Broadway credentials – "Miss Adelaide's Lament" from "Guys and Dolls," "The Party's Over" from "Bells are Ringing" – were on parade and were fresh, sassy and fabulously delivered.

She also did a tremendous turn with those tongue-in-cheek tunes from "Little Shop of Horrors" that never fail to delight. "Little Shop of Horrors" is a show its producers wanted her to do, and she wanted to do, but a contract for something less significant stood in her way. Pity, because she is the perfect quirky actor-singer, for that deliciously quirky little show.

The powerhouse tribute to Elaine Stritch from Stephen Sondheim's "Company," the boozy "The Ladies Who Lunch," was virtually the same triumph for Ms. Prince in Reno as it was for Ms. Stritch in New York. Powerhouse, also, was Prince's selection from "Mame," "If He Walked Into My Life," a goose-bump raising rendition that demonstrated Prince's ability for singing the dramatic, and doing it with pathos and feeling.

Pianist Alex Rybeck, a Broadway stalwart himself (arranger or music director for, among other shows, "Flora the Red Menace," "Grand Hotel," "Merrily We Roll Along") was Prince's collaborator and what a grand show-business partner he is. Gifted is the pianist who can really play, then breathes and moves with an artist as she shapes, sculpts and paces a show Dorothy Parker would have loved. It's the words, those wonderful lyrics, that Prince is so grand at weaving time and again (through nearly two dozen songs) into a happy, or funny, or poignant story-book fabric of delights.

Faith Prince appeared in Reno as part of Star Production's new "Broadway Divas Come to Reno" series. She did nothing to discourage the success of this exciting new venture. She's a fabulous singer and raconteur who can do nothing less than enhance all she does.

Next up for "Broadway Divas Come to Reno" is singer Paula West. who will appear at the Magic Underground Theatre, 100 South Virginia Street, Reno, Nevada, Saturday, January 20, 2007. For information call 775-851-1638 or 775-686-6600.