Steppin' Out at 54 Below: NORBERT LEO BUTZ
Norbert Leo Butz is one hell of a musical theater star. He projects grit and authenticity and depth on Broadway musical stages where the rule is spangly surface polish. The same applies to catching him in a cabaret act. Cabaret acts are usually about frivolity. Cabaret acts rarely growl. At 54 Below recently, Norbert Leo Butz growled gloriously.
He started off alone at the piano, explaining that in the depths of the pandemic, trapped for months up in Canada and unable to get home to his family, he’d spent a good deal of that terrible time at a piano in his room, just playing; revisiting songs he’d loved as a kid growing up in St. Louis, and also writing new ones of his own.
What ensued at 54 Below was a memory play of a cabaret act, shot through with touchstone tunes from Mr. Butz’s youth, alongside those he’d recently composed. The act’s formal title: “Torch Songs for a Pandemic.”
Mr. Butz, of course, has a substantial, well trained, Broadway voice, but he uses it in his own iconoclastic way. He always comes right at you, even when singing… well, torch songs. None, this night, came from his career in Broadway musicals; nothing from Rent, where a young Butz first was launched as a replacement for original cast member Adam Pascal; nothing from Wicked, where Mr. Butz was himself an original cast member; nothing from the two shows he won Tony Awards for as Best Leading Actor; respectively, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (as the grungy grifter, Freddy, cinematically originated by Steve Martin), and Catch Me If You Can (where he musicalized Leonardo DiCaprio’s consummate con man, Carl Hanratty). Yes, Mr. Butz does have an affinity for singing swindlers.
The sounds of 70s and 80s FM radio dominated his set early on, with oldies like Hall & Oates’ “Head Above Water,” and Fleetwood Mac’s “Go Your Own Way,” sweetly rethought and reconfigured in intensive Butz-ian style. It was Bruce Springsteen’s “Brilliant Disguise,” however, that I felt nailed it for Norbert L. B. To me, his performance caught fire right there. I guess it’s just self-evident that Norbert Leo Butz and Bruce Springsteen sing to each other. Sincerely.
Abandoning the piano for a guitar, he began hauling guests up onstage. He sang a swooningly beautiful “Helplessly Hoping,” by David Crosby, in full three-part CS&N harmony with fellow musical theater stalwarts Nick Blaemire and Ethan Slater; also knocking off two very pretty songs from a musical Blaemire and Slater have written called Edge of the World.
As he meandered toward a finale, Mr. Butz brought on a keyboardist, Michael Bellar, a guitarist, Jason Loughlin, and a vocalist, Catherine Porter, to accompany him. The group cooked, on music that was alternately tender and rollicking, with a country lilt that Mr. Loughlin’s touch on guitar made particularly lustrous. Reconfigured versions of Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” and Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U.” stood out, as did one beautiful new song, “King of Hearts,” that Mr. Butz co-wrote with his daughter (I think), and is (definitely) the title of his new EP.
Ultimately, Mr. Butz’s discursive song intros ran him into overtime and he apologized profusely to the club staff for doing so, but he didn’t leave the stage until he was damn ready to. Ingratiating is usually what all cabaret performers are. Mr. Butz was no exception, but his take on ingratiating came wrapped in diffidence. Anyone who’s seen him on a Broadway stage knows that Norbert Leo Butz can be a larger-than-life presence when he wants to be. Not, however, at 54 Below, where Mr. Butz mostly just ducked his head and willed his audience to come to him.
The hour-plus show packed 19 numbers ultimately. So, where does that leave us? Approaching overtime, too, at this point, like Norbert L. B. The guy is great. Until his next appearance in a Broadway musical, you can still catch him one last time this go round at 54 Below on November 5. That show will also be Livestreamed. Mr. Butz may just play all night.