Karen Akers at Birdland

Karen Akers
Birdland
New York, NY
March 17, 2025

The two blocks between Birdland and Broadway melted away on a recent Monday eve when chanteuse Karen Akers brought her classy cabaret act to the 44th Street jazz mecca. Elegantly assisted by musical directing stalwart Alex Rybeck and bassist Ritt Henn, the Tony Award nominee (for Nine, the stage adaptation of Fellini's 8 ½) made it clear from her first golden tones that she richly deserved the accolades heaped upon her by an adoring full house.

"Home" was the theme of the evening, well directed by Sara Louise Lazarus; and at four score and more on the planet, Akers has seen and sung about plenty of them. "Home," from Kander & Ebbs' early career 70 Girls 70, kicked off the proceedings, followed by the playful "I Want to Go Home" from the Maltby and Shire Broadway musical, Big. Akers staked out her musical theater manse from there and settled down in it.

Songs by Broadway composers Craig Carnelia and Stephen Flaherty—both Akers favorites—dotted the musical landscape. The Flaherty piece, "Torch Song," was especially flirty, as Karen became Ms Liberty, pondering that eternal question "who wants a date with a tall green lady?" A mash-up of lesser-known tunes by Leonard Bernstein and Alan Jay Lerner reintroduced the somber "Take Care of This House" from Lerner's final show, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The gravity of that sentiment for America's most famous (and, these days, beleaguered) home resonated through the crowd. Even more impressive, Ms.Akers' reprise of the powerhouse ballad "Anthem" from Chess gave Tim Rice and the ABBA guys a sure-footed accounting. She even included a poem by Fiddler on the Roof lyricist Sheldon Harnick in her cavalcade of Broadway's best.

Similarly striking and even more circumspect were her forays into pop music. Carly Simon's "Boys in the Trees" evoked youthful yearning, while her rendition of Graham Nash's "Our House" made that Crosby Stills & Nash standard into a sweet, heartfelt recherche du temps perdu. Neil Sedaka, Melissa Manchester and Carole Bayer Sager were all well-represented in Karen's too-soon concluded Birdland set. Julie Gold's "From a Distance," a Song of the Year Grammy winner for Bette Midler, invoked a plaintive plea for humanity, while Randy Newman's touching "Feels Like Home" got the softest, most aching performance from Akers—though it should be pointed out that this, too, was a Broadway show tune, albeit from Newman's Faust, which never quite made it to the Main Stem.

Decked out in an elegant floral jacket and matching silky pants, Ms. Akers spent the evening reminding us why she is one of our most cherished song interpreters. Cabaret has a well-deserved home at Birdland, thanks to the talents of this remarkable performer.