Rex in the City – in Cabaret (Theatre)
An evening to remember is how some of the attendees described the one man show ‘Rex in the City – in Cabaret.’
Rex Melville’s show was engaging, slightly witty, sung from the heart and soul, and was his own tribute to musical theatre. Melville’s glowing performance included singing, making jokes, trips down memory lane, anecdotes about famous singers (Bob Dylan and Ethel Merman among others) and only one story about the ‘L’ word. Where was Rex when the first lockdown took place? Well, he cleverly segued this anecdote into the song ‘I Love Paris.’
At the fantastic venue ‘Museum of Comedy’ the 80-minute show won over all the attendees, and while the venue was quite chilly, Rex did a good job of warming up the attendees cockles, and hearts. Accompanied by pianist David Harrod and bass player Jonny Gee, highlights of his repertoire included ‘Make you feel my Love (Dylan), which Melville sung in French, ‘Fly me to the Moon’ (Bart Howard), crowd favorite ‘Anything Goes’ (Cole Porter), and after two rapturous encores, he ended the evening with ‘Tonight’ (Leonard Bernstein, words by Stephen Sondheim) from West Side Story.
Several audience members had nothing but praise for Meiville. Said one: ‘A very enjoyable set of standards and show tunes from Cole Porter, Bernstein to Bob Dylan and others, accompanied by piano and bass, and supported by many friends in the audience,’ while another said ‘A lovely night’ and that ‘it was just the kind of touching, personal and life enhancing performance that we need right now.’
All of us who were there that night can’t wait for Melville to perform again.
