Thursday, November 12, 2020

Top Five Live from Lincoln Center Songs: Andrew Rannells

Other than seasons of Big Mouth, we’ve now worked our way back up to the point in Andrew Rannells’s career when I was reviewing his new stuff as it was coming out. As such, there’s no need for me to review these projects again, but for the sake of chronology, I still want to revisit them in some way. For Rannells’s Live from Lincoln Center concert, what better way than through a Top Five Songs? There’s a great range in this show, from songs that fit Rannells to a tee to others that I wouldn’t have associated with him but show off how varied his talents are.  Here are my favorites. (Note: I couldn't find videos online for a couple of these. My apologies.)

“Outside Myself” – In coming up with a Top Five for this concert, three songs immediately jumped on the list, but I debated for quite a while on the final two, and this wound up being one of them.  It’s very stripped-down, almost entirely bare, but Rannells brings this soothing sort of purity it, a gentle honesty woven into the fluid vocals.

Best moment:  This is a very even-keeled song that doesn’t have a ton of rise and fall, but I really like the emotion that follows the start of the second verse.  Those lines, “I have been / In a storm of the sun, / Basking, senseless to what I’ve become,” are excellently done. 

 

 (Note: video starts at 2:48.)

“No More” – I have been powerless against this song since the first time I heard it, but I feel like it can sometimes get lost in the shuffle of some of Into the Woods’s other songs.  So, I was thrilled to get it here.  Rannells sounds phenomenal on this number, with emotional force behind the Baker’s verses and soft introspection during the Mysterious Man’s part.

Best moment:  That last verse kills me every time, and Rannells sings it beautifully.  I especially die at, “Can’t we just pursue our lives / With our children and our wives? / Till that happy day arrives, / How do you ignore…?”

 

“Born to Run” – Rannells’s “go-to audition song.”  It’s easy to see why, since he performs it with such great energy and sounds so fantastic on it, though he also fairly points out that there are certain shows he probably just shouldn’t have used it for (like South Pacific.)  But still, he sounds so good, and I love the swagger he brings to his performance.

Best moment:  Man, I love it all, but especially the final verse, starting with, “The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last-chance power drive.”  There’s just a ton of power behind Rannells’s voice, and it’s impossible not to get pulled into it.

“The Moon over Nebraska” – When this concert first aired, my initial reaction was that Rannells had just a few too many slow songs for a good balance, but three of my Top Five here are slow songs, so I guess that shows what I know!  This is a song that was written by Rannells’s musical director/pianist for the concert, a softly-moody love ballad with references that resonate with Rannells as a fellow Nebraskan.  It’s a performance that struck me as “perfectly fine” when I first heard it, but the more I listen to it, the more gorgeous it gets.

Best moment:  Not exactly a moment.  It’s more the contrast between the first and final chorus.  It’s a great demonstration of Rannells’s control – the first chorus is so soft, so delicate, and the last chorus has so much power behind it, and both are very emotional in different ways.  Wonderful command of his voice there.

 

“It Must Be Him” – Goodness gracious, this is a delight.  Rannells renders this song with just the perfect amount of too much camp, dramatically lamenting all over the stage as he begs for his special someone to call.  Super funny and extra, with vocal dynamics to expertly punctuate his fragile emotional stability.

Best moment:  Probably the second chorus.  Rannells is hilarious, bellowing, “But it’s not him!!!” and then swooning into, “And then I die - / Again I die…”  This is a performance that can’t be imagined; it just has to be seen.

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