#LiveLove Album Launch Party Review

i secured my tickets for the album release event of ‘#love…live’ a few weeks before the event. this was an event that i was most definitely not about to miss. for those of you who “thought about going” or “forgot”…let me be the first to tell you, ya missed a sexy piece of formidable history happening under a warm roof in the east village staple rockwood music hall. yes, the temperature was hot, but what was going on onstage…warmed me to my core. goosebumps and smiles, memories and heart strings, co-signs and amens…they were as present as the thick air of enthusiasm that bubbled around the room.

i walked into the music hall and immediately ran into a few familiar faces. (one thing i absolutely love about the arts community in nyc is that we support hardcore.) tinges of excitement fell freely from our lips in anticipation for what we’d all come to hear and witness: lyons and pakchar’s arrangement of an electrically charged evening of their original work. even though i was on the list and made it in before the line that was — quite literally — down the block, i still ended up standing…in the

back. no worries. i ran into lyons — who (like  a kid at christmas) squealed “i didn’t know the line was going down the block?!” — and said hello to pakchar and settled into my spot. i grabbed my jack and coke and was ready for my anticipation to take over. and just like that with the first note, it did….

‘not meant to be in love’ (sung by rashidra scott of ‘sister act’) released a wave of chills down my spine. the only thing i can compare it to is those knives that you see on the infomercials that cut through vegetables in one effortless swipe. you know what I’m talking about. and it’s clean. neat. here’s :25 to show you what i mean…

see what i mean? oh, but the mic was just getting heated up. jarred spector (‘beautiful: the carole king musical’) carried us with the most innocent pair of melodic wings through what he felt when he sang ‘inside.’ the evening brought smiles when a coy, soulfully grind-ful and appropriately toothy marty thomas perfectly described a ‘crush’…but you’re only getting :54 seconds of it.

…carly hughes (ghost the musical) with a voice that is like a perfect dance between effortlessness and consistent discipline who let us know that she was at a ‘crossroads’

…alison cusano (a night with janis joplin) (who kinda doesn’t need any words to describe the consistent honey-covered grit that her voice is) and her clear take on ‘free’…lyons again with his cashmere scarf and christine dwyer (wicked) his matching sweater sang a duet that wiggled into the heart and made a home there

…and i refuse to end this review without the mention of a flat out sexy number that would make the most consciously celibate individual want to…play. suitably named ‘the sexy song’, brandon victor dixon (motown) made everybody sweat. i have a clip, but you need to hear it in its entirety. CLICK.

it’s one thing to have brilliant music. it’s another thing to have brilliant people singing brilliant music. fortunately december 9th from 9pm to 10:30pm both smacked me across the face. maybe you were there. then you know what i’m talkin’ about. if you weren’t do yourself a favor and download the album ‘#love live‘. for real. the face of music theatre is changing…and it kinda looks like lyons & pakchar. hopefully, these two men are proud.

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