Review: "Lisa Asher"
- Jeff Waxman: Musical Director, Piano
- Frank Dain: Flyer Design
- Michael Ian: Photography
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Lisa Asher really cooks on Craig Carnelia's 'Just A Housewife' and other real-life stories. This bravura singer has been pronounced by starmaker Rosie O'Donnell as 'an untapped talent' and, dammit, is she ready to be tapped! Her new evening of songs is sweet and soulful, with Mary Chapin Carpenter gems, a reworked Cole Porter treasure, a Joni Mitchell classic and a few Michael Smith memoirs about Catholic school that brought tears to my eyes.
DAVID MURPHY, Time Out New York
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An exceptional talent... blessed with all it takes to separate one singer from the rest!
ED Z. PELL, Seems Like Old Times, syndicated radio program
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Begging
The Big Apple is usually the Big Heartbreak for most of the starstruck kids who go there chasing fame. But Lisa Asher went to New York City, took a big chomp out of that apple and she hasn't stopped chewing yet.
Ms. Asher, a 1980 graduate of Pendleton County High School, earned a University of Kentucky theater degree, went on to do regional theater in Chicago, did a national tour of a Broadway show, and ended up in New York where she evolved into one of Manhattan's top cabaret singers.
Cabaret singers fall into a tiny and very sophisticated niche. They perform mostly in intimate nightclubs where they sing songs that tell stories, often with minimal musical accompaniment, so that nothing gets in the way of the lyrics. Cabaret singers tend to worship at the altars of writers like Cole Porter, Gus Kahn, Ira Gershwin and Johnny Mercer.
Ms. Asher, however, brings her own twist to her art: 'I also look for songs by contemporary writers. I don't think the great American songbook closed when Cole Porter died.''
This past weekend Lisa Asher came home. She appeared at the Cabaret, a downtown nightclub. It felt like all of Pendleton County was packed into the room. What we got was a thrilling New York City musical experience without the cost of airlines tickets or traffic jams.
Lisa Asher is about to marry. That and other family functions may bring her back to her Butler, Ky., home. Lisa, make an appearance at The Cabaret each time you're in town. All of us who were there this weekend are begging you.
Jerry Galvin, a local advertising executive, is heard with his brother Jene on ''It's Those Stupid Galvins Again,'' at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 10 p.m. Sundays on WVXU-FM (91.7).
JERRY GALVIN, The Cincinnati Post, 10-04-99
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Speaking of Arci's Place... Cabaret star Lisa Asher's golden voice can now be heard under ideal circumstances at Arci's. In a show that wisely relies only on piano accompaniment, and with fresh, tangy arrangements by her musical director, Jeff Waxman, that truly support her performance, Asher shines in a bright new light. Her renditions of three Michael Smith songs mark the turning point in her career; when she sings "Dead Egyptian Blues" by Smith, you know she has discovered the answer to the riddle of the musical sphinx. As good as she's been in the past, Asher's only getting better and better.
SCOTT AND BARBARA SIEGEL, Theatremania.com
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Last week I was finally able to get to Lisa Asher's show at ARCI'S PLACE. No fancy bells and whistles, no band, no spectacular lighting effects, for this one. It was simply Lisa Asher singing with Jeff Waxman at the piano. There was no special theme, just songs chosen from past shows that Lisa has done, plus some that Lisa has not performed before. As Lisa announced, she was "just a simple country girl having a good time with her friends."
The show started with Mary Chapin Carpenter's "I'm Going Out Tonight," and it immediately verified Lisa's title as "Queen of the Story Songs!" Each song had an edge — from Cole Porter's "Love For Sale," Michael Smith's "Sister Clarissa," which flowed into "Weeping Madonna." Each song was a mini-drama, with Lisa playing all the parts. Jeff Waxman is a master of perfecting and arranging a medley, and the combination of "Sidewalks of New York" with "New York Minute" was an exercise in letting the tunes as well as the words make the point. Another matching of "That Old River in the Summertime" with "Proud Mary" resulted in a stunning new interpretation of both songs! No one else seems to have found the ironic humor in Harry Chapin's "Danceband on the Titanic" and no one can deliver this strange number better than Lisa and Jeff.
STU HAMSTRA, Cabaret Hotline Online
