KT Sullivan

THE ELOWS

                                                                             March 26, 2009

Dear KT,

We just returned to Bedford from NYC, and I feel compelled to write to you about your Deitz - Schwartz show at the Algonquin.

As is always the case in post-concert meetings, all one has time for is to say something like: “it was a great show”. There’s no chance because of all the fans buzzing around, to tell you why it was. Therefore, this letter.

If a show can be called perfect, this deserves that appellation. You reached new heights and depths. Everything you did was felt deeply by the audience because you were so deeply connected with the material, from the dramatic to the comedic  and all points in between. I don’t have a song list, but I recall some of the many highlights, not necessarily in order.

New Sun In The Sky was a marvelous upbeat opener.

Taking the first chorus of That’s Entertainment really slow was deeply moving for the audience; it transmitted the awe and reverence for show business which doesn’t come through in the usual fast versions.

Glad you sang the verse in your wonderful Dancing In the Dark. This is one of those few great standards that concerns love and mortality. One of the others is Berlin’s Let’s Face the Music and Dance, and also Speak Low. The two all-time great ballads of Schwartz and Deitz: I See Your Face Before Me and Dancing In The Dark will never be sung as beautifully again by anyone.

It was a wonderful touch singing those Spanish lyrics. You And the Night And The Music: a lovely, neglected song, with a truly Castilian Spanish melody.

Adela pointed out, and she’s right, that it was a brilliant idea to bring in, through the Dietz lyrics, the Mein Herr Marquis aria. We’ve heard you sing it in German several times in your operetta shows. It was a perfect vehicle to display your range

and versatility that evening, and remind the public that you are are also an opera singer.

 The Paree number was a fabulous performance; dazzling comedic virtuosity. The audience cherished every moment of it. And that accent! Mon dieu!

And, what a simple, but great idea to don that high hat while announcing that you’ll be singing a “mans” song. It removes any sexual ambivalence which might cloud the performance, by defining yourself as a “man” for the purposes of delivering the lyrics of I Guess I’ll Have To Change My Plan.

If I were to describe all the highlights of your show, I would have to include every number, because every number was truly a gem. As I said at the beginning, you have brought the art of cabaret to new heights of excellence and depth of feeling. Other artists will have a tough standard to aspire to. This is no hyperbole. Everyone else we spoke to that evening felt the same way.

Love from both of us, 

Larry and Adela Elow