The Hollywood Fringe Festival has proven to be a good venue to try out shows, even cabaret shows. Victoria Gordon Live at the Hollywood Fringe is a show ready for its close-up. Ms. Gordon may be young, most of her anecdotal stories are about her middle and high school experiences, but the soul of a seasoned Broadway pro is revealed in her choice of material—an hour of mostly vintage show tunes. She starts the show off a little loud, brassy and overpowering but soon tamps down the volume but not the quality of the vocals. “Here I Am” from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is a big, loud introduction of a character in the show as well as to Ms. Gordon’s act. She tones it down a bit with “You’ve Got Possibilities” from 1966s It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman. She hits her stride with Rodgers and Hammerstein’s “It Might As Well Be Spring,” proving she can start soft and then slowly build the power and vibrancy of a song. She succeeds as well with “As Long As He Needs Me” and “I Have Dreamed.”
Ms. Gordon shows off the saucy side of her personality with “I Can Cook Too” from On the Town and “Another Round” from Steve Martin’s recent Bright Star. With the bitter-tinged “Wherever He Ain’t” from Mack and Mabel, she got to sing a song first introduced by her idol Bernadette Peters. Her comic timing came to the fore with “A Trip to the Library” from She Loves Me. She concluded with the power anthem “I Am What I Am” from La Cage Aux Folles. What Victoria Gordon is is a cabaret presence to be reckoned with. Musical director Sam Webster accompanied her on drums while Adam Bravo on keyboards and Chelsea Stevens on bass added to the musicality of the show.
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/5857