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Broadway's Faith Prince shines in cabaret turn
By Douglas J. Keating
Inquirer Theater Critic
February 8, 2003
Cabaret is a fairly recent addition to the career of Broadway musical star Faith Prince. She made her solo debut in New York three years ago with a show called Leap of Faith, which she recorded and now brings to the new cabaret space at the Prince Music Theater.
As might be expected of someone who made her reputation on Broadway playing Miss Adelaide in the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls, Prince has a gift for the comic story-song requiring expressive and clear presentation. While "Adelaide's Lament" is a bit of a disappointment here, Prince does marvelously well by others, among them "Is It a Crime?" and especially Sondheim's "The Boy From... " Her vocal gymnastics in this marvelous spoof of "The Girl From Ipanema" are an awesome display of talent and skill.
Prince also falls naturally into a bold but easy belt-'em style that gives satisfying presence to "Some People," "What Did I Have That I Don't Have?", and "I Do What I Can With What I've Got."
If more subdued songs, such as "Wish You Were Here," and the melancholic "Autumn" are not Prince's forte, they lend needed variety to the show. The truth is that Prince can do justice to any style of Broadway musical song.
Her between-numbers chat is relaxed and engaging. At the end of the first act she tells about meeting her husband, trumpeter Larry Lunetta. With that introduction, Lunetta comes out, and husband and wife alternate on the instrumental and vocal solos of "The Man With a Horn." It's a combination sublime.
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