John Barr.net

British cabaret singer John Barr has upped the ante for his second CD. On his first release, "A Small Affair", Barr concentrated on quiet ballads with gentle piano accompaniment. This time around, he’s broadening his sound and jazzing things up a bit. The best of the 16 tracks are still the ballads. Barr’s warm, emotional delivery tends to become strident and forced on numbers such as "A Cockeyed Optimist" (with an unfortunate bongo underscore) and the underwhelming but aptly titled "Johnny One Note". But elsewhere, when Barr delivers songs with a strong emotional core, the results are much better.

Barr includes three songs by Stephen Schwartz, composer of "Godspell" and lyricist for "Pocahontas", and each is a gem. "In Whatever Time We Have" from Schwartz’s "Children of Eden" features a shimmering duet with Jenna Russell, and "Marking Time", cut from "Pippin", is the album’s best up-tempo number. Barr closes the album with the inspiring "Corner of the Sky", from "Pippin", which features a provocative new arrangement by Fiz Shapur, who is responsible for most of the arrangements (including the bongo drums) on the disc. For every track that falls flat (a medley of "One Hand One Heart" from "West Side Story" and "Not While I’m Around" from "Sweeney Todd"), there are several stronger cuts to compensate. As a cabaret singer, Barr is among the most dynamic among the current crop of young divos, and this album is further proof that cabaret is far from a dying art.

Chad Jones, Staff Writer ANG – Northern California - March 22, 1998

"Spring is in the air"

Cabaret is routinely, if mistakenly, regarded as an art form adopted by artists in their seniority. It’s seen as a career choice that invariably follows after a theatrical career has stalled, usually for lack of suitable parts for ingenues who don’t graduate into divas and are therefore apparently left on the shelf.

Though such performers – usually women do indeed bring a wealth of life’s experience tot heir new-found roles as song interpreters rather than role players (think of Barbara Cook, Julie Wilson and Margaret Whiting, to name just three), it isn’t only old-timers that adopt this route. An increasing number of younger performers are also discovering the joys of intimate cabaret, where they can reveal themselves as much as their material – minus acts and costumes and simply doin’ what comes nat’raly (to quote Irving Berlin).

On both sides of the Atlantic, there are an outstanding number of young performers for whom the acting profession, alas, doesn’t always provide full-time work. The more enterprising among them are making work for themselves, who sing for their supper (to quote Lorenz Hart) quite literally in cabaret clubs like Pizza on the Park here or Don’t Tell Mama in New York, where dinner is on the menu while they sing. And some you can even take home for a small price: no they’re not doubling up as escort companions, but are leasing their own CD collections.

These thoughts are prompted this month by the recent release of two new CDs by performers who have been seen on London’s theatrical stages, but have since made their mark on the cabaret scene even more forcefully. One falls into the first category I cited, a (relatively) old timer who has found new life in cabaret; the other into the second, where a young performer has taken up the reins of cabaret and giving a new life…

…The newcomer is John Barr. Though he has paid his dues (and more) on the professional theatrical circuit – with roles in shows ranging from Evita (on national tour) to Aspects of Love and the inevitable stint in Les Miserables in the West End – it is in cabaret that he has found his true calling.

This physically diminutive, boyish-looking singer has (both) a voice far larger than his frame would lead you to expect and a maturity far greater than his apparent years. But best of all, he doesn’t make obvious choices in his repertoire, either seen live or on record, which is always carefully planned to combine a few familiar (but not over-familiar) songs with many that are new.

So on his latest album, called In Whatever Time We Have (Dress Circle, MBJBTDM2), Stiles and Drewe , Jason Carr, Stephen Michael and Robert Flint, to name just three sets of young British writers, are showcased alongside work by Sondheim, Rodgers and Hammersteirn and Irving Berlin. The new CD is an absolutely exemplary collection of wonderful songs, with pride of place reserved for two American composers: Barr sings three by Stephen Schwartz (including a rare recording of a song cut from Schwartz’s first Broadway hit, Pippin, and another from his West End flop, Children of Eden) and two songs by John Bucchino, including the haunting and melodic "Grateful". We, indeed have much to be grateful for when performers like Mr. Barr are keeping the cabaret flame burning so bright. As long as there are young performers like him devoted to the form, just as there are more mature talents like Lorna Dallas, cabaret will never die.

Mark Shenton, BOZ ’97 March 1998

Back in issue 22 I reviewed "A Small Affair" the debut album by John Barr which Id described as "interesting and eminently likable". Well Mr. Barr is back with a second solo collection and has used his earlier offering as a platform, a launching pad to bigger and better things.

In Whatever Time We Have is a terrific set of 16 show tunes, handled sympathetically and inventively by John and his small band of cohorts. For a start the singer once again shows his ability to choose quality material wisely ignoring the over-recorded Les Mis, Chess, Phantom "hits". He even manages to steer clear of the Sondheim favourites going instead for the likes of "Multitudes Of Amys" and lovely medley of two of the writer’s most sensitive and poignant songs, "One Hand, One Heart" and "Not While I’m Around".

There is quite a bit of variety on show from the opening "Cockeyed Optimist" through Irving Berlin’s "I Love A Piano" to Sondheim’s "There Won’t Be Trumpets" although Barr largely plays to his strengths and leans heavily on ballads. The most impressive on offer are Stiles and Drewe’s "Does The Moment Ever Come" from Just So, Stephen Michael and Robert Flint’s "When I See You" from Showstopper and two from the pen of John Bucchino "If I Ever Say I’m Over You" and "Grateful" (Urban Myths).

But the most interesting aspect of the collection, from the stance of show music fans anyway, is the inclusion of three compositions by Stephen Schwartz, who also contributes to the sleeve notes, including a song cut from Pippin (Marking Time"). The others are "Corner Of The Sky" from the same show and a lovely reading of "In Whatever Time We Have" from the sadly underrated Children of Eden with John dueting most successfully with Jenna Russell.

John Barr not only sings well but handles the material in a manner that breaths new life into even the more elderly songs in the set. Mind you he is ably aided by a talented group of arranges and musicians, with Fiz Shapur to the fore. With so many albums from musical performers on offer it is difficult to tell the glitter from the gold. Take my work for it, In Whatever Time We Have (Dress Circle Records MBJBTDM2) is the genuine article and 18 carat at that.

Mike Gibb MASQUERADE-1998