Theater Review: Carole Demas - 'Summer Nights'

On Wednesday evening, February 15th, I had the pleasure of seeing Carole Demas in her cabaret performance, Summer Nights. This performance celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the musical Grease. Demas originated the role of Sandy in it on Broadway.

It was an intimate show at the Laurie Beechman Theater located within the West Bank Café on West 42nd street. This lovely venue only seats one hundred people allowing you to be close and appreciate the treasure of Demas’s voice and talent.

In a varied set list of nearly twenty songs, Demas articulated what she sang in such a way that even if it was a song you heard many times before, you really listened to and appreciated the lyrics and their meaning. With accompaniment by her very talented musical director and pianist Ian Herman as well as wonderful guitarist Sean Harkness, Demas revealed her beautiful voice and great vocal range.

She began with a medley of “Love Don’t Turn Away” and “The More I See You,” followed by Billy Joel’s "You’re My Home." She later performed another moving medley of “What the World Needs Now” and “You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught.” Her performance of “Try to Remember” from the Fantasticks was sung with depth and meaning.

Here is a video of her singing it for Sirius XM Live:

Demas shared sweet, personal stories in between some of the songs but kept the set flowing.

Herman wowed with his performance of a song he composed named “Too Fast.”I have never seen a piano player’s fingers move so quickly and so precisely while delivering a highly entertaining piece of music.

Though I was too young to personally remember the show, Demas also starred in a long running, popular children’s TV show The Magic Garden. Her co-star from the show Paula Janis was in the audience to sing “The Hello Song” with her.

Here is a video from their show:

In celebration of the anniversary of Grease, "Summer Nights" was sung with handsome actor Josh Franklin who played Danny in the 2007 revival and National Tour. Demas was also joined by one of her former Grease cast members, Ilene Kristen, who had played the role of Patty Simcox.

In her career, Demas had originated the lead role in The Baker’s Wife in LA . She exquisitely sang one of my favorite Broadway songs from this show, “Meadowlark.” She drew the audience into the story the song shares as her beautiful voice built throughout it.

At the end of the show, Demas sang another Billy Joel song “I’ve Loved These Days” receiving a well-deserved standing ovation. For an encore she performed Kandor and Ebb’s “A Quiet Thing,” gently and sweetly. Its lyrics include “happiness comes in on tip-toe.” That is how her performance felt, while strong, it was not overbearing and it left you with a happy feeling.

Carole Demas’ website lists her upcoming performances which include a return to The Laurie Beechman Theater at the end of this month in case you can catch her yourself.