David Burnham at Sterling’s Upstairs at Vitello’s
Sterling’s Upstairs at Vitello’s is a lovely restaurant/cabaret room in a tiny cultural section of Studio City, California. The Italian restaurant has been a fixture for some years and impresario Michael Sterling has created a consistent weekly venue for established and up-and-coming cabaret singers.
October 2nd, 2011 showcased Broadway actor/singer David Burnham singing a medley of songs from his theatre work (“Wicked,” “The Light in the Piazza,” “Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “The King & I”) and from his new album “Mostly Broadway.” Matched with musical director and composer Mark Vogel, Burnham’s sweet tenor voice has range and he made the most of it that evening.
After a superb meal and drinks, listening to professionals do what they do best can certainly be satisfying. Burnham’s range extends into the higher stratosphere and therein lies part of his problem in the cabaret venue. Big Broadway houses (1,000-3,000 seats) demand huge voices, even in this overly-mic’d era. But small cabaret houses (usually under a hundred seats) does not need loud as much as thoughtful. Relying on overpowering your audience with extended vocal range can be way too much of a good thing. But his show suddenly came very much alive when he brought up on stage soprano Karin Roberts, for the love-duet, “Suddenly Seymour” (from “Little Shop of Horrors”), showing us his excellent showmanship.
The young actor has presence and looks, making the most of his audiences’ adulations. What he needs now is better patter, more, perhaps, autobiographical notes (such as the song he and Vogel wrote to commemorate the memory of Burnham’s mother, “Always Have You and Me,” a genuinely moving song), and more of his professional history (gossip about other performers is always engaging). But he has time to develop more of those acting/emotional skills.
In the meantime, his album is a worthy way to know his voice and his presence.