Silk Road Cabaret Reviews
Featuring a lineup of Broadway tunes about the Asian, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean experience, the cabaret is based on a winking irony that nearly all these musicals were written by Americans and Brits, many in an "exoticized, Orientalized, otherized" vein.
Read MoreIt is a very charming way to spend a 70-minute evening listening to songs from popular Broadway shows that are set in locations along the ancient Silk Road and sung by a talented multi-cultural cast.
Read MoreJamil Khoury has put together a marvelous song book with lots of surprises and with the cast they have on board, each song has the true feeling that an audience would expect from the lyrics and music as written by the composer.
Read MoreCurated by Jamil Khoury, this revue looks at how Broadway and Tin Pan Alley have portrayed cultures along the ancient trade route from Japan to the Mediterranean. The sly and thoughtful assortment of songs ranges from South Pacific's "Carefully Taught" to a delightful "Slow Boat to China," and the mostly Asian cast add personal reminiscences that tend to focus on what it's like to be a second-generation actor with skeptical immigrant parents. The stories are touching, if repetitive, and David Rhee's how-I-got-that-show tale about landing a part in the Broadway company of Thoroughly Modern Millie segues nicely into "Stranger in Paradise" from Kismet. The intimate cabaret setting and ingratiating performances add up to a pleasant journey through novel musical territory.
Read More[The show] is quietly provocative. And as you listen to its two dozen mostly well-known songs-whose stage locales span the thousands of miles of the ancient Silk Road terrain from Japan and China to Italy- you begin to hear them in new ways.
Read MoreThe revue is both playful and ironic in its depiction of Silk Road persona... Each of the talent stepped up to showcase their vocal chops. The concept works as one of the most refreshing cabaret revues I’ve seen in years.
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