Nicolas King – Surviving and Thriving
It’s a new year, and Nicolas King is starting anew with fresh energy, positively looking forward to whatever is coming, and practicing resilience every day.
His first concert of the year at The Palm Cabaret in Vallarta had an interesting twist: he and his Musical Director, Mark Hartman, with whom he rarely works because of conflicting schedules, asked the audience for requests!
A popcorn bowl sat on a stool onstage, brimming with neatly folded pieces of white paper containing who-knew-what song titles and sometimes an even broader request, like ”anything by Barbra Streisand.”
The first half of the show was carefully curated and well-rehearsed by the two New Yorkers, with song choices upbeat and centering around starting over and embracing new beginnings.
Nicolas took Gloria Gaynor’s late 70s peppy anthem ”I Will Survive” and turned it into a steady, rhythmic statement barely above a whisper, filling the lyrics with a wryness and absolute authority, empty of anger and full of straightforwardness. Nic slowed the song to a blues-and-jazz level, removing the need to jump up and dance to the Grammy-winning disco beat and allowing the determined lyrics to be heard. I loved it!
At the start of the second half of the show, Nicolas was nervously eyeing the black bowl containing the requests. He repeatedly pointed out he couldn’t possibly know all the lyrics to all the songs, and that the only accompanist he would consider for such a crazy idea was Mark Hartman, and that they hardly ever worked together. All of the pre-made apologies flew away as Nic and Mark leapt into uncharted waters, and with only a few prompts for the next word, the two carried the rest of the show like the seasoned pros they are. A couple of necessary key changes were made on the fly, and the result was a glorious celebration of song, some of which Nicolas had never performed in public in his life.
When he pulled out ”Don’t Rain on My Parade,” he told the story of appearing on a national TV talk show and singing it for the first time. Nicolas was five years old. Cutest kid ever!
I was sitting next to a couple of native New Yorkers, familiar with Nic’s work on Broadway, now living in California and in Vallarta for a week on vacation. They were thrilled when Nic opened the following request and read the title out loud, saying it was one of his personal top-ten favorite songs. As Nicolas launched sweetly into, “What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?” the two men’s hands reached out to one another and held on tight. When the song was over, and tears wiped away, the one closest to me said, ”That’s our song. From our wedding 25 years ago. He (pointing to his husband) sang it to me in the middle of our ceremony! As a surprise.” The husband turned to me, smiling wistfully at the memory, and added, ”And, he married me anyway.”
