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CabaRomantico
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
January 2010, www.scenechanges.com
 The Papermill Theatre is one of the more underrated small theatres in Toronto, bearing a resemblance to the still missed Artword Theatre which closed down a few years back in downtown Toronto to make way for a condo development. No such nefarious plans are in store for the Papermill Theatre, nestled as it does in a valley in Todmorden Mills in central Toronto. Part of the Todmorden Mills Heritage Museum and Arts Centre, the only deterrent for audiences is that the theatre is somewhat off the beaten track on winding Pottery Road and a little hard to find at night.
It recently played host for a three-night Concert Cabaret called CabaRomantico, a show which will be touring various locales in Ontario this year with its two talented stars, Alfie Zappacosta and Janet MacEwen. Zappacosta, a guitarist, songwriter and singer, a Juno and an American Music Award winner, has a large fan base, many of whom were in the audience for his three night stand with the sexy Janet MacEwan, who has been featured in and toured with shows like Disney's Beauty and the Beast, Mamma Mia and Anne of Green Gables.
Zappacosta has had a long and successful career as a vocalist and song writer then left his pop stardom behind in the mid 1990's to pursue a more intimate style of writing and performing. The charismatic Zappacosta is at the top of his form with the jazz and pop infused CabaRomantico which features 15 of his own songs, many of which can be heard on his various CDs. But to see them brought to life with Zappacosta and MacEwen alternately crooning ( in the best sense of the word) and belting out numbers The Dance is Over and Passion is a lot of heat on a chilly winter's evening.
 The style is relaxed, the mood is intimate, a little more supper club than cabaret, though there is somewhat of a theme which fits the bill for this cabaret romantico."Falling in love is so easy" reads the introduction to the show, "while staying in love can be so hard." There's nothing terribly original in that - just about every cabaret that's come along in the last 25 years or so is about contemporary relationships. And in fact Zappacosta and MacEwen could sing the phone book and make it sound good, but romance is decidedly in the air with the two. MacEwan relates to Zappacosta in the duets like a cat with the cream; on her own she shares some friendly space with master accordionist/violist Claudio Vena who can make his instruments sound as if the music is wafting from a favorite Hungarian cafe.
Backed by a fine four piece band, there is sometimes a little too much music in the air for such a small theatre but Zappacosta and MacEwen are great song stylists and there's never any lack of rapport between you and the night and the music. Like a fine brandy, CabaRomantico sends you back out into the night air with a nice glow.
(Reviewed by Jeniva Berger)
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