Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Fabulous nights at 54 Below: The legendary CHARLES BUSCH sings Johnny Mercer, the strapping CLAYBOURNE ELDER gets playfully candid

• By drediman
• September 14, 2026
• No Comments

This past week, I had the great chance to catch a pair of worthwhile shows at 54 Below, that essential theater district supper club specifically catering to admirers of the legitimate art of cabaret. Here are my thoughts on these two fabulous nights.

CLAYBOURNE ELDER: CAN I TELL YOU SOMETHING?
54 Below
Closed

For two performances

Last week for two showings only, Claybourne Elder’s unveiled his new cabaret act Can I Tell You Something? (RECOMMENDED). Perhaps best known as the gender-bent male flight attendant in Marianne Eliott’s Tony-winning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Company a few seasons ago or his appearance in the television series The Gilded Age, the Broadway star’s latest show is a refreshingly intimate opportunity to get to know the handsome and strapping — albeit at times distant — actor as a flesh-and-blood human. Suffice to say, it was both entertaining and disarming to see him open up and let his hair down. Although sometimes a little by the numbers — which was understandable given that the performance I attended was the act’s maiden run-through (a first preview, if you will!) — Elder’s show was never less than playfully candid as he regaled the well sold audience with often embarrassing and self-deprecating stories from his personal life and career as an actor both on stage and screen. Some of the more amusing tales were related to his Mormon background, particularly instances of having to reconcile his religious identity with his sexuality and chosen path as a musical theater actor. Overall, the show put a heavy emphasis on banter, with his song selections commenting directly on preceding anecdotes. By an large, the songs were culled from the musical theater songbook by likes of Broadway songwriters like Rodgers and Hammerstein (“Something Good” from The Sound of Music), Stephen Sondheim (“Talent” from Road Show, “On One Is Alone” from Into the Woods), Michael John LaChuisa (“Breezing’ Through Another Day” from The Wild Party), Lionel Bart (“As Long as He Needs Me from Oliver!), and Menken and Ashman (“Somewhere That’s Green” from Little Shop of Horrors, in which he is currently appearing Off-Broadway) — often putting a bespoke spin on the lyrics to fit his storytelling needs. As terrifically accompanied by music director Rodney Bush, Elder was in excellent voice throughout, his sturdy instrument both forceful and tended, as needed.

CHARLES BUSCH SINGS JOHNNY MERCER
54 Below
Closed

Also appearing for only two performances last week was the legendary Charles Busch (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), that multi-faceted creature of the theater. A longtime staple of the American theater — as a playwright (namely Vampire Lesbians of Sodom and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife), actor, and cabaret performer — Busch has established himself as one of the most uniquely influential theatrical voices of his generation. As a member of the “Old Guard”, Busch quietly owned the stage, his ample experience and thoughtful professionalism carrying the day. For this latest stint at 54 Below, he chose to sink his teeth into the songbook of the great lyricist John Mercer. Indeed, on tap were urbane Mercer classics like “Moon River” and “On The Atchison, Topeka, and the Santa Fe”, which he sang alongside various lesser known Mercer nuggets, like Odyssey’s irrepressible disco single “Native New Yorker”. Always supremely in the moment, Busch didn’t strictly stick to the Mercer songbook (e.g., a pungent take on The Carpenters hit “Superstar”), instead allowing his nuanced storytelling to organically lead the way. Although over the decades he’s redefined our notion of camp as a trailblazing queer and openly gay theater-maker, there’s also a disarming sensitivity and sincerity that underlies his work as an entertainer, which shines through especially in the intimacy of cabaret performances. A natural and approachable stage presence — and a New Yorker through and through — Busch has mastered the art of holding court, drawing on a long lifetime of memories and relationships, triumphs, and heartaches, and garnishing them with the occasional passing knowing wink, beguiling smile, as well as hints of mischievousness and melodrama. Although he doesn’t have the strongest singing voice, he more than makes up for it with interpretations that feel lived in, purposeful, and alive with specificity — every gesture, voice inflection, and look has a meaning. Throughout, he was sensitively accompanied by music director Jono Mainelli on the piano, as well has his nephew, the talented guitarist Jimmy Stull. Also featured during the performance was a very funny turn by stand-up comic Ashley Austin Morris (Die, Mommie, Die).