Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – CHEYENNE JACKSON at Carnegie Hall: Joyously fulfilling a lifelong dream as his authentic self

• By drediman
• December 11, 2025
• No Comments

This past Monday, Cheyenne Jackson made his highly anticipated Carnegie Hall debut in an eclectic concert that found the stage and screen star joyously fulfilling his lifelong dream — emphatically as his authentic self. As directed by Warren Carlyle, the evening took Jackson’s adoring fans on an inspiring and touchingly candid journey through his life from an awkwardly out-of-place boy from a lower income rural town in Idaho to Broadway icon, compete with accounts of his first love, endearing family life, the hustle of show business, significant friendships along the way, and finally his role as a family man and father. Thoughtfully fleshing out these stories were song selections that spanned Broadway show tunes, pop songs from the radio, and immortal American Songbook classics.

Throughout, Jackson was in terrific voice — a nimble instrument capable of a bright, soaring belt which rang brilliantly across the expanse of the storied auditorium. Leaning decidedly more heavily towards the contemporary popular songbook, he crooned smoothly through such anthems as Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now”, Adele’s “When We Were Young” (in a touching to the late, great Gavin Creel, whom he understudied in the Tony-winning stage adaptation of Thoroughly Modern Millie early on in his career on Broadway), Sam Smith’s “Lay Me Down”, and Kacey Musgraves’ “Rainbow” (Jackson’s heartfelt final encore). In terms of the American Songbook, there were upbeat arrangements of Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” and Nat King Cole’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore”. Thankfully, musical theater fans weren’t neglected and were treated to shiny renditions of “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story, “I Am What I Am” from La Cage aux Folles, as well as a lively mash-up of most of the musicals he’s appeared in — culminating in Jackson rolling out in roller skates and donning tight denim shorts to briefly (albeit giddily) relive his turn in Xanadu. Also, given the time of year, there was also the requisite holiday jingle, which came in the form of “The Man with the Bag”. Sturdily accompanying Jackson every step of the way was his music director Paul Staroba, who skillfully led a not insubstantial band through a wide array of musical genres.

One of the chief pleasures of the evening was Jackson’s irrepressibly sunny demeanor. Not taking himself too seriously and basking in every moment of the momentous occasion, there was an appealing looseness and sincerity to the performance that also rubbed off on his special guests. First up was the sensationally-voiced Jessica Vosk, who lived every moment of her duet with Jackson of the Indigo Girs’ “Ghost”. Then there was Oh, Mary! co-star Jane Krakowski, who joined in with a crowd-pleasing version of the legendary Judy Garland / Barbra Streisand mash-up of “Happy Days Are Here Again” / “Get Happy”. But perhaps most special of all was when Jackson’s mom and sister came onstage to jointly harmonize in the bluegrass trio “The Pain of Loving You”.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

CHEYENNE JACKSON
Cabaret / Concert
Carnegie Hall
2 hours, 15 minutes (with one intermission)
One night only