Not long into his first set at 54 Below last night, the musical theater star Brandon Victor Dixon recalled his shame and embarrassment after being assigned a private voice coach for the first professional job he had landed, in a national tour of The Lion King. The problem—fundamentally, struggling to hit certain notes on occasion—was “not a vocal issue,” he soon discovered, “but a mental issue.”
Well, of course it was. Anyone who has heard Dixon sing in various Broadway productions—he’s currently appearing at the Public in Alicia Keys’s Hell’s Kitchen, set to move uptown next spring—knows that his is a rangy and altogether glorious instrument, capable of veering from sultry, shivery low notes to a shiny, soaring top. It’s a voice that’s perfectly suited to the kind of R&B-inspired contemporary scores that, as he noted, have been his bread and butter, and for his solo debut at the cabaret venue, he chose a diverse array of showcases.
Spry and sinewy in a dark purple shirt and black pants, Dixon opened with a robust “Heaven On Their Minds,” from Jesus Christ Superstar, and later performed, flawlessly, “Endless Night,” the song from Lion King that had once stumped him—written by Elton John, of course, with lyricist Tim Rice, who had been Andrew Lloyd Webber’s collaborator on the former show.
There were also tunes from Rent (“I’ll Cover You”) and The Wild Party (“I’ll Be Here”), a sweetly delicate reading of Charlie Chaplin’s “Smile” and a radiant, soulful take on Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” with pianist Rick Hip-Flores and drummer Damien Bassman providing full-sounding, supple accompaniment. But Dixon, whose charm as an entertainer is only enhanced by lingering traces of the self-consciousness he battled as a young performer—he apologized for getting choked up at one point, then gingerly reassured audience members he wasn’t bothered by a few folks talking in the back—spoke most passionately and purposefully about the old-school R&B gems sprinkled through his set.
These classics included the Ron Miller-penned Stevie Wonder hit “Heaven Help Us All,” marred just slightly by too much melisma, and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” which was just about perfect. Dixon dug further back for “For All We Know,” bringing irresistible melodrama to a song that has been covered by Billie Holiday and The Spinners, among others, since its introduction in the 1930s.
The show ended with a predictably bravura performance of Charlie Smalls’s “Home,” from The Wiz, followed by an original song, a plea for peace called “Maybe.” Dixon prefaced the latter by remarking, with endearing earnestness, how he wished we could all “put our flags down and begin to remember our basic laws of humanity.”
But the real revelation of the evening had come shortly before that, with an exquisite rendition of “One For My Baby.” While Sinatra will forever own Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer’s torch treasure, as Dixon essentially acknowledged, Dixon brought to it a similar sense of beautifully restrained melancholy. It was one of numerous reminders that soul is not just a genre, but a quality, and Dixon is as much a master as anyone performing in theater right now.
Brandon Victor Dixon: Soul of Broadway was presented for two performances on December 4, 2023 at 54 Below. Tickets and information: 54below.com
