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ON THE RECORD: Susan Watson Sings Jones & Schmidt, Ken Page's Story "Page by Page"
By Steven Suskin
31 Mar 2008
PAGE BY PAGE [LML CD-221]
Sitting with Ken Page's CD Page by Page on your desk, you're perhaps entitled to wonder just why you should want to listen to a one-man show from Ken Page, and why does he need two CDs? Lena Horne in The Lady and Her Music, yes; Elaine Stritch at Liberty, yes. But why Ken Page? It doesn't take more than five or six tracks, though, before you discover that the man is a fine storyteller with a good story to tell. I did not relish spending a couple of hours with Page, but he soon had me listening closely and wondering what and how and who.
Page is best known as the Fats Waller stand-in in the 1978 musical carnival that goes under the name Ain't Misbehavin'. He followed this with a major role in an even bigger hit, Cats, although it was hard to put much of a stamp on Old Deuteronomy as he was somewhat hidden under mounds of makeup and matting. Page's first Broadway role was far more memorable, although until he started talking about it I hadn't realized that Page of Ain't Misbehavin' was the same fellow who did such a good job rockin' the boat in the ill-advised 1976 revival of Guys and Dolls.
St. Louis-native Page takes us from the ghetto to the projects, circa 1960; describes how he put on some tap shoes — he was a large child — and said, I can do that; brings us into the free seats atop the St. Louis Muny to watch Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway in Hello, Dolly!; stares at Pearlie Mae herself, in a white Cadillac. When the piano player starts playing the "Tradition" vamp, you wonder what on earth is Ken Page doing here? Turns out he starred in his Catholic high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. Ken Page as a teenaged Tevye in a 1970 Catholic production of Fiddler? Unthinkable, absurd, as Tevye himself might say; but times they were a-changin'. He gets on the bus with his suitcase, arrives at Port Authority, and finds himself in the middle of one of Broadway's driest stretches. By this point in Page by Page, you might well find yourself riveted. So much for wondering why he needs two discs.
This is a live performance — recorded in September 2006 at the Poway Center for the Performing Arts outside San Diego — of the one-man show Page has been working on since 2000, written by Page and directed by Dan Mojica. There's an 11-piece band, too, led by Daryl Archibald. (The band does not sound especially good on the CD, although this might be partially due to the recording equipment.) The narrative begins to lag in the latter portion of the second act, as does the career, but no matter. Page is quite an entertainer, based on the evidence herein. I'm mighty glad I took the time to listen to Page by Page, and I suspect you will be, too.
(Steven Suskin is author of "Second Act Trouble," "Show Tunes" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com)
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