You know you’re at the right place in the cabaret world when you look up and see Julie Wilson there. Last Saturday, at 5:00, that place was the Metropolitan Room for Justin Ritchie’s show, On My Way Here.
Justin presented a terrific variety of material, beautifully sung and emotionally expressed. (Don’t take my word for it, see Jenna Esposito’s review in Broadway World.)
Having seen an earlier iteration of the show, it was really nice to see how well Justin had settled into the material. Favorite moments for me were the way he made the intro of the song But Beautiful really work, and the humor he got out of He Never Did That Before. And he was endearing and spontaneous while accompanying himself on Mrs. Whitney. Needless to say, for the rest of the show, Rick Jensen provided his typically wonderful and inventive music direction.
It was also great to see the contingent of people from DC who made the trip to see Justin including Mary Reilly, Lonny Smith, Maris Wicker, and Chris Cochran; plus Jill Leger made the trip down from Toronto. So a lovely, lovely way to spend an afternoon !