Simon Green Speaks, Sings and Reflects on Life

Simons Green Speaks, Sings and Reflects on Life

Simons Green: So, This Then Is Life
59E59 Theaters
59 East 59 Street between Park and Madison
Opened May 22, 2014
Closes June 1, 2014
Tues. thru Thurs. at 7:15pm, Fri. at 8:15pm, Sat. at 2:15pm & 8:15pm and Sun. at 3:15pm & 7:15pm
Tickets: $35
Reviewed by Paulanne Simmons May 23, 2014

Simon Green in /Simon Green: So, This Then Is Life/, part of Brits Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

If Socrates lived nowadays he might sound a lot like Simons Green in "So, This Then Is Life." That is, if Socrates had a mellow voice that doesn't need a mic and had David Shrubsole as musical director and accompanist.

Green and Shrubsole's newest musical review imagines what we might tell our 21-year-old selves when we are older and wiser. Many of the excerpts begin with the phrase "Dear Me..." There's also plenty of advice from latter-day philosophers, from Walt Whitman to Shelley Winters.

Simon Green in /Simon Green: So, This Then Is Life/, part of Brits Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Some of this wisdom comes through poets like A.E. Housman and Philip Larkin. Some comes via the spoken words of people like Stephen Colbert and Christopher Hitchens. And of course there is an abundance of songs from great composers and lyricists such as Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer ("Out of This World"), Tom Lehrer ("I Got It from Agnes") and Stephen Sondheim ("Old Friends," "Too Many Mornings," "See What It Gets You"). This last composer/lyricist is not surprising as Green has a long history with Sondheim, beginning with playing the role of Young Ben in the 1987 "Follies."

Green is an expert at delivering the mild, reflective song that depends as much on lyrics as it does on melody. His tone and phrasing are well attuned to subtle and not so subtle messages.

Simon Green in /Simon Green: So, This Then Is Life/, part of Brits
Off Broadway at 59E59 Theaters. Photo by Carol Rosegg.

It's not often that we can hear the words of Noel Coward - "My importance to the world is rather small. On the other hand, my importance to myself is tremendous" - next to those of Shelley Winters - "I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American. But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic, and a progressive religious experience." The juxtaposition is certainly titillating

Behind Green there is a board on which are pinned the "Dear Me" letter of past audience members. At the end of the show Green invites everyone to make a personal contribution, which will be placed alongside the others on the board. Do it!