TALKIN' BROADWAY: SOUND ADVICE REVIEW BY ROB LESTER:
A cabaret show about death? Well, yes. And more specifically, it's also accepting mortality and making the most of life. But maybe Hector Coris is just the guy to pull it off without filling it with gloom and doom or Pollyanna preachiness. A down-to-earth performer with a strong sense of humor and irony, he pulls his songs from various musical genres into an eclectic mix: Two songs each from William Finn, Ben Folds and the team of Kander & Ebb are parts of the repertoire.

Seen in a couple of revues with his own clever lyrics (alas, none in this debut solo show), Hector is good at directly communicating with an audience, as can be gleaned from this live recording from his Life Is Wonderful show which has had several performances at the popular club Don't Tell Mama in Manhattan's theatre district.

On the more tenderly crooned and pensively rendered songs, he reveals a gentle, attractive sound imbued with vulnerability. He is perhaps at his best with wry observations in song and those which tell little slice-of-life stories like "Another New York Afternoon" by Christine Lavin. An interesting choice that gives him a chance to act and question life and consider death is David Caldwell's "A Tomb with a View" about buying a cemetery plot. "Every Day with You" is another satisfying choice; its music and lyrics are by Brett Kristofferson, the young songwriter honored at this year's Bistro Awards, and he's someone whose work Hector has had on his plate as a director of cabaret shows with singer Angela Shultz who, in turn, directed his act. There are humorous moments here, too, with a couple of slices of ham and some that happily insinuate themselves into the story-songs and the included patter. The Drowsy Chaperone's "As We Stumble Along" starts off in a low-key, sweet way that is surprisingly effective and builds to a blustery, brash conclusion. Here, Hector shows his musical comedy side, something loopy in case we feared things would get droopy. But the mood is more life-affirming than mournful. Having two songs about the deaths of animals lets us stay on topic with some variety and whimsy.

This is a performance which has as its key strength its thought-provoking communication rather than bravura or weepy singing or anything grand scale. (Accompaniment is just pianist Ray Bailey and Dale Henderson on cello, who generally keep things appropriate intimate—and there are bursts of energy when needed.) While taking us on some diverting side trips, Hector still keeps the focus on the spoiler alert news flash that we are all destined to die so we need a little carpe diem when we can get it. In other words, he never ignores the subject at hand of Death, the "elephant in the room." That is literally addressed with his plucky performance of "The Elephant Song," from Kander & Ebb's 70 Girls 70 about the demise of a favorite zoo animal, and confronted plainly in William Finn's "You Gotta Die Sometime." But Hector wisely keeps coming back to the here and now, savored as something more precious with the sober reminder of limited time ... tick-tick-tick. - Rob Lester, Talkin' Broadway

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"It's always exciting to find recordings by performers that celebrate its history in new and imaginative ways. One such recording is Hector Coris' Life is Wonderful. recorded live at Don't Tell Mama in New York City. Coris named his delightfully original cabaret show Life is Wonderful. but, ironically, that was a decision to sugarcoat the fact that his chosen songs are really about death. Mr. Coris is best when performing famous and lesser known Broadway gems. Life is from Kander and Ebb's Zorba, The Elephant Song from Kander and Ebb's 70, Girls, 70, My Dogs from William Finn's song cycle Elegies and You Gotta Die Sometime from Finn's Falsettos are standouts. If you love Broadway and beyond then MAC Award-winning performer Coris shows us that there is definitely life (and its possible repercussions) off of The Great White Way." - Joseph Gordon, Gilbert Examiner, AZ

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"By the time this genial and neuroses-filled disc has ended, listeners will probably find themselves agreeing with its title. Coris brings together a grand array of tunes -- both well-known and obscure -- to celebrate just makin' it through. Some highlights include a gentle, yet still forceful, take on William Finn's "Gotta Die Sometime" (from Falsettoland), a dynamic "As We Stumble Along" (from The Drowsy Chaperone) and the thoroughly hilarious "Snow White," which describes one particularly bad day at Disneyland." - Andy Propst, Theatremania.com