Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) Presents Jilted to Perfection in Review
Books, Music, and Lyrics by Debra Cook;
Debra Cook as Debra;
McKinslee Mitchell as McKinslee
Tanya Taylor, collaborative pianist;
Kathy Morath, Director; Christopher Stephens, Music Director
Gene Fisch, Jr, Producer
Weill Recital Hall, Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
February 14, 2023
For one of my more unusual reviewing assignments, I found myself on Valentine’s Day evening attending the musical “Jilted to Perfection” by Debra Cook at Weill Hall. What was unusual? Well, the whole night was, but to start, a musical at Weill Hall is unusual in and of itself (as a classically oriented recital hall). Then, despite its billing as a musical, one found that there were none of the usual sets or backdrops except the hall’s usual Steinway grand piano, and the only prop was an armchair (used chiefly for one angry slamming episode). The show would thus rely completely on the music and cast to inspire the audience’s imagination – but, wait, what cast? Apart from a special singing appearance in the last few minutes by McKinslee Mitchell (creator Debra Cook’s young granddaughter), the “cast” consisted solely of Ms. Cook herself, singing ten songs she composed and strung together with a memoir’s worth of tales and quips for the whole eighty-plus minutes (with no intermission). The collaborative pianist Tanya Taylor was a stalwart professional through it all but was inconspicuous, leaving it clearly a “one-woman show.” So, how was it? In a word, inspiring.
When my humorous “better half” mimics theatre raves, he says in a fangirl voice, “I laughed, I cried – it became a part of me!” Well, I have to admit that Jilted to Perfection did make me laugh – and cry – so call me a fangirl. That said, it might need some tweaks to become “a part of me”- but I’ll get to those.
The show started off centering on Ms. Cook’s life as a singer in her thirties and gradually shifted focus to a romance that became more central to her world over the course of (what I later learned to be) several decades. She opened, ably singing audition excerpts from Bel Raggio lusinghier of Rossini’s Semiramide, interrupting those to tell of the challenges facing young singers, from frequent sexual harassment to the micromanaging of an accompanist’s sheet music. The show promised to take a rather different direction from what followed based on that first scene (which one could say about several scenes), but since Ms. Cook is a trained classical singer and the show is part memoir, it did serve to establish her background. Ms. Cook’s singing credits have included solo performances with the National Choral Society at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, Utah Symphony’s Beethoven 9th, and several seasons in repertory with Utah Opera Company. In this scene, though, she was primarily the storyteller, exaggerating strenuous vocal feats to semi-comical effect, presumably for the entertainment of a non-operatically inclined audience. She occasionally pushed the singing volume beyond the point of a listener’s comfort (whereas I wanted more volume in the storytelling that connected it all), but it was presumably to establish the rigors of her calling.
Ms. Cook moved swiftly on to her more Broadway-esque numbers, First Sight (as in “love at first sight”) and Jilted Kiss (about a mysterious kiss shared after Debra had stood up her date, Fredric Cook) – though operatic flourishes would burst forth throughout the evening. In First Sight she recalled her earliest encounters with Fred (the ostensible subject of the musical), but those hints of romance barely took flight before comical touches returned, including what was called the “Four Divorce Mombo” scene (which I’d almost hoped to become a full Mambo dance scene), as Debra recounted a brief history of Fred’s four divorces. The realization that he was a Scientologist (not quite in synch with her Mormon background) set up the laugh line “what could possibly go wrong?” so one was led to expect a zany comedy about love gone awry. The title itself, Jilted to Perfection,helped that slight misdirection, though the song Jilted Kiss gave glimmers of love’s promise. All of the songs in the show were composed – and sung – with musicality and theatrical flair.
Even amidst Ms. Cook’s stream-of-consciousness style, one wasn’t mentally ready for the next song, Why Does Daddy Hit Me?, and it might have been good to have a few more hints about Fred before this plunge into his childhood. Only the final pages of the program booklet revealed that one of the goals of the musical was to “promote Fred’s work as a philosopher and teacher in preparation for books on his works.” Apart from program notes, an audience relies on proportionate timing and other cues to learn what to care about in a musical, and the focus up to this point had indeed been Debra more than Fred (with hints of various other themes in her life also showing potential for development). The program booklet included a “Composer’s Notes” section, aiming to address this issue, but it seems that still further clarification and focus could help. Sometimes artists’ gifts and ideas are so abundant that an artist wants to say too much all at once. This is not a weakness, as long as one can learn to mete out creations gradually towards, say, another few musicals. It also may be inevitable that a one-person musical will face challenges in appearing to be about someone else. There are many solutions, including narrowing the focus or simply adjusting the pacing in spots.
Moving on, Why Does Daddy Hit Me? dipped into Fred Cook’s traumatic childhood with a heartbreaking tone that reflected Debra’s growing insight into Fred, and how and why he had become a “seeker” in life (with interests ranging from Scientology to the LDS church, in which, as we read in the booklet, his final role was as a High Priest). It is a song that could easily be used on its own for crusades against abuse – just as several other songs could take on separate lives.
The next song, Nine (named for the number of other men Ms. Cook had been seeing), reverted to reinforcing my initial impression of a light rom-com, complete with flirtatious shimmying that would make a woman half Ms. Cook’s age envious. (Did I mention that Ms. Cook is a mother and grandmother to many children? and co-founder and Executive Director of Utah Conservatory, Partner in Professional Artists Group, and Park City Music?) Yes, she is a dynamo.
Then, before one could blink after the song Nine, we heard Surrendering Heart, the show’s most stirring love song. It was moving – and beautifully sung – but also left me with the sense that I’d missed some steps leading to its intensity. The popular texter’s acronym ELI5 (“explain like I’m five”) has its place in musical production, especially when a writer is so close to the material (such as anything autobiographical) that there may be neglect in filling in gaps for a total stranger (and n.b., the five-year-old in ELI5 must not be one’s grandchild). Ideally, an audience member needs no supplementary reading for a complete understanding of the heart of a musical.
Later scenes of Jilted to Perfection zigzagged rather fast. In record time there was a move to Hollywood, a marriage, a wacky number about fraud called Jodie Foster’s Father is a Con Man, a scene entitled “In Sickness & In Health,” some comical struggles with Utah terrain in King’s Peak, mosquitoes, jagged rocks, a recession, surgeries (not necessarily in that order), and an extremely touching song called Big Guy – all passing by in a bit of a blur of bubbling creativity. Even the passing of Fred was only briefly communicated before the song Come Back Home – as a concerned son cut short his phone call with the words “I’ll call you back.” The unspoken words there were a silent dagger, undoubtedly intentional, as perhaps the rapid blur was intentional, to signify the brevity of life … but then one tends to ask: what else was intended? Flipping through the program booklet, one finds that one of the two stated goals of this production of the musical is the promotion of Fred Cook’s work as a philosopher. Though Fred’s philosophies were not explicitly “front and center” to this listener, the printed list of “Dr. Fred’s Philosophies” could fill an entirely new musical, one song or anecdote for each homily perhaps. On the other hand, since Fred Cook’s credo includes the belief that “Man is made that he might have joy,” then the sheer exuberance throughout this show could be seen as its own form of homage to his belief, thanks to the energies of Ms. Cook.
In summary, any observations of mine do not diminish the fact that this musical is brimming with all kinds of life – love, frustration, humor, sadness, and ultimately an uplifting determination to go on, in a sense to start over. There wasn’t a dry eye in the hall after the closing number, Good Fight Hallelujah with Debra Cook and her granddaughter McKinslee Mitchell. The song itself shows a certain debt to the “Alleluia” part of All Creatures of Our God and King, a hymn of great importance over the centuries (drawing the attention of Ralph Vaughan Williams and others), so it tugs at very deep heartstrings. Its recurring line “I can still find my own destiny” is a lasting message, and it was the perfect “take-home tune.” I won’t even describe how the encore (a reprise) was handled (to avoid a spoiler), but it was potent, drawing on the sense of theatrics for which the presenter DCINY (Distinguished Concerts International New York) is famous.
Incidentally, the program booklet states that the second goal for this performance through DCINY is “to generate momentum to engage an iconic Broadway Diva to play Debra on Broadway.” If that is decided, I’ll put in my two cents: Kristin Chenoweth! That said, the big appeal of this musical in its current form is that it is the author-composer’s personal story, shared and sung by her. Who could match Ms. Cook there?
