(photos by David Pluimer, courtesy of The Cabaret)

I caught Norbert Leo Butz’s performance at The Cabaret in Indianapolis on Feb. 15. Some thoughts.

– The first time I saw NLB on stage was off-Broadway in Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Year” in 2002. That was after his Tony-nominated appearance in the ill-fated “Thou Shalt Not” but prior to his one-two hits with “Wicked” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” Already, though, it was clear that the man had star quality – not movie star glamour quality exactly but a sense of authenticity, a clear way of honing lyrics for their drama and human truth, and a keen ability to bring out the humor in a lyric while enhancing rather than sacrificing character. 

– Subsequent encounters with his talents – in Broadway’s “Catch Me If You Can,” the pre-NYC run in Chicago of “Big Fish,” and on recordings – solidified my first impressions. I had hoped we’d see more of his work in original musicals, but given the work put into those last two – and their limited runs – I can understand why playing Alfred P. Doolittle in a revival of “My Fair Lady” in 2018 has been his only Broadway since “Fish” sank. (That’s not to say he hasn’t been on stage. In 2024 he appeared in the play “Vladimir” at the Manhattan Theatre Club.) 

– At the Cabaret, Butz opened with “Something’s Coming,” arguably his only toe-dip into what have become standards. But he brought new life to it, singing it with the urgency not of a young lover but seemingly of a gambler holding out for one last big-win. He then promised to “spill the tea” with some backstories, but didn’t really spill much tea with stories of the cease and desist order that led to a song change in “The Last Five Years” and the sudden shift in theatergoing mood when “Thou Shalt Not” opened just after 9/11. The stories worked though, providing thoughtful details leading into, in turn, the “LFY” replacement song “I Could Be in Love with Someone Like You” and the “TSN” second act number, “Oh, Ain’t That Sweet” that helped Butz score his first Tony nomination.

– Butz’s cabaret shows elsewhere have often tilted toward rock and roll, pop and jazz with covers of The Flaming Lips, Sinead O’Connor and others as well as a haunting take on Theodore Roethke’s poem “The Waking.” Here, he briefly offered that side of his musical personality with a Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” that at first seemed to be a little out of place in a show titled “Broadway My Way.” That is, until we were told that it was the song that helped land Butz his Broadway break, bringing him to the attention of the casting folks for “Rent,” where he eventually played a lead role. Later, he slipped in some Springsteen (“Brilliant Disguise”) and a self-penned charmer “Hotel Bride.”

– While dodging a then-I-did-this/then-I-did-that format, he found room in his two-act set for visits to “Big Fish” with “Fight the Dragons,” “The Man Inside the Clues” from “Catch Me If You Can,” and an encore from “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” that didn’t belong to his character, “Nothing is Too Wonderful to be True.”

– A pair of songs offered some insight into the challenges for even the most talented of working musical theater actors. Butz lamented never having had a chance to play George in “Sunday in the Park with George” and delivered a rendition of “Finishing the Hat” that clearly made a case for him having a chance at the part. He also told of passing on “Floyd Collins,” not feeling ready for the part, but showed his agility with the material with a moving “How Glory Goes.”

– Addressing what he called “the elephant in the room,” he dodged any tea-spilling about the backstage machinations of “Wicked,” instead noting that that’s where he met his wife, who was playing Nessarose. That led to “Dancing Through Life” that didn’t sound at all obligatory.

– In addition to vocals, Butz accompanied himself on guitar and, briefly, at the piano. That bench was occupied most of the time by accompanist Andy Roninson, providing depth and color to the musical mix. (In New York? Robinson’s own musical, “The Real Kyle McCareen” is getting a performance May 19 at Joe’s Pub.) 

– In short, one of contemporary theater’s leading musical theater talents added another jewel of a show to the Cabaret’s crown. 

–Side note: Yes, that’s Butz as Alan Lomax in the film “A Complete Unknown.” A little homework and I found that he also was featured in another music bio flick, “Greetings from Tim Buckley,” a film I didn’t know existed and now have to track down.