Seth Sikes & Nicolas King ARE indeed the New Belters!
They have both been working in the business of show business since they were kids, they love love love Liza Minnelli as they both shared space with her, and they both say that some of the best songs written were for women.
Seth Sikes and Nicolas King are like two old friends who have spent their entire lives together, so close that they can finish each other’s sentences. They are old-school entertainers with puppy energy that will sell the hell out of a song and MacGyver the sounds and lyrics of others to bring the outdated into the 21st Century. They are brilliant from beginning to end, giving 110% of themselves to us with joy, jubilance, and a little sweat.
The show Seth Sikes and Nicolas King The New Belters with Billy Stritch at 54 Below has gifted us with their friendship, their joyful presence, and their beautiful renditions of some of the great songs in the American songbook.
As the title of the show proclaims, they share the stage with the incomparable composer, arranger, singer, and pianist Billy Stritch. For Stritch to show up and work with them, to be their music director, pianist, and fellow singer, says everything about their talent and their dedication to their craft and audience. To tie into the Liza myth, Stritch was Liza’s long-time arranger, confidante’, and pianist. They are, as they say, living their dream, and we get to live it with them.
They are an abundance of fun and so gifted that I am positive they can do anything. Not just sing and dance and act, but if you are on a desert island you’d want Sikes and King with you as they’d keep your spirits soaring with their rapport, singing, scatting, AND most likely find a way to hail a cruise ship just over the horizon.
Also attending the evening on stage was the marvelous accompaniment of the bass playing of Steven Doyle and the dynamite drums of Daniel Glass which provided beautiful poetic conversational duets that had the audience cheering.
These are songs by Ira Gershwin, Cole Porter, Cy Coleman, Stephen Sondheim, Richard Rodgers, Jerome Kern, and Oscar Hammerstein II. Songs like, “Pick Yourself Up,” “Happy Days Are Here Again,” “He Touched Me” “Two Of A Kind” and more. Seth Sikes sings, “He Touched Me” with such depth and truth that it brought up within me that feeling of magic and light and air.
Nicolas King performs scrumptious scat delivered with a divine fervor and rhapsody in “(If You Can’t Sing It) You’ll Have To Swing It (Mr. Paganini),” the song Ella Fitzgerald made famous. So you understand what kinda scat we’re speaking of!
This is the show not to miss. You will be better off for having seen it, swimming in the incredible songs, bathed in the marvelous voices, succumbing to the blend of music, and remembrance of the importance of friendship.
54 Below 254 West 54 Cellar 10019
Tickets/Calendar 54 Below: call (646) 476-3551
