Colleen Sexton - One Night

Colleen Sexton - One NightLook out everyone, there’s a new girl in town. Her name is Colleen Sexton and she is a force to be reckoned with. The singer and actress made her New York club debut at the Metropolitan Room on Monday, August 13th, and judging from the crowd’s reaction, she will be back there many more times.Sexton, who has been seen on Broadway in Jekyll and Hyde and has toured nationally with Chicago, as well as playing Florence in Chess, Mary in Jesus Christ Superstar, and the Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. She was also a member of the band 5NY, which toured Europe.Sexton performed a wide variety of songs, demonstrating her wide range of talents and her voice’s versatility. She opened with “The Life of the Party” from Lippa’s The Wild Party and quickly followed that with a soulful rendition of the Beatle’s “In My Life.” She also treated the audience to a few rock melodies, including “Hunk of Burning Love” and a loving rendition of “Not Good Enough,” which she dedicated to her mother. Many light hearted moments were included in the evening as well, one of them being a delightfully comedic rendition of “The Alto’s Lament,” in which she laments the inevitable harmonizing that she is forced to do because of her vocal range.And, of course, she sang "Bring On the Men," which, unfortunately, was cut from Jekyll and Hyde, but at this performance caught the attention of all women, and several men, in the audience. A successful perforamance of this witty, raunchy number requires not only great vocals, but comedic talent as well, and Sexton has both.One of the highlights of the evening was her rendition of “As Long As You’re Mine,” from the musical Wicked, where she is understudying the role of Elphaba in Chicago, when she invited her cast mate Bryan West onstage to perform with her. The two had palpable chemistry, causing this critic to wish to see them perform the entire show together.For an encore, Sexton performed “Listen,” from the film Dreamgirls. But she didn’t have to ask this audience to. They were rapt until the final note.