Jersey Boys Blog

Jersey Boys Blog is delighted to present a review of Donnie Kehr’s Dueling Piano Show on New Year’s Eve at the HA! Comedy Club by special correspondent Howard Tucker ([email protected]).

Both my friend Jessica Calderon and I are New Yorkers, and have lived half a century each without being in the Times Square atmosphere on New Year’s Eve. Donnie Kehr’s Dueling Piano Show at the HA! COMEDY CLUB remedied that situation and gave us a different form of entertainment that neither of us had ever experienced.

The HA! Comedy Club (formerly Sweet Caroline’s)
Just having relocated from downtown NYC into Times Square, the HA! Comedy Club at 146 W. 46th Street was easily accessible (even on New Year’s Eve) and gave us non-stop entertainment from 8 PM to 3 AM for the all-inclusive very reasonable price of $125. Open bar, all you can eat buffet, and gratuities all were included. The HA! personnel couldn’t have been more gracious.

The Comics
From 8 PM to 10 PM , we enjoyed five terrific comics: Shawn Cornelius, Cisko, Exinc, Jason Anders, and Rio . (Yeah, a lot of one namers!) All were funny, but my favorites were Shawn, who focused on airline travel (and I travel abroad constantly for my job) and Jason Anders, talking about his Jewish heritage, with his suggestion of designer yarmulkes really hitting home.

Donnie Kehr and His Dueling Piano Show
As Tommy says to Frankie, “Ya played and sung good tonight, kid!” I gotta send a message to you, Norm Waxman (Donnie’s character): Absolutely fabulous!

What are Dueling Pianos?
Jessica and I were under the mistaken impression that dueling pianos would be two piano players trying to out-play each other in concert style. We couldn’t have been more incorrect. Donnie and his partner Paul Leschen settled at the pianos (and were later joined by audience member Joe Valeri) and, with encouraged audience participation, entertained popular song requests from the crowd. The entertainers worked together with the crowd and with HA! manager Mike to provide an amazingly high energy and wonderful show, loaded with comedy.

The Performance
Who would imagine Norm Waxman as a pianist, drummer, or a comedian? Well, no one, but his alter-ego Donnie Kehr is all of the above. Each performer (Donnie, Paul, and later Joe) had a request jar where audience members wrote first and second choice requests. The crowd was largely a mix of generations, who not only told the performers what they preferred, but also what they didn’t want to hear. (But I think the only songs stopped by popular requests were Rod Stewart’s “Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?” and Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire.”)

Donnie began the performance, energizing the crowd with the magnificent “Whole Lot Of Shakin’ Going On,” “Hurt So Good,” and a deafening sing-along of “Build Me Up Buttercup.”

Particularly for us over-50’s, Donnie and Paul slowed it down with a moving Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life” and John Lennon’s haunting and still-relevant “Imagine.” With a wicked drum solo, Donnie continued with the Beatles, “I Wanna Hold Your Hand,” altering a few lyrics.

All the hands started waving to Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline” to honor our hosts.

Then, Donnie went back to the drums for the baby boomers as Paul was telling someone “You’re So Vain.” (But he still wouldn’t confirm if it’s Warren Beatty!)

Next, it was Elton John time with “Tiny Dancer” and audience shouting Ba, Ba, Ba, Ba “Bennie and the Jets.” The two sides of the audience were pitted against each other for enthusiasm, with the HA staff determining our side to be the winner.

Donnie then polled the crowd as to where everyone lived. The New Yorkers, Long Islanders, and New Jerseyans were the loudest, so we were then treated to “New York, New York,” L.I.’s Billy Joel’s “Uptown Girl,” “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” and N.J.’s Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days.”

Van Morrison, Journey, ACDC, and James Brown were honored, followed by a patriotic Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” right before midnight. The entire audience singalong of “Hey Jude” and James Brown’s “I Feel Good,” took us outside to Times Square and the ball dropping.

2007 greeted us with audience members leading the crowd in dances for the Charlie Brown Christmas Song and the Chicken Dance. I actually think us seniors did better with the Chicken Dance than Generations X and Y.

As Joe Valeri joined Donnie and Paul from the audience, the guys played 70’s classics (again for the baby boomers), “Hotel California,” “Joy to the World,” “Superstition,” “Proud Mary” (with some Tina Turner jokes), “Play that Funky Music,” “Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard,” and “Margaritaville” (with some wicked, wicked alternative lyrics supplied by Paul, and the question of “who is to blame”).

At that stage, with the dancing, singing and rocking, the crowd became aggressive and stopped both “ Da Ya Think I’m Sexy” and “Ring of Fire” (Can understand how Rod Stewart doesn’t fit the definition of “sexy,” but didn’t know what the crowd had against Johnny Cash!).

As dawn approached, everyone belted out the lyrics of Gloria Gaynor’s anthem “I Will Survive,” and we all paid homage to Bill Medley and the late Bobby Hatfield with a very touching “You Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’.”

As Jessica works in the hospitality industry and had to work on New Year’s Day, we didn’t stay for the last half hour, but did remain long enough to talk with both Donnie and Paul toward the end, who were kind enough to pose for pictures and sign autographs, reminiscent of the Jersey Boys themselves. As each spoke with the crowd, Joe and the HA! club manager Mike subbed at the piano and on the drums.

Final Thoughts
Donnie and his crew were fantastic musicians, singers, and comedians, and obviously love what they do. The crowd became involved more than I ever would have thought, and obviously adored the performers. You guys were funny, talented, and versatile, and Jessica and I thank you and the HA Comedy Club for our best New Year’s Eve ever.

Jersey Boys Blog would like to thank Howard Tucker once again for this amazing review of the Dueling Piano show starring the multi-talented Donnie Kehr. If you would like to contact Howard directly, he’d be glad to hear from you at [email protected].