Society Cabaret in the Hotel Rex is a great place for local entertainers to perform. I saw the talented singer Patrick Leveque there recently in his show titled Stages of Love. I reviewed this up and coming artist approximately nine years ago when he did a series of musicals in the Bay Area including Do Re Mi, Lady in the Dark and Oklahoma! in which he played Curly.

Patrick then went to Las Vegas to appear in The Phantom of the Opera as the Hairdresser/Marksman and was the understudy for the role of Raoul. He appeared as Raoul many times over seven years there. He is now back in the Bay Area and currently gives voice lessons in Mill Valley.

The handsome Patrick Leveque has a strong baritone voice much like Robert Goulet's and sounds very much like him. He has perfect diction and you can understand every word in the lyrics. He is also very laid back when presenting these songs with full and vacillating vocal cords.

For Stages of Love, Patrick and guest artists Jen Brooks and John Rinaldi sang over 20 romantic song mostly from Broadway and films. They were backed beautifully by arranger Carl Oser on piano. Mostly the artist segued into each song with very little patter. He opened the show with Lerner and Loewe's "Almost Like Being in Love" from Brigadoon and moved smoothly into Rodgers & Hart's "This Can't Be Love" from The Boys from Syracuse and finally into Kaempfert and Gabler's "L-O-V-E" made famous by Nat "King" Cole. The artist sang a sublime arrangement of Irving Berlin's "Let's Face the Music and Dance" and then segued into Larry Coleman and Joe Darion's "Change Partners" made popular by Patti Page, with a stunning solo by Carl Oser on piano. Patrick finished up this section with Jerome Kern's "All the Things You Are" from Very Warm for May.

John Rinaldi stepped onto the stage to sing a song usually reserved for a female vocalist. He delivered "My White Knight" from The Music Man with a dynamic range. Leveque came back to stage to sing Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" from Oklahoma! and then Rodgers & Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music."

Jen Brooks appeared onstage to sing with pitch perfect resonance "How 'Bout a Dance" from Frank Wildhorn and Don Black's Bonnie & Clyde, then Patrick returned to perform Lerner & Loewe's "If Ever I Would Leave You" sounding just like Robert Goulet who originated the song in Camelot. Jen Brooks returned joined him in an an harmoniously energizing rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "All I Ask of You" from The Phantom of the Opera. Patrick then impressively sang a song to his fiancée Amelia Abrahams, who was one of the ballerinas in the Las Vegas production of The Phantom of the Opera, Peretti, Creatore and Weiss' "Can't Help Falling in Love" from the Elvis Presley film Blue Hawaii. Patrick went off stage left and came back wearing a Golden State Warriors jersey and sang Frank Loesser's "Luck Be a Lady" from Guys and Dolls for the NBA team playing in the finals. John Rinaldi returned to sing Andrew Lloyd Webber's "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar with his striking baritone vocal cords.

Patrick concluded his solo part poignantly singing Ray Noble's "The Very Thought of You" and went right into Kander & Ebb's "Sometimes a Day Goes By" from Woman of the Year. Jen Brook came center stage to belt out Jeanine Tesori and Dick Scanlan's "Gimme, Gimme" from Thoroughly Modern Millie and Patrick and his guests melodiously sang Strouse and Adams' "A Lot of Livin' to Do" from Bye Bye Birdie.

For an encore Patrick invited John up to sing "Lily's Eyes" from Simon and Norman's The Secret Garden and then Patrick closed the show with Rodgers & Hammerstein's "People Will Say We're In Love" from Carousel.

This was a night of glorious singing from Patrick Leveque and his guests. The one night only gig took place on June 11th, 2016, at the Society Cabaret in the Hotel Rex. For a complete run down of Society Cabaret shows in the Hotel Rex go to societycabaret.com.