Get ready for gushing. Storm Large is good. Really good. It’s not the strength of her vocal abilities. It’s not the sexy chef vibes. It’s not her musical director and pianist James Beaton’s tasteful, innovative, and catchy arrangements. It’s not the well-considered setlist ranging from Kurt Weil to Ozzy Osbourne. It’s not her successful TV moments as a singer, or even the support of her devoted followings in the LGBTQIA+ communities and her home in Portland, Oregon. It’s her: showing up with her heart open, an adult sense of humor, willing to share and connect with her audience—and put her professional skills and her depth of performance experience in service of that connection. It’s what cabaret at its best is about.
Storm Large (Photo: Todd Huffman)
Although Storm frequently works with symphony orchestras and rock bands, the piano is a strong choice for her in a cabaret room like 54 Below. The quiet dynamics of her voice are as interesting as the superpowered end, and it feels like a privilege to hear her in an intimate environment.
The rock classic “Boys of Summer” (Mike Campbell, Don Henley) featured extra-fresh lyric variations with a Fire Island twist. Cyndi Lauper, one of the best allies out there, came up a couple of times in the evening. Storm ripped into “She Bop” (Cyndi Lauper, Stephen Broughton Lunt, Gary Corbett, Rick Chertoff) as a blues song. A defiant medley of “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World” (James Brown, Betty Jean Newsome),“You Don’t Own Me” (John Madara, David White), and one of her co-written originals, “Ladylike” (Storm Large, Jeff Trott, James Beaton) showed her emotional and vocal power.
Actor and improviser Jason Kravits snuck in mid-set, creating the once-in-a-lifetime duet: “Yes, But I Keep Forgetting Not to Schedule It,” showing both performers rhyming on their feet, and providing a nice change of pace in the evening.
“I’ve Got You Under My Skin” (Cole Porter) featured a Radiohead-esque makeover in which Porter’s alternating major and minor chords in the opening were swapped for a brooding all-minor melody; saving the first bright moment for “I’d sacrifice anything…” This is one of her signature songs, for good reason: she brought a quiet torch singer intensity to the obsessive lyrics. Although Storm doesn’t identify principally as a theatre singer, her “Pirate Jenny” (Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht) showed masterful command: every acting beat and dynamic change you could possibly want to draw you into the revenge storyline was deliciously executed. “Maybe This Time” (John Kander, Fred Ebb), was newly alive with hurt and hope.
It seems as if Storm’s saltiness is getting a fair amount of attention at the moment: her hilariously uncensored commentary reads as comic relief, speaks truth to power, and invites us into a world of experience we can’t share until we’re in a safe space like the one she so skillfully creates for us. Sure, “My Vagina is 8 Miles Wide” (Storm Large) doesn’t come up in every cabaret setting, but it’s a toe-tapper, and the audience was with her every step.
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Presented at 54 Below, 254 W. 54th St., NYC, on July 15, 2025.
Penelope Thomas is a performer, writer, and communications consultant. Credits include lead vocals for two albums with prog rock band FauveMuseum; background vocals with Shellen Lubin, and US & UK tours of Mikel Rouse’s 'The End of Cinematics.' She’s read poet Anne Carson’s work at The Whitney Museum and played leads in HBO Women in Comedy Festival-selected film Pretty Dead and the upcoming indie film, "The Interview." She studied voice with Norma Garbo, music theory with bassist Mark Wade, LoVetri Somatic Voicework through Baldwin Wallace University, and acting with Deena Levy. She taught in the New School’s Sweat musical theatre intensive. With a degree in Cultural Studies & Anthropology and a background in contemporary dance, Penelope loves thinking and writing about performance—connecting the dots between styles and genres and supporting the connection between artists and audiences.
