Shane Tanner, Kate Delaney, Shelley Keelor, and Bruno Farina head To Life 6 (Photo by Carrol Kassie)
By Britin Haller
“You may have dancing man a mano,
You may bring on a piano,
But they will not give a damn-o if you don’t have any Jews.”
—– John Du Prez & Eric Idle from Spamalot
It’s a red-letter day because To Life 6, now playing at the Willow Theatre in Boca, has done the unthinkable, namely to get this critic to enjoy a musical revue.
With a talented and energized cast, and a selection of songs chosen and slotted almost perfectly, Hy Juter Presents entertained us for over 90 minutes with hits from the Great American Songbook. This “longest running comeback series in Florida” (they’re up to number six now) is a celebration of many of the finest Jewish composers who’ve ever lived.
Four entertainers separately and together take turns providing the entertainment with thirty tunes by Al Jolson, the Gershwin brothers, John Kander, Fred Ebb, Rodgers and Hammerstein, the two Neils (Sedaka and Diamond), Christopher Cross, Burt Bacharach, Hal David and Stephen Schwartz, among others, including a shout-out to Carol Bayer Sager as the lone female of the bunch. There’s minimal choreography, but that’s okay because it’s not that type of show.
As with the past five versions, To Life 6 is directed, written and hosted by Shari Upbin who jokes that it’s the same show we saw last season. It’s not, although there are a few repeats. But it’s good to know that To Life 6 can stand alone while still paying homage to its five predecessors.
Upbin, whose father wrote for Jack Benny, is beautifully poised and casts a striking figure with her blue-sequined gown and flaming red hair. She periodically throws trivia at us like we’re contestants on a Jewish version of Jeopardy, testing our musical history knowledge and teaching us a thing or two, but as was the case last year, this information should be treated with caution. For instance, Bud Abbott did not convert to Judaism, rather was born to a Jewish mother and simply renewed his marriage vows in a Judaic ceremony.
As the accompanying pianist, Music Director Aidan Quintana shows off his remarkable skills in tickling the ivories. Quintana is a sophomore piano performance student at Lynn University and is already making a name for himself.
Besides Upbin, it’s not the first rodeo for three of the four cast members who are returning from last season. The popular Jinon Deeb was not available and has been replaced with Kate Delaney who fills those shoes admirably. Returnees are well-known local talents Bruno Faria, Shelley Keelor and Shane Tanner, each of whom are no strangers to Carbonell Awards’ judges.
Going in, the company’s opening number “That’s Entertainment” was not a strong start and had us worried what we were in for. We’ll chalk it down to opening night nerves, because things really got going after that.
What a difference 365 days makes. We didn’t go easy on Bruno Faria in our last review, but look out Boca Raton, because there’s a new Bruno in town who’s kicking ass and taking names with his confidence on full display. Faria does a terrific job on “April Showers,” showing off his head voice and whistling like a bluebird, which he follows with a soul-stirring rendition of “The Anniversary Song” culminating in a sweet kiss on the hand for Upbin.
Faria surprises us as the selection to sing “Over the Rainbow,” which for the record has no “Somewhere” in the title as is widely believed. And unless you’ve seen The Wizard of Oz on stage, you won’t recognize the opening lyrics, a.k.a. “The Lost Verse,” but what a wonerful treat to hear Faria singing it.
Shelley Keelor knocks it out of the park with her big number “Defying Gravity” from Wicked. Requiring stellar breath control and an expansive vocal range, Gravity is not an easy song by any means, but Keelor makes it look easy while looking gorgeous doing it. She gets the torch song too, the sublime “My Funny Valentine” which she croons to a nonchalant Faria.
Upbin performs The Andrews Sisters’ hit single “Bei Meir Bistu Shein” with Delaney and Keelor in a trio that sees Upbin breaking out in Yiddish lyrics and a syncopation we weren’t expecting. As someone who regularly performed this song with two other girls in high school, we feel justified in saying we have no critique, because this was marvelous with lovely harmonies.
Speaking of harmonies, “Sabbath Prayer” from Fiddler on the Roof performed by the entire cast wearing traditional Orthodox Jewish attire, gave us chills. It was so moving that the audience didn’t know if it was appropriate to clap or not, finally deciding it was.
Kate Delaney does nice work emulating Connie Francis on a different rendition of “Where the Boys Are,” and makes Dionne Warwick’s “Alfie” her own. World War II’s wartime, and Annie Wilkes’ (Misery) theme song “I’ll Be Seeing You,” is pretty as performed by Delaney. It’s a nice touch to recognize the veterans in the crowd.
In a repeat from 2025, Keelor with Delaney this time, gives us a fun mashup of “Get Happy” and “Happy Days Are Here Again,” where they show off their counterpoint singing while looking like they could be sisters. Counterpoint is not as easy as it looks. For those not in the know, Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland performed this together in 1963 on The Judy Garland Show.
Near the end, each of the four get one final chance alone to wow us, and just when we were worried Shane Tanner wouldn’t get his turn because it’s not listed that way in the Playbill, here he comes as Tevye the Milkman and brings down the house with “If I Were a Rich Man.” Tanner, with his big booming voice and expressive facial expressions, is no doubt, the greatest showman of the group.
Besides Tevye, Tanner is Billy Bigelow breaking our hearts with the eight-minute “Soliloquy” from Carousel, especially emotional when his voice softens while imagining being a girl dad. He’s Sir Robin in “You Won’t Succeed on Broadway” from Spamalot, this latter number highlighting the keyboard talents of Quintana.
And even if you’re not familiar with this deliberate (and delicious) pastiche of a classic Golden Age Broadway talk-sung patter-song like “Why Can’t the English?” from My Fair Lady, you’ll recognize its DNA from the charmingly old-fashioned iambic cadence.
Nicole Roach again stage manages and designs with a simple functional set and lighting. Hanging posters recognize such classics as Oklahoma, Wicked and La Cage aux Folles that are highlighted in the show. Sage Meyers acts as assistant stage manager.
A few notes:
Here’s how to have a successful review of a musical revue. Don’t just sing, but perform as if you are the characters from the musicals being represented. And let us know what shows, if any, the songs are from because that information is not in the Playbill.
We could have easily done without “Sweet Caroline,” and the cloying inevitable singalong that came with it, and if we’re honest, we can picture Tanner groaning as well when he learned of this assignment. The audience seemed to have fun with it though, however timid their voices were, so that’s all that matters, we guess.
This is just us being picky, but the lyric in “Over the Rainbow” is “where troubles melt,” not “where trouble melts.”
“A Wonderful Guy” with Keelor needs some polishing.
If you don’t like heavy vibrato, learn to like it because it’s on full display. One person’s hand movements feel natural during their solos, but distract when they’re on stage with the company. And while the women look stunning, there’s a lot of shiny bling reflecting back into the audience, including one dress which can be almost blinding at times.
The ladies have multiple dress changes, while the men only accessorize, and just when we’re asking ourselves why, Faria comes out in a gold-sequined tux jacket that we would have liked to have seen earlier.
A few of the extended last notes don’t quite land, or end at the same time as the pianist, so while we appreciate them going for it, better synchronization is in order.
And lastly, why is Tanner on stage next to Faria and Keelor during “Laughter in the Rain,” because at best he feels like a third wheel, and at worst, a stalker.
So will there be a To Life 7? The back cover of the Playbill indicates that Hy Juter Presents’ next production is The Jazz Singer coming in 2027, and one cast member indicated on social media that this may be the last one, but if that’s true, why did host Shari Upbin say the To Life series is never-ending?
To Life fills a nice niche, and we hope we haven’t seen the last of it, a high compliment indeed from someone who typically avoids musical revues like root canals. To Life 6, as always, ends on the song it’s named after, “To Life” from Fiddler on the Roof because “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” (If you know, you know.)
Blessedly, the often freezing Willow Theatre was more comfortable than usual temperature-wise, even with it being a chilly South Florida evening.
To Life 6 runs through February 8 at the Willow Theatre at the Sugar Sand Park Community Center, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton, FL: Fridays and Saturdays at 7 p.m and Saturdays and Sundays at 1 p.m. Limited tickets still available. Rated G for general audiences. Running time approx. 100 minutes with no intermission. Tickets starting at $46 for a single show, $38 for a seasonal ticket. Call 561-347-3948, or visit myboca.us/2647/To-Life-6 on
Britin Haller is a journalist, editor-for-hire, and an author who serves on the board of directors for the Mystery Writers of America Florida Chapter. As a celebrity wrangler, Brit regularly rubbed elbows with movie, sports, and rock stars, and as a media escort, she toured with NY Times bestselling authors. After appearing in local musicals and all-state choir, Britin studied theater at Indiana University (a Big 10 college) and the University of Evansville (Rami Malek’s alma mater).
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