An Evening with Will & Anthony Nunziata
(© Walter McBride)
Sibling acts have long been a nightclub staple — from the Clooneys to the Callaways — but identical twin singers are a much rarer commodity. Fortunately, as
Will & Anthony Nunziata prove in their often pleasing new show at Feinstein’s at Loews Regency, these talented twentysomethings are more than just a mere curiosity.
One of the smartest aspects of their new act — which is smoothly directed by Eric Michael Gillett (who is doing yeoman double duty these days, also performing his own highly acclaimed act at the Laurie Beechman Theatre) — is that almost all of the material is well suited to the performers. Songs like “When I Fall in Love,” “Real Live Girl,” and “I Cannot Hear the City” allow the guys to display age-appropriate innocence and youthful passion.
While the brothers individually have strong voices, it’s their blended harmonies that are especially beautiful. Indeed, some of their strongest moments come when they work together, most notably in inventive arrangements of Frank Loesser’s “I Believe in You” and Stephen Sondheim’s “What Can You Lose.” They also sound particularly lovely in counterpoint on David Foster and Carole Bayer’s Sager’s schmaltzy “The Prayer,” in which they alternate singing in English and Italian.
Particularly impressive are two end-of-show medleys (well executed by their inventive arranger and musical director, Tedd Firth): one pairs Sondheim’s “Being Alive” and Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse’s “Who Can I Turn To?” and the other teams Maury Yeston’s “Getting Tall” and Henry Kreiger and Bill Russell’s “I Will Never Leave You” (famously sung by a very different sort of pair of twins in the musical Side Show).
Still, one wishes the act allowed the brothers more opportunities to show off their personalities, and a few more uptempo tunes should be scattered throughout the set. Even if their version of Godspell‘s “All for the Best” — a show they did back at Boston College — is far from definitive, it allows the audience a needed glimpse of who the Nunziatas are.
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