A Singing Gator, A Pesky Lemon
Scott Heron at Dixon Place
The New York Times, April 17, 2001

Give Scott Heron a prop and he makes lunatic magic with it, creating a world that makes perfect illogical sense. That was the case with “Tender,” performed on Saturday night.

Chris Cochrane, a composer, musician and patient longtime collaborator with Mr. Heron, at one point described Mr. Heron’s role as essentially “Scotty being Scotty.: That was not always enough. Exploding across the tiny Dixon Place stage in its most relentlessly manic and twee moments, “Tender” felt like being trapped in a broom closet with Jerry Lewis for the whole telethon. But just as one was about to give up, Mr. Heron would grab some prop and become a brilliant and surprisingly lovable performance artist.

One of the show’s most memorable bits began with Mr. Heron catching and imaginary fish and nibbling into its thrashing body, and continued with Mr. Heron’s stabbing himself, then jumping across an audience seat to a piano to accompany Mr. Cochrane in a delicious sendup of Diamanda Galas. A big-mouthed alligator pupped appeared on Mr. Heron’s hand to sing along with an appropriately over-the-top taped rendition of “I Am What I Am.” More taped musical melodrama followed, with Mr. Heron in a dress and frumpy wig acting out the song with a little plastic windowpane and a gold cardboard trumpet.

As memorable was a flamenco number of sorts in which Mr. Heron pulled a hanging cord and unleashed a torrent of lemons, his progress across the floor then impeded by a lemon impaled on the heel of his beige pump.

“Tender,” a show for fans and those who are open to the speedy acquiring of a taste, will be performed through April 28 at Dixon Place, 309 East 26th Street, Manhattan.

—JENNIFER DUNNING