Singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles became a household name back in 2007 with her hit single ‘Love Song’, which featured as the opening track of her first studio-produced album, ‘Little Voice’. In ‘My Little Voice’ — A Sara Bareilles Tribute, Mikala Lane shares her adoration of Bareilles and the influence she has had on Mikala’s life and development as a singer and a performer. The premise is simple: Mikala, backed by her excellent band, perform the ‘Little Voice’ album in its entirety, and this they did, performing with the enthusiasm and passion that Bareilles’ remarkable songs evoke. Mikala’s voice is well-suited to Bareilles’ music, and has a remarkably similar tone in her mid range. However, this stopped short of becoming an impersonation, with Mikala editing some of the runs and stylistic elements to make the songs her own. Mikala’s band, consisting of Victor Oria (keys), Jacob Howard (guitar), Kane Jones (bass), Crafty (drums/backing vocals) and Sadie Humphrey (backing vocals), were professional and showed great understanding of the style. On top of that, they were clearly having a great time making music together, adding to the joyful celebration of Bareilles’ music. Musically, the show was fairly tight and well-rehearsed, aside from the very occasional bum harmony between Mikala and the backing singer (I assume the opening to ‘Fairytale’ will be workshopped before the second performance of this show in March). There was fairly minimal talking between numbers, though Mikala did give context to some of the songs. I found myself wanting more of a personal connection, wondering what exactly drew Mikala to these songs and how they’ve changed the course of her own music, but with 13 songs in just over an hour, time constraints may have restricted this. Some future development of the spoken intervals of the show to use the time they have to best effect would be beneficial. Those familiar with the ‘Little Voice’ album would be aware that the album ends with the song ‘Gravity’, a stunning and heartfelt ballad accompanied mostly by solo piano. It’s a gorgeous song dripping with subtext, but, as Mikala pointed out, is a bit of a downer on which to close the show. To close, the band treated us to a lively rendition of ‘Brave’, one of Bareilles’ more recent hits. It was a good choice, ending the show on a high note. Mikala Lane is a stunning singer and has a lot of potential as a cabaret artist. Fans of Sara Bareilles (or those ready to discover her music) will definitely appreciate this little show.