Editor’s Note: every once in a while we at NLE expand our view to a horizon a little distant from the NYC Metropolitan area; here is a review from Boston, a window into activity from our neighbor to the North.
By John Amodeo*** It’s a beautiful thing when a singer is holding an entire audience in the palm of her hand as she shares different parts of herself through story and song. When a singer is that connected to themselves and their material, one can’t help but lean in and smile. And that is just what a rapt Moonshine Room audience did for a full hour when Mary Catherine held court with the Tom La Mark Quartet in her new show Written in the Stars.
Dressed in a hot pink pant suit, black slingback pumps that sparkled almost as much as she did, and her hair perfectly coifed, Mary Catherine was a sight to behold. With her warm-as-Irish-whiskey alto, and her silky soprano, her songs were as well dressed as she was.
Mary Catherine has been a fixture in the Boston piano bar/open mic scene for years, delighting a room full of regulars at the Club Café’s Napoleon Room with a novelty song here and a ballad there. She’s only done a handful of cabaret shows, but you would never know it by the poise, confidence, and easy humor on display during her show.
Let’s start with the set list. Peppered throughout the show were some familiar chestnuts with which Mary Catherine gave different colors to make them her own. A little unsteady at first on her opener, “A Fine Romance,” she managed to settle into it partway through, just in time to throw in an exasperated eye roll during the line “…and all morals” that perfectly tickled the funny bone and would have gotten a wink and a nod of approval from lyricist Dorothy Fields. By the final verse, she picked up the pace and brought it home in full swing. And not only did she have rhythm in that Gershwin tune, but with Tom LaMark’s deft arrangements, she served up “I Got Rhythm” in
a bouncy new tempo altogether that had us listening to the song anew. “Every Time We Say Goodbye” was her aptly chosen closer, sung straight as written with sweet sincerity, and yet still fresh because she sang it directly to the audience instead of an unseen romantic partner.
The rest of the set list was a treasure trove of less familiar, rarely sung, or downright unknown gems. She served up a sultry “East of the Sun and West of the Moon,” a poignant samba-paced “Quiet Nights” and an exquisite pairing of “Written in the Stars” and “Dream Dancing” that oscillated between seductive and romantic in just the right ways. A standout among the unfamiliar songs was an obscure Jerome Kern,Dorothy fields jewel, “Remind Me,” which reminded me how blessed we are with the Great American Songbook. Mary Catherine has a way with Fields’ romantic lyrics that start out unassumingly then in the final line, aims an arrow straight for the heart, scoring a bullseye.
If you thought this show was all weepy ballads, think again. Mary Catherine knows how to show an audience a good time, and livened things up with a combination of her often hilarious self-deprecating patter and equally entertaining uptempo numbers. She was fierce and on fire in a hard-driving “Get Out of Town” that fairly sizzled. Out of nowhere, she hit us broadside with Karrin Allyson’s R&B rib-tickler “Sweet Home Cookin’ Man” that oozed with culinary inuendo served with a Cheshire grin. And she turned the room into a party in her encore with a high octane “You Can’t Hurry Love,” to which she and LaMark gave the full 1960s treatment, replete with horn backup.
And let’s talk about the Tom LaMark Quartet. LaMark is one of the most sought-after music
directors, arrangers and piano accompanists in Boston. He filled this show with one delicious arrangement after another, speeding up the tempo on one song for each subsequent verse until the final 16 bars were sung at a breathless double time, and changing from ballad to swing mid-song in another, He skillfully wove “Written in the Stars” and “Dream Dancing” into a beautiful braid. And he knows how to pick his band musicians. Dave Landoni was solid with his sitting acoustic bass. George Darrah on drums kept every song grounded, while offering colorful flourishes throughout. And Arnie Krakowski was a constant delight on sax, sultry in “Quiet Nights” and powerful on “I Got Rhythm,” while also managing to impersonate a trumpet and trombone on “You’ Can’t Hurry Love.”
That latter number was supposed to be Mary Catherine’s encore, but the standing and cheering audience wouldn’t let her go. In the unplanned second encore, with just LaMark’s quite piano accompaniment, Mary Catherine, an Irish lass to the core, delivered a transcendent “How Are Things in Glocca Morra,” which melted every heart and left a collective gulp in our throats. With this show, deftly directed by Tony Award-winning Broadway leading lady Faith Prince, and co-written by Rod Ferguson, Mary Catherine has established herself as one of the top cabaret performers in town. Watch for her next show.
