By Scott Barbarino***If you frequent the cabaret rooms around town you’ve probably seen the statuesque Jacqueline Draper in many audiences. Always charming, with a sophisticated and lovely cultured air about her, she’s a person you get the impression about that you’d want to know her better.
Well… attending her show Love Language at the Laurie Beechman Theatre, I finally got the chance to catch up with and to learn more about her—and she did not 
disappoint. Her current show is composed of some songs that I’d never heard before, such as “Pretzel Man” (Artie Matthews/Lorraine Feather), and also some very familiar tunes from the American Songbook. Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” for instance, was made fresh to the ear as it was sung in a different language, in this case Spanish (lyrics by Maria Grever). Draper, it turns out, is a fine linguist who speaks six languages … count ’em six: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and German and they were all represented in the show. Her band, composed of musical director-pianist Gregory Toroian, with Tom Hubbard (bass), Robbyn Tongue (woodwinds) and Ron Tierno (percussion), was exquisite and polished.
On the opener, the standard “The More I See You” (Harry Warren/Mack Gordon) the band had the feel and sound of what one would have expected at The Persian Room back in the day, and was amped up with a classic vibe by light and sound by JP Perreaux, who was just awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by MAC for his technical wizardry. Everything in that direction was just perfectly set for Ms. Draper to sail through the hour with a wonderful ebb and flow as she moved with confidence from one song to the next.
There were solid comedy numbers as well, truly exemplified by the impeccable timing of Draper and Toroian on “The French Song” (Glenn Kelly), wherein Draper sang the lyrics in French, which Toroian questionably translated to English. A very sweet and touching moment came with her rendition of John Bucchino’s “Unexpressed,” sung to her husband Tom (in the audience) with whom she’s been with for decades, since becoming college sweethearts. Of course, there was the obligatory inclusion for a show about languages of “Falling in Love Again” (Friedrich Hollaender/English lyrics by Sammy Lerner) impeccably enunciated in its original German.
For this guy from Brooklyn, English is a second language, lol, but I still thoroughly enjoyed this show; and last but not least, Draper, as the kids say, has moves. She did some beautifully choreographed dance numbers with her guest , professional dancer Milo Saidl. Director Kimberly Vaughn was also someone new to me ,but from what I saw, I look forward to seeing more of her hand in cabaret in the future.
Love Language at The Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Café has one more date on Sunday, May 19 at 5 PM.
