By Marilyn Lester**** If there’s such a thing as reincarnation, KT Sullivan was surely a notable monarch in one of her past lives. Her command of a stage, large or small, is complete. On the intimate platform of Birdland she reigned sublime over her subjects, a rapt audience of folks who know they’re in the presence of cabaret royalty, but more than that, know why Sullivan deserves the accolades and honors. When all is said and done, she puts on a darn fine show—polished like a Royal Tea Service and full of entertainment. In this outing, a revival of a show she last performed in the late, lamented Algonquin Oak, Room, A Swing Time Kern-U-Copia, Sullivan delivered the cream of Kern with a variety of the lyricists who worked with him.
Kern was born in New York City in 1885. He began writing songs around 1901, while in high school. When he died in 1945 he’d written a catalog of beautiful tunes, mostly highly melodic, a trait Sullivan pointed to in her narrative (which was kept to a considered minimum, allowing maximum music to flow). Her first number, “Let Me Look at You” (Dorothy Fields) and “I’m Old Fashioned” (Johnny Mercer), proved the point.Sullivan is at heart a balladeer, a romantic vocalist with a flair that is uniquely her own.
Sullivan is
also self-aware and in command of what she knows will make a well-rounded, full-bodied show suited to her talents. Additionally, she has a wit and instinct for comedy. An early collaborator, P.G. Wodehouse, was thus well represented. Wodehouse was a keen wordsmith with a flair for comedy (among other works he created are that supremely droll and funny pair, Bertie Wooster and his butler, Jeeves). Wodehouse contributed to Show Boat and Sullivan’s dramatic “Cant Help Lovin’ That Man” was matched by a neat shift in mood to the quietly hilarious medley of “Quogue/Nesting Time in Flatbush.”
Playing Tedd Firth’s original arrangements, pianist Jon Weber was, as he’s wont to be, completely in tune with Sullivan’s style and delivery. He took off on a couple of piano solos, displaying jazz chops, including “Once in a Blue Moon” (Anne Caldwell) and on the medley of “All in Fun/A Fine Romance” (Oscar Hammerstein II).
Bassist Steve Doyle was especially affecting on his solo accompaniment of “Old Man River” (Oscar Hammerstein II). In this regard, if a White soprano can get mileage out of this tune, written for a Black bass/baritone, then Sullivan is the one to do it. In fact, in her interpretation of lyrics, she’s ever more on the exalted plane of Mabel Mercer, whose foundation she heads. Sullivan’s interpretation of “The Last Time I Saw Paris” (Oscar Hammerstein II) was so achingly beautiful it would have brought tears to the eyes of even the stoniest statue. Because the canon of works by Kern is a tall order, and time is short, Sullivan ended with a splendid medley of 14 tunes, the last of which was a hopeful sing-a-long for our troubled times—“Look for the Silver Lining” (B.G. DeSylva). As the last notes faded, it was a sure bet that those in the room each possessed a “heart full of joy and gladness.”
KT Sullivan, A Swing Time Kern-U-Copia, appeared at Birdland, NYC, on Monday, May 21, 2018.
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