By Marilyn Lester****In his ongoing Standard Time series at Zankel Hall, Michael Feinstein created another winner of a show with The Great American Jewish Songbook. More specifically, the singer’s template of song and story and special guests took a slice of the vast confection that’s Jewish Broadway and showcased about 90 minutes worth of gems written for the Great White Way by songwriters such as Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Richard Rodgers and many more. A significant and utterly delightful chunk of living Broadway history was on hand with the guest appearance of lyricist, Sheldon Harnick, half of writing teams (especially with long-time partner, the late Jerry Bock) that gave the musical theater treasures such as She Loves Me, The Apple Tree, The Rothschilds, Fiorello and Fiddler on the Roof. On the cusp of 95, Harnick, interviewed on stage by Feinstein, proved spry and entertaining—especially sweetly and emotively singing, with guest artist, Alexandra Silber, “Do You Love Me?” from Fiddler.
Silber, an operatic soprano, delivered a marvelous, if wonderfully off the beaten path song, Jerome Kern’s “They Didn’t Believe Me,” and a spoken and sung dramatic presentation—again, beautifully different—of the King’s new clothes segment of Hans Christian Anderson, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser. It was a great treat, especially since Silber shared the special significance of the musical, which harkened back to her childhood and her father.
Guest artist, Danny Bacher, a talented singer and master of the soprano saxophone, delivered a fresh, updated version of “Bei Mir Bistu Shein” (also known as “Bay Mir Bistu Sheyn” and “Bei Mir Bist Du Schön) originally written in Yiddish by Jacob Jacobs (lyricist) and Sholom Secunda (composer). In a musical interlude during the song, as a true jazz man, he riffed, most notably playing a bar or two of Duke Ellington’s “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing.” Bacher also swung a medium tempo version of Harold Arlen’s “Come Rain or Come Shine” and a sincere, slow tempoed “Lucky to Be Me” from On the Town, with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green.
As for Feinstein himself, his onstage presence is charming and amusing (a line that got a big laugh was his comment that the show would be “an evening without Cole Porter)—and his approach is delightfully informative. He’s fond of medleys and extremely adept at morphing one song into the next. The seamlessness is so tight that it may take a moment to realize he’s moved on! Singing at the mic, he gave homage to George and Ira Gershwin in the songs they wrote for Adele and Fred Astaire; this extended medley included “Funny Face,” “He Loves and She Loves” and “They All Laughed.” A spotlight moment came with his astounding delivery of Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin’s “Tschaikowsky (and Other Russians)” from Lady in the Dark. Feinstein sang this modern day patter song trippingly and then upped the game by singing on in a rapid fire victory over a tune that’s far from easy to master. Behind the piano he played from the “next wave” of Jewish songwriters, including Stephen Sondheim’s “Losing My Mind,” Jerry Herman’s “I Won’t Send Roses” and Marilyn and Alan Bergman and Marvin Hamlisch’s “The Way We Were.”
A prominent feature of the evening was “Michael Feinstein’s gentile band,” as he comically put it, with the group opening the show with an all-out swinging jazz version of Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s “Tonight.” Superb musical support was given throughout from the brilliant Tedd Firth on piano and ace players Phil Palombi on bass and Mark McClean on drums.
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